Basic Sourdough Beer Bread Recipe

Sourdough beer bread

Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons 2.0

Prep: 2 hrs 15 mins
Cook: 45 mins
Total: 3 hrs
Servings: 20 servings

It’s only natural that beer tastes great when added to sourdough bread. The flavor of the beer and sourdough blends perfectly to make a bread with a strong taste of hops.

Before you begin, you will need to have a sourdough starter ready to go. You can use any starter you like and may enjoy playing with the combination of different styles of beer and different starter bases. For instance, a rye sourdough starter may make an interesting bread with a hoppy IPA beer. Have fun with this recipe and experiment to your heart's content.

The recipe is designed to create two medium-sized loaves and you can freeze one either after the first rise or once it has been baked. 

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces beer, room temperature

  • 1 cup sourdough starter

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • 5 cups bread flour

Steps to Make It

Preparing the Bread Dough

This recipe calls for just four ingredients, so you will actually spend more time kneading the dough than mixing it.

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. In a large bowl, combine beer and sourdough starter.

  3. Stir in sugar until it has dissolved.

  4. Mix in enough flour to form a dough that can be kneaded with hands.

  5. Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead dough for about 10 minutes. Add more flour while kneading, about a tablespoon at a time, until dough is no longer sticky to the touch.

  6. It is now time to sit back and wait for the dough to rise (or '"proof" in bread baking lingo). Like most bread, this sourdough needs to go through two stages of proofing with a little kneading and shaping in between.

  7. Place dough in a greased bowl and flip dough over so that top is also greased.

  8. Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 1/2 hours or until it has doubled in size.

  9. Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead for 5 minutes.

  10. Divide dough in half and form each half into a loaf.

  11. Grease two bread pans and place loaves in pans.

  12. Cover with a towel and let rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Once dough has proofed for the final time, it's ready to bake.

Baking the Bread

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

  2. Bake bread for about 45 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped.

  3. Remove loaves from pans and allow to cool on a rack or clean towel.

  4. Loaves may be bagged and frozen for later use.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
172 Calories
1g Fat
35g Carbs
5g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 20
Amount per serving
Calories 172
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 1g 1%
Saturated Fat 0g 1%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 2mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 35g 13%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 5g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 8mg 1%
Iron 1mg 3%
Potassium 53mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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