Bacon Studded Beer Bread

Bacon Beer Bread

Beer and Bacon in bread form.  I just want to pause for a moment to let that soak in and let your mind run wild with ideas on what you'd do with such a bread.  I know mine did.  The inspiration for this recipe came from the cookbook Recipes Every Man Should Know.  Now I know what you're thinking, what am I doing with a book like that?  The truth is that I received an email from a publicist who asked if I wanted to review a copy.  Being rather curious what Susan Russo and Brett Cohen (the authors) think are recipes every man should know, I agreed.  This pocket-sized guide starts off with some good tips (basic cooking terms and kitchen gear) for the inexperienced (male) cook. The book definitely caters to the male population (Introduction: "So, why should men cook? Women think men who cook are sexy.) and includes a 144 pages of simple recipes ranging from breakfast to dessert.

Recipes Every Man Should Know 

My big gripe with this book was the fact that it was just so dang tiny.  The reason for that being to play off of the old fashioned "little black book" and also so that it can "fit in your back pocket".  I realize I'm not the target audience, but I like to spread out my cookbooks and mark them up with with notes as I go along, which is a little tough to do with this book due to its size.  I also question whether or not a guy would stash this in his back pocket.  I know I'd find it a bit odd if I were on a date with a guy who was making me dinner and he whipped out a copy of this from his back pocket before heading to the kitchen.  Nevertheless, it's a creative concept.

Easy Recipe for Beer Bread

I did flip through this book and got hung up on this simple beer bread recipe.  Requiring only four ingredients (all of which I just happened to have hanging around) I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Getting a little creative, I thought I'd boost the flavor a bit by swirling some bacon into the bread.  I mean really, doesn't bacon just make everything better?

Beautiful, beautiful bacon...sigh...

Overall, the bread was good.  Very flavorful and full of bacony goodness.  The only problem is that it didn't rise as much as I would have hoped, although fortunately, didn't end up being super dense, which is what usually happens when bread doesn't rise much.  Maybe it was intended to be that way?  Either way, although the recipe didn't call for it and I went against my better bread baking judgement to follow the recipe, next time I would let the bread rise a little before sticking it int the oven.  That being said, I would make this again.  I thought that the recipe was simple and there's just so much you could do with this bread! I ended up slathering one side of a piece of the beer bread with a grainy Dijon mustard and then sandwiched some shredded sharp cheddar cheese and toasted it all up.  Very satisfying for a chilly gray December day like today!

Grilled Cheese on Bacon Beer Bread