Wild Firebrand

Sometimes you need bread — and you don’t have all day! I’ll post our all day bread recipe the next time I make it, but this one isn’t that one. This one is easy and quick and works for St. Paddy’s Day when you need bread in a hurry and don’t have the time to do all the things (or you’ve simply run out of yeast and don’t want to go to the store), but I know you have beer in the fridge….so sacrifice one to the harvest and use it to make bread!

Preheat your oven to 375 and gather your ingredients.

You’ll need your favorite beer. Doesn’t matter what kind — use the kind you like because then, you’ll like the bread. Experiment! Try new things! In the summer, use a shandy! Or Breakfast Beer! In the winter, use Modelo! Try a Lime/Chile Beer, or a Sapporo. Whatever, get a can of beer.

And 3 cups of flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of (garlic) salt, and an herb. This thyme, I’m using thyme. Because we could all use a little more thyme. And since I didn’t have a lot of thyme, I’m making beer bread. (If you don’t think I’m hilarious, remember you inherited my sense of humor! hahahaha!)

Whisk all your dry ingredients together. The flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Pour the beer in and mix it until it’s thick and wet and clingy and comes together.

Plop the dough into a bread pan. Sprinkle some flavor on top — use the (garlic) salt and thyme. Bake for 40 minutes in your 375 degree oven.

Take it out. Flip it onto a cooling rack and let it rest. For at least 10 minutes but an hour is better. Pop another beer to drink and when the bread has rested, spread some butter or jam on it or use it to soak up the juices from Dublin Coddle. But, enjoy the harvest and the fruits of your labor — plus the thyme!

SO SO SO GOOD — and a perfect way to enjoy bread, family, food, and life!! May this and the rest of these recipes bring your loved ones together for generations. I love you all so very much and I’m proud to call you mine. May good luck be with you everywhere you go and blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow. MWAH!!! Yo momma!