Easy Beer Bread (olive and cheddar style)

Ahh it's almost that time of year again... Hawkeye Football Season! In fact, the season starts in just three short weeks. Few things get my heart pumping the same way that the kickoff of football season does. The boys of fall will be back soon and I absolutely cannot wait!

One thing that goes well with football season is having plenty of great snacks for tailgaiting and game watching. Although we might start the day with a bloody mary, it's important to provide some heavier foods along with them. A lot of the time we put out a variety of dips in the crock pot along with some finger food. Two of my favorite warm dips are Spicy Beef and Cheese and Jalepeno Popper Dip. But sometimes you just want something a little more hearty than chips.

And that is exactly what this beer bread delivers. It's a great, crunchy bread that can stand up to any dip or chili. Plus it's a snap to make! We've been throwing this together for years now but I've just found time to blog about it. Seems like perfect timing to me!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour



• 3 tsp baking powder (omit if using self-rising flour)



• 1 tsp salt (omit if using self-rising flour)



• 1/4 cup sugar



• 1 (12 oz) can of Budweiser



• 2 TBSP melted butter

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease your loaf pan by coating it in Pam Spray



• Mix dry ingredients together first, then add beer. Mix well.



• **In this version I made an Olive and Cheddar beer bread. I added about 1/4 cup chopped black and green olives along with 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Using or omitting these items will not change the basic recipe and items listed above.



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• The mixture will be thick, but that's a good thing!



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• Place it in your loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to one hour.



• About 5 minutes before the bread is done, pull from the oven and brush with melted butter. Return to the oven for the remaining time.

I know I geeked out a bit over the upcoming football season, but this bread isn't just for sports fans ;) In fact, it's great to pick at anytime of the year! And since this is a more dense crusty bread, it is delicious when dipped in oil with a little parmesean and cracked black pepper.

As I said above, I added olives and cheddar to this simple bread recipe which gave it a nice salty kick. However, it is great without those additions too. I've also made this with other types of beer. I once used Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat and it gave the bread a bit of a sweet, berry flavor. Get creative. You can't screw it up!

And regardless of how you modify the recipe or what event you make it for, GO HAWKS!

Source: Food.com