Easy & Delicious $6 Holiday Gift Idea: Homemade Beer Bread Mix In A Beautiful Baking Pan

Plus Get A Free Subscription To Bon Appetit or Gourmet!

I Love These Chicago Metallic Commercial Loaf Pans

Bake them a loaf of beer bread, and they'll eat well for a day. Give them a package of homemade beer bread mix, a beer bread recipe, and a handy dandy loaf pan, and they'll eat well for the rest of their lives.

Two years ago I put up a post called Beyond Easy Beer Bread: A Warm Crusty Loaf In Under An Hour, and it's been my most popular blog post ever since. There are a lot of you out there wanting to know how to make your own beer bread. Like about 700 a week. Who knew?

Many people first taste beer bread that was made from a mix. Then they start wondering if they can make their own beer bread from scratch. The answer is yes! In about five minutes. In fact, once you realize just how few ingredients there are in beer bread (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, & beer), it's difficult to believe that anyone would have the nerve to market beer bread mix. And yet I've seen packages of it selling for upwards of eight dollars.

So why not make up a few batches of your own signature homemade beer bread mix to give away during the holidays? Just tuck a zipper or ribbon-tied bag of the dry mix into a colorful tin or even a brown paper bag tied with a festive ribbon and voila!--a charming, scrumptious gift suitable for practically any occasion. Include baking instructions written or printed out on a simple card: all they have to do is stir a 12-ounce bottle of beer into the mix, spread it in a pan, and pop it in the oven.

Onion Rye Beer Bread

There are endless flavor variations of beer bread possible, including dill & cheddar, garlic & herb, and Italian. Simply add whatever you desire to the basic dry mix. You can also make whole wheat and onion rye versions. Click here to read my recipes for beer bread and the dry beer bread mix, as well as several flavor variations.

For an even niftier gift, create an all-in-one Beer Bread Kit: nestle the beer bread mix and a bottle of beer in one of my favorite Chicago Metallic commercial loaf pans, which come with a 25-year warranty and are also great for baking yeast breads and cakes. They're on sale right now at Amazon.com for a ridiculously low $5.75 each, with no tax and free shipping on orders over $25. Plus they're part of the Amazon.com 4-for-3 promotion that is currently going on: Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. So if you buy 4 loaf pans, you'll get one of them free. (There are over 100,000 eligible products including select Books, CDs, DVDs, Single Copy Magazines, Home & Garden items, and Home Improvement tools. Click here for more information on the promotion and to see all the products.)

11/24 Update: Well, rats. I was afraid this might happen. Amazon.com has run out of stock of these loaf pans again, so they're temporarily being offered from a different seller at a higher price ($9.95, which is still a good price) and aren't eligible for free shipping or the 4-for-3 promotion. Hopefully they'll be back in stock and on sale again soon--you might check back in a day or two. My apologies for any confusion or disappointment. 11/29 Update: They're back in stock at $5.75 but are selling out fast!

This means a loaf pan, the beer bread mix, and a nice bottle of beer will set you back less than $6.00. Empty gift bags often cost that much! Now you'll be able to give delicious, useful gifts this holiday season and still have money left over to send to the local animal shelter or your favorite charity. Looking for a worthy one to support? I happily send much needed (and tax deductible) donations to A Place To Bark (grab a tissue before you read about the absolutely amazing Bernie Berlin and how she singlehandedly saves and finds homes for hundreds of abandoned and abused dogs and cats who are literally destined for death) and The Wild Animal Sanctuary (forced to close their doors to visitors and on the brink of shutting down completely last year, they're now back open thanks to all of you who helped spread the word of their plight and kindly sent donations).

And if all this isn't tempting enough, right now if you spend $25 or more in the Amazon.com Home & Garden Store, you'll receive a free one-year subscription to Bon Appetit, Gourmet or Domino magazine with your purchase. You can have the subscription sent to anyone or even extend your own subscription if you already have one. Click here for more details.

A number of my other favorite kitchen items I've written about before are also part of the 4-for-3 Amazon.com promotion (and all include free shipping on orders over $25):

--Chicago Metallic Commercial Baking Sheets I refuse to bake on anything but commercial baking sheets, and once you try using them you probably won't either. There's simply no comparison. Are you a closet cookie burner? These might very well cure you. I've had some of mine for over 15 years.

--Baking/pizza stones A must for homemade pizzas and crusty freeform breads; I've been baking on the same one for over 12 years.

--Salter 5-pound digital kitchen scale I use mine every day!

--KitchenAid Bench/Pastry Scraper So useful mine rarely make it back into the drawer where they supposedly live.

--Lodge cast iron 10-1/4 inch pre-seasoned skillet Talk about something that'll last forever and ever--they only get better with age! Such a deal at $11.99.

--FoodSaver Continuous Roll Bag Material A much better deal than buying the pre-made bags. Last week we sealed up an entire deer in custom made bags. Click here to read more about what I do with my FoodSaver and why I love it so much.

I already placed my 4-for-3 order and am looking forward to receiving a Chicago Metallic Commercial Large Cooling Grid ($8.99), an OXO Good Grips Y Peeler ($9.99), and a set of 2 Chicago Metallic Commercial Perforated Pie Pans ($7.00). My Vic Firth French Rolling Pin ($8.99) arrived Wednesday, and I can't wait to roll out a pie with it. Am I the last person to discover Vic Firth's beautiful, made in Maine, solid maple rolling pins?

All of the items (except the FoodSaver bag material, which can actually be used over and over) should last for years and years if you treat them right.

I don't know about you, but in my opinion, at this time of year online shopping is the way to go. Even if (unlike me) you're still used to the everyday hustle and bustle of city living, the mall can be a scary place. A few years ago I was driving my mother to the airport on the day after Christmas, and we were rear ended at a stoplight. We were more shook up than anything, so we decided to walk around the gigantic mall across the street while our nerves settled down. Now that was a bad idea.

May your holiday shopping this year be an enjoyable, affordable experience. And thank you so much for supporting Farmgirl Fare by shopping through any of these Amazon.com links.

© 2007 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.

Breakdowns & Onion Rye Beer Bread Recipe

This is the newest version of my Beyond Easy Beer Bread, which is my most popular recipe. Five minutes of work reward you with a heavenly aroma wafting through the house and a warm, crusty loaf in under an hour. There are endless flavor variations possible, and you can even use it for sandwiches. You might also enjoy my Whole Wheat Beer Bread Recipe.

Onion rye beer bread with caraway seeds—sort of (baked in this awesome pan).

It's been one of those weeks. You know, the kind where just when you're sure nothing else can break or go wrong—and it certainly can't get any hotter than 103 degrees in the shade—one of the enormous ancient chest freezers on the kitchen porch, that's naturally crammed to capacity with all kinds of frozen food, appears to be in. . .distress.

Then you pick up the mail and find a Safety Recall Notice informing you that The One Reliable Vehicle you own—as opposed to the others you own, the newest of which is from 1993, and all of which, if they're even capable of being driven off the farm, usually require a call to AAA in order to make it back home—apparently has a small defect that may cause the vehicle to suddenly catch on fire "when parked or being operated."

Fortunately a simple repair by the dealer can fix the problem, but until this is performed, the letter advised us to, I kid you not, "park your vehicle away from structures to prevent a potential underhood fire from spreading."

Given how things have been going, Joe, my hunky farmguy who was out in the 90-degree shop alternately trying to figure out why the '86 pickup wouldn't start and why the wiring on the flatbed trailer wouldn't work, wasn't surprised to see my glum-looking, sweat-drenched face peering around the big sliding door yesterday afternoon.

"What happened?" was all he said, but you could tell that numerous scenarios, none of them good, were rapidly flipping through his brain.

"Okay, you know I'm making this new beer bread. So I get the exploded beer all cleaned up off the counter and the floor, add enough water to the batter to make up for the beer I lost, put the pan in the oven, and am halfway done washing the dishes when I realize I forgot to put any rye flour in the rye beer bread."

Given that this was an incredibly small disaster in the grand scheme of things, he not only displayed plenty of sympathy and understanding, but also managed not to laugh in my face at my stupidity. This motivated me enough to trudge back into the 90-degree kitchen and start the whole baking process all over again. But the un-rye version ended up tasting great.

Just cross your fingers that between now and our appointment next week The One Reliable Vehicle doesn't spontaneously burst into flames.



Farmgirl Susan's Beyond Easy Beer Bread
Makes one 8-inch loaf

The optional egg glaze gives the top a beautiful, dark golden color. As always, I encourage you to use local and organic ingredients; they really do make a difference.

Basic Beer Bread Mix (Onion Rye instructions are below):

Organic all-purpose flour 3 cups / 750 ml / 15-1/8 oz / 430 g
Granulated sugar 1 tbsp / 15 ml / 5/8 oz / 16 g
Salt 1 tsp / 5 ml / 1/4 oz / 6 g
Baking powder 1 tbsp / 15 ml / 5/8 oz / 16 g

Beer 1½ cups / 355 ml / 12 oz / 338 g

Optional glaze: 1 egg & 2 tsp (10 ml) water, beaten

Heat oven to 375°F/190°C. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined. Batter will be thick.

Spread in a greased 8-inch loaf pan (I love these Chicago Metallic commercial loaf pans), brush with egg glaze if desired, and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool 10 more minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Will keep for 1 to 2 days stored in a plastic bag or airtight container. May be frozen.

For the Onion Rye or Un-Rye version:
Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet. Add 1 cup finely chopped onion and 1 Tablespoon caraway seeds. Cook at medium heat, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and beginning to brown, about 5 to 8 minutes. (This step may be done ahead of time; let onion mixture sit at room temperature up to two hours or refrigerate.)

If desired, replace the 3 cups of all-purpose flour with 1½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup rye flour, and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. Stir onion mixture into batter along with 2 more Tablespoons of beer or water.

© FarmgirlFare.com, the always tasty and sometimes rye foodie farm blog where Farmgirl Susan shares photos & stories of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.

Almost Too Easy Whole Wheat Beer Bread Recipe

A warm, hearty loaf of flavorful whole grain bread in about an hour.

Two days ago I wrote a post on how to make homemade beer bread. Since then, several of you have asked me about substituting whole wheat flour for some of the all-purpose flour in the recipe. Since I figured I could spare five minutes in the name of bread—and because I was getting curious myself—I baked this loaf of whole wheat beer bread a couple of hours ago.

Instead of the three cups of all-purpose (white) flour in the original recipe, I used two cups of whole wheat all-purpose flour and one cup of all-purpose flour. Both were organic. Organic flours bake up beautifully, don't cost a whole lot more than conventional, and are better for both you and the environment. Look for them in the bulk bins at natural foods stores and even some supermarkets.

I decided not to add any herbs or cheese to the basic mix. The batter was extremely thick and heavy, so I mixed in 1/4 cup (2 ounces/60 ml) of water along with the 12 ounces of beer. If it hadn't been nine o'clock in the morning, I would have opened a second bottle of beer and drunk the excess.

Within minutes of putting the bread in the oven, the kitchen smelled divine. I did let the finished loaf cool 20 minutes before cutting into it, but it wasn't easy. I tasted a warm slice slathered with organic butter and was very pleased with the results. This bread has a nice texture and is dense but not too heavy. It would stand up well to a hearty stew or chili.

I again used a bottle of our homebrewed Irish pale ale, and the flavor of the beer really came through. I think this version would also be good spread with cream cheese or herbed yogurt cheese. And after inhaling his warm test piece, Joe suggested covering toasted slices with sausage gravy. This bread has serious possibilities.

Farmgirl Susan's Almost Too Easy Whole Wheat Beer Bread Recipe
Makes one loaf

2 cups organic whole wheat flour
1 cup organic all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder (make sure it's fresh!)
14 ounces beer (or 12 ounces beer & 2 ounces water)

Optional glaze: 1 egg & 2 teaspoons water, beaten

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined. The batter will be thick.

Spread in a greased 8-inch loaf pan (I love my Chicago Metallic Commercial Loaf Pans, which are great for baking yeast breads, too), brush with the egg glaze if desired, and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool 10 more minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

More bread recipes on Farmgirl Fare:
Ten Tips For Better Bread
Farmhouse White: An Easy Basic White Sandwich Bread
My Favorite Easy Pizza Dough Recipe
Oatmeal Toasting Bread
How To Make Homemade Pita Bread in about an Hour
Fresh Tomato & Basil Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Savory Cheese & Scallion Scones (one of my most popular recipes)
Christmas Cranberry Scones (tasty all year round!)
100% Whole Grain Moist & Flavorful Bran Muffins (made without cereal)

Still hungry? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, the freshly baked foodie farm blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote acres.