Recipes / Bread
Classic beer bread (bierbrood)
The four-ingredient South African bierbrood: self-raising flour, a can of beer, sugar and salt, baked in a loaf tin in the oven or a covered kettle braai.
- CoalsGas
- No fire needed
- Prep
- 10 min
- On the fire
- 50 min
- Plan ahead
- 10 minutes cooling in the tin
- Serves
- 1 loaf, 10 to 12 slices
- Done at
- 200°F (93°C)
Ingredients
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). For a kettle braai, set it up for indirect heat with low coals on both sides and none in the middle, and aim for the same temperature under the lid.
- Butter a loaf tin of about 22 x 12 cm (9 x 5 inches) and line the base with baking paper.
- Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- Open the beer and pour it straight in while it is still fizzy.
- Stir with a wooden spoon until no dry flour is left. Stop there, because more mixing makes a tough loaf.
- Scrape the sticky dough into the tin, push it into the corners and brush the top with the melted butter.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. In the kettle, put the tin in the middle of the grid away from the coals, close the lid and turn the tin halfway through.
- Leave it in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack.
Done when: the top is golden and cracked, the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the base, a skewer in the middle comes out clean, and the centre reads about 93°C (200°F).
Tips
- Flat beer gives a dense, heavy loaf. Use a freshly opened can and get the dough into the heat soon after mixing.
- A dark beer or stout gives a darker loaf with a stronger, slightly bitter taste. The alcohol bakes out.
- Serve it warm with butter and apricot jam, or slice it for boerewors and tomato smoor sandwiches.
Bierbrood is the bread South Africans make when there is no time for yeast. A can of beer does the work: the bubbles and the raising agent in the flour lift the dough, and it goes from bowl to tin in ten minutes. It is the easy cousin of the slow-proved potbrood, and like mielie bread it bakes as well in a covered kettle braai as in the kitchen oven.
Source
Adapted from Bierbrood at FIN Global.