Cheddar & Chive Guinness Bread

Everyone knows that “Guinness is Good for You”. And I’m sure ya’ll knew that its appearance as a featured ingredient in several of my St. Patrick’s Day recipes was inevitable. So here we go with a great beer bread that is just chock full of quality Irish ingredients, Guinness Irish Stout, Kerrygold Irish Butter, and Kerrygold Dubliner Cheddar cheese. You should be able to find all of these ingredients at a larger grocery store. I certainly know that Guinness is widely available. If you can’t get ahold of any brand of Irish Cheddar or Butter, you can of course substitute in other quality brands. Do whatever you need to do, but definitely make up a loaf of this bread for St. Patrick’s Day.

It is absolutely delicious and easy! Yes, that’s right, I said easy. This is a “quick bread”. That means there is no yeast involved, so there is no bothering with rise times. Well, that is a bit of a lie. The bit about the yeast not being there. In beer breads, which this is, the beer provides the yeast for you and that is what acts as the leavening agent. And this bread does have a wee bit of baking powder thrown in as well. You’ll have this loaf mixed up and in your oven in no time flat! Your house will smell heavenly with the aroma of that fresh baking bread. And oh…when that mouth-watering Cheddar & Chive Guinness Bread is ready…hold on to your hat!

The moist, tender, savoury center of the bread is surrounded by a buttery, crunchy, chewy crust. The cheddar flavour is quite evident and woven throughout the loaf. So many cheese breads only taste distinctly of the cheese when you are biting into a big chunk of it. Serve it slathered with more butter or with a nice hearty bowl of soup. It will definitely be love at first bite!

Cheddar & Chive Guinness Bread

recipe from: The Kitchn

yield: one 8 1/2 ” loaf

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle Irish stout beer
• 1 cup grated Irish cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)
• 1/4 cup chopped chives
• 1/4 cup Irish butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line 8 1/2- x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, or coat with butter.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour in the beer and mix until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Fold in 3/4 cup of the cheese and the chives.

Transfer the batter to prepared pan. Pour the melted butter evenly over top of the dough. Bake about 30 minutes then scatter the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the top. Return the loaf to the oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

Turn out and serve warm, sliced.

Enjoy!