Cheddar Beer Bread (with Rosemary!)

No matter what time of the year and irregardless of what season you’re in, the aroma of fresh baked bread is irresistible. Whether you’ve kneaded and worked the bread dough yourself or garnared the assistance of your trusty bread machine, those efforts for freshly baked bread…was done with love.

So imagine, if you will, the last 30 minutes or so of this cheddar beer bread (with rosemary!) baking – the aroma…

My bread machine has never been happier. In the last couple of months, I’ve put it to good use over a half-a-dozen times! Besides the bread machine recipes I’ve accumulated from a couple of companies known for their active yeast products, I didn’t really have a good reference for a myriad of bread machine options. That was until I tested and played with some recipes from 300 Best Bread Machine Recipes (book review at the end of this post). I’ve made this cheddar beer bread at least three times already. The first time I made it without any changes to the original ingredients. The second and third time, I adjusted and added to the ingredients and it still turned out fantastic!

Bread is always its best freshly baked and this cheddar beer bread is no exception to that expectation. However, slicing into it the next day, slathering some whipped butter on it and either grilling or frying it in a pan – yow! The flavors are subtle, but intensified and it’s good! Eat it as is or slice it up for sandwich bread.

Buttermilk Powder
This recipe calls for buttermilk powder. Before using this fantastic accumulation of bread machine recipes, I had never used or heard of buttermilk powder. Luckily for me, found it at my local, handy-dandy Walmart and picked up a couple cannisters of this magic powder. Buttermilk powder softens the texture of the bread and intensifies/heightens the ingredient’s flavors. Substitute nonfat dry milk if buttermilk powder is not accessible.

Get this recipe and about 300 more from the 300 Best Bread Machine Recipes book (review follows).

• Note: My modifications are not reflected in the ingredients listed below.
• Author suggested adding 1/4 teaspon dry mustard to sharpen the cheese flavor. I added a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard.
• Increased cheddar cheese from 3/4 cup to 1 cup, packed.
• Set the crust control to medium.
• Added 1 tablespoon of fresh, chopped rosemary (could’ve probably used more).
• Found buttermilk powder at Walmart.

300 Best Bread Machine Recipes by Donna Washburn & Heather Butt

300 Best Bread Machine Recipes
by Donna Washburn & Heather Butt

This hefty cookbook of bread machine recipes includes helpful sections on some basic bread machine tidbits to get the most from the recipes presented, and adjustments for success with your bread machine. In addition to a rundown on common ingredients, there’s a troubleshooting page, and ingredient and technique glossary. The chapters include (with three recipe titles):

• The Basics in Four Sizes – includes recipes for four different loaf sizes to fit your machine (1.5 lb, 2 lb, 2.5 lb, and 3 lb sizes) – Cracked Wheat Bread, Flaxseed Bread, Blonde Panttone.
• New Era Breads – Up-to-date ingredients for today’s generation. Apple Walnut Oatmeal Bread, Carrot Cornbread, Lemon Pepper Lavosh.
• By Request – Request from readers and new ideas. Boston Brown Bread, Twice-Baked Potato Bread, Whole Wheat Applesauce Loaf.
• Lower-Fat and Flavorful – Potato Chive Bread, Vegetable Tarragon Wheat Bread, Carrot Lovers’ Poppy Seed Bread.
• Healthy and Hearty Grains, Seeds and Nuts – High-fiber multigrain breads. Seven-Grain Bran Bread, Autumn Pumpkin Seed Bread, Apple Date Granola Bread.
• Savory Wraps, Flatbreads and Filled Breads – Dough preparation for some classics. Ciabatta, Focaccia, Calzones.
• Bagels and Sourdoughs – Muesli Bagels, Sourdough Baguettes, Sourdough Cracked Wheat Bread.
• Rolls by the Basketful – Double Cheese Dill Rolls, Saffron Currant Bath Buns with Lemon Glaze, Twelve-Grain Rolls.
• From the Hearth – Russian Black Bread with Spinach Dip, Tuscan Walnut Toasties, Sour Cream Pansies.
• Holiday Celebration Breads – Ukrainian Egg Bread/Kolach, Baba au Rhum, German Stollen
• Desserts – Chocolate Raspberry Danish, Banana Pecan Sticky Buns, Hazelnut Plum Ladder Loaf.
• Beyond Basics – Lemon Cake, Pineapple Coconut Cake, including six gluten free recipes.

For most of the recipes that finish off the bread into baked loaves, there are at least two different sized recipes for ingredient adjustments depending on your bread machine’s capacity. The author also offers tips and notes depending on the recipe.

Like a couple of the other cookbooks I have reviewed in the past from this publisher, Robert Rose Publishing, the book is not laden with photographs of the dough/breads. It’s absolutely not a deal breaker and whether you’re a novice or experienced person in the kitchen you will appreciate the inspiration, accuracy and myriad of recipes available through this cookbook.

This cookbook, like the 750 best Muffins book, are my constant go-to books that never make it back to my book shelf. They have a place in my kitchen and I find myself making more out of these books than any of the other cookbooks in my collection.

In future posts I’ll be featuring (without the actual recipes) more breads from this collection of bread machine goodies.

See also:

• 750 Best Muffin Recipes – featuring Pecan Pie Muffins/Cakelets.
• 300 Best Casserole Recipes – featuring Chicken and Dumpling Casserole.

Disclosure: I received a copy of 300 Best Bread Machine Recipes from the Publisher. I am under no obligation to write a review or mention the cookbook in my post. My views and experiences of the book are my own opinion without bias or ulterior motives. The links to the book contain my Amazon.com affiliate links.