Room Temperature Beer Is Good For One Thing - Making The Best Bread

We all know that beer is at its best when it's ice cold — a warm beer is just not the refreshing, satisfying drink that we need. However, room temperature beer does have one very specific purpose: making the best beer bread.

When it comes to making beer bread, a common mistake is taking the beer out of the fridge, then adding it right to the batter. If you add cold beer directly into the batter, the melted butter may seize up. Room temperature beer also helps the bread rise, which is important since beer bread recipes often don't include yeast — instead, most rely on a leavening agent, such as baking powder, instead. So, to make sure that your beer bread is the highest quality possible, simply take the beer out of the fridge a couple hours before you plan to start baking so it can come down to room temperature.

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What Type Of Beer Should You Use For Beer Bread?

As for what type of beer to use in your bread, it really comes down to personal preference. Lighter beers, such as lagers or pilsners, are fairly mild in flavor, so this is a good pick if you don't want an overwhelming beer flavor in the bread. Light beers will also provide a bit of a yeasty flavor that you wouldn't get otherwise. If your favorite type of beer is an IPA, you can certainly choose to use that, but just keep in mind that IPAs are quite bitter, which may not be what you want for your bread. Finally, if you want to make an Irish beer bread, you'll want to use a stout, such as Guinness, which will give the bread a bit of a molasses flavor.

It also depends on what type of beer bread you want to make -- a flavored version, such as a cheddar beer bread, will likely work much better with a lighter beer because of its more subtle taste than something with a more pronounced flavor, such as a stout beer.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.