Beer Bread ~ homemade gifts ideas

Beer bread is a quick bread. It goes great with soups, and stews, it is also perfect toasted with honey or jam, and I also love to cut it up and serve it with a dip as an appetizer. This beer bread recipe is also a great DIY gift to give. You can jump right to the recipe card and I’ll tell you how, or read on for the play by play of how to make beer bread.

Why I love making beer bread

My mom was the Queen of Homemade Gifts when I was young. Recently she told me that one year when we were kids, finances were particularly tight and she made all the Christmas gifts for $20. Yes, that’s right twenty dollars. Can you imagine? Granted it was the mid 70’s, but still. She sewed, knitted, painted, baked, and canned. She recycled old and made it new. People loved it! They began to expect it and look forward to what my mom was going to create and give. She was famous for her knitted slippers. For the record I am not that frugal, but most of the gifts I am going to share will cost you less than $5  to make, and they could be given to a man or a woman. Perfect for teachers, coaches, neighbors, bus drivers, and anyone else you would like to give a little somethin’ to!

Gather these ingredients

How to make beer bread

If you are going to make the Beer Bread mix you will just need a few pantry staples. Let’s get started. It’s as easy as 1,2,3!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl, create a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Pour the beer (The beer can be any type. I like to use a light beer, Stella is my favorite, or natty light works just as well!)

Batter will be thick and lumpy, this is just fine, make sure there are no pockets of dried ingredients and when batter is mixed well. Add 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the batter and mix with a bread whisk or spatula.

Use 1 tablespoon of butter to butter the bread pan. Spread batter into buttered bread pan and place in preheated 375 degree oven bake for 50-60 minutes. Check after 50 minutes by poking a toothpick in the center if it comes out clean beer bread is done.

Remove from oven and use the last tablespoon of butter on the top of the loaf. You can melt and pour over or..

you can place the last pat of butter on the top and brush it around as it melts. What ever tickles your fancy!

Now what you choose to do with this slightly sweet dense and delicious loaf of bread is totally up to you! See Tips & Variations below for ideas!

Gifting beer bread

Beer bread makes a great gift. You can bake it and gift it with a large mason jar of your favorite soup! Or you can give it as a mix. Which I personally think is super fun. Here’s how you do that.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and place in a food safe bag. I used a plastic bag that that I close with a twisty, I have also used lined brown paper bag with wire tabs for secure closure. I ordered these online.

You don’t need to get super fancy. I purchased the above plastic bags at my local grocery store in the aisle where all the cookie decorating supplies are.

I quickly typed out the instructions and printed them off, placed the bag of dry ingredients, a beer, and the instructions in a gift bag. You could also add a disposable bread pan! And if you don’t have a printer write it out on a note card or just write out the address to this recipe and they can look it up on their phone! This makes a really nice gift for a male teacher, bus driver, or repairman.

Tips & Variations

• Non-alcoholic – to make this non alcoholic or you can use a sprite or a can of ginger ale. Just swap the pop out for the beer!
• Herby Beer Bread – if you want to add a little pizzazz to your beer bread you can add 1/2 teaspoon of dried dill and then if you have a jar of Ranch powder after you butter the top give it a sprinkle of Ranch!
• Rosemary and Thyme – After buttering bread sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme and rosemary over the top of your loaf of bread.
• Flour – If you happen to have self-rising flour you can leave out the baking powder. All purpose flour works, however if you have bread flour you will get a better rise when baking. Whole wheat flour does not work well with this recipe, at least in my trials with it, it did not rise well and was too dense.
• Serving – This bread is delicious with anything you pair it with. I love to cut it into cubes and serve it along side spinach dip, or hot chicken dip. Or it is also super yummy sliced and toasted with honey drizzled on top for a snack or with breakfast.

More homemade gift ideas

• Homemade Granola – I wrap it up in the same food safe paper bags and write out the ingredients in case of allergies.
• Instant Mocha Cappuccino Mix
• Homemade Gingerbread Caramel Corn
• Savory Mixed Nuts – The perfect nibble to give by itself in a baggy tied with a bow, also great gift to add when gifting a bottle of wine.
• Cheese Buds – Great to give on their own or to add when gifting a bottle of wine.

I hope this recipe gives you inspiration to give food gifts! Please share this post on your socials, Pin it, and if you make it and love it give it all the stars below! Thank you so much, Sheila