While flipping through a recent issue of RV The Magazine, I came across a recipe for beer bread. What made it stand out from other bread recipes was this one only had three ingredients! Three ingredients and 45 minutes until I had my own scrumptious loaf of home-baked bread? This I had to see. After a quick shopping spree to gather some Bud Light beer, I cleared out some counter space and proceeded to try my hand at making beer bread. While preparing this recipe, I Googled beer bread online and to my delight, I discovered a plethora of different variations on this recipe.

Since I had all three ingredients out, I decided to make a loaf from several different, but similar, recipes. Approximately 50 minutes later, I’d come to the conclusion that the recipe that follows, the one I first came across in the RV magazine, was the best recipe. And not necessarily because it tasted any better. During a side-by-side taste test, I could not tell the difference between the recipes. So what made this one stand out? It was the more economical version, of course! This one only used two cups of flour instead of three and required less sugar than the others. So, of course, the cheaper bread wins my vote!

Ingredients

2 cups self-rising flour*
2 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 12 ounce bottle or can of room temperature Bud Light (chosen for its affordability and vegan-friendly qualities)

*If you don’t have self-rising flour on hand, you can use all-purpose flour and add 1 T baking powder and 1 tsp. salt to the recipe.

First of all, you’ll need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Get out a big bowl and dump in the flour and sugar. Pop open that beer, pour it into the bowl, and mix all of the ingredients together. You don’t need any fancy equipment here. The dough will be sticky and the ingredients blend quite nicely together with just plain old stirring. Once everything is mixed together, pour the batter into a lightly greased loaf pan, and stick it in the oven for 45 minutes.

Once it’s done, top it all off with some Smart Balance Light or Earth Balance margarine. For something a little sweeter, you can spread some apricot jam on top, or better yet, drizzle with some agave. Yum!