Holy Moly, what a Goalie….
First off, let us congratulate #62 Jen T of Not Microwave Safe is the winner of the mini loaf pans. I used Random.org if you are wondering how the winner was chosen. If you aren’t Jen and didn’t win, not to worry I am sure since so many people have been converted to the way of the mini loaf that I will be giving them away from time to time.
I am sure you are surprised to see something savory up. It’s been awhile. But sometimes it’s good to throw people off. It also happens to go nicely with this soup. It also happens to coincide with what happened to me today while running errands.
Today I went to workout. I was dressed to workout. Yoga pants, baggy t-shirt, hockey sweatshirt, no make up. On the way home I decided I would quick run in and get something at the drug store, facial cleanser and some tea (only people who carry it around here) if you must know. I’m looking for my facial cleanser when I notice this guy staring at me. I did recognize him, but wasn’t sure why. I figure I just must know him from hockey. I know a lot of guys from hockey. And in a very round about way he was from hockey.
He was a goalie. That I used to date (briefly). In Arizona. Many, many, many years ago. Great. One of the advantages of moving to another state after you get married is so you don’t have to have the I am looking like crap while running in to an ex.
He was up here visiting his sister, who I do recall him saying he lived in WA state. But back then I lived in AZ and never planned on living in WA so what did I care, eh? But low and behold there he was…yay. My only saving grace was why he was at the drug store. He was sent on a tampon run by his sister. 
So, at least there was that.
Normal people wouldn’t relate that experience to food. But right away, I was like, I need to make beer bread. I had planned on making bread to go with my leftover soup. Why beer bread? Have you looked at beer bread? It’s far from pretty. Which is of course, how I felt today.
Beer bread is always easy (I am not, so let’s not tie me in with that metaphor) and usually tastes good. I have tried a few recipes that weren’t that great. I used part beer and part hard cider. I had some, as a referee friend of mine had made some and I was drinking it at the time (one needs a drink when you run ugly into your ex). You could use just all beer. I threw in some white cheddar and some Gouda that I had in the fridge. You could use any cheese, but I would stick with a cheddar if you are using the hard cider in the bread. They go nicely together.
I play hockey tonight. I think I might go run the other team’s goalie just to let out some pent up anger. 
Or I could just eat bread.
Cheesy Beer-Hard Cider Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 TBSP granulated sugar
¾ cup white cheddar cheese, shredded
¼ cup Gouda cheese, shredded
8 fluid oz beer
4 fluid oz hard cider (you can use all beer if you want)
½ cup melted butter
Preheat oven to 350F.
Butter a 9-x-5-inch loaf pan (amazingly I did not use mini)
In a large bowl sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together.
Add the cheeses and mix with a wooden spoon.
Add the beer and cider. Mix until incorporated but not much more. Don’t over mix.
Pour half of the melted butter into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spoon batter into pan. Top batter with remaining butter.
Bake for 50 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
Beer bread is best when eaten warm. I also like to let it get stale and make savory stuffing with it.
Adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather
55 Responses
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October 25th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
This looks great! I have some local cheddar that I need to use up.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
That is a drop dead gorgeous shot of the bread with the steam rising up from it. What a beauty! As to running into the random ex…what can I say, that sucks.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
If I didn’t know you lived in WA, I would have had to ask if you really ran the goalie tonight to make sure you were ok. My husband was playing hockey tonight when someone on the other team ran the goalie.They didn’t take too kindly to that and the one that ran the goalie found that out in no uncertain terms. Not sure what the penalties were afterwards as the husband hasn’t made it home yet and all I got was a brief phone call. Does the bread have a strong beer smell to it, or does most of the alcohol bake out of it? I think the guys my husband works with would like the bread, but i don’t want to get them drunk at work like Guinness brownies sometimes do.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
hehe atleast he was there for an odd reason.
I know those kind of days, I think all girls know those kind of days. The bread looks great and good luck!
October 25th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Definitely bookmarking this one because I have a feeling my beer-loving boyfriend will go wild over it!!
October 25th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
What a FUNNY story and incounter at the drugstore!!! And talk about a foodies inspiration! haha love it!
October 25th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Damn, you leave the house not looking your best and you ALWAYS run in to someone you want to look at least OK for…a former female boss who always looked perfect was my similar experience. At least the bread is supposed to be rough around the edges. Hope the opposing team hockey goalie survived tonight
October 25th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
That steamy picture is beautiful! This bread looks awesome!
October 25th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I love your shot with the steam! a gorgeous bread!
Cheers,
Rosa
October 25th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Oh, wow, that looks so good! WANT!
October 25th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
That second picture is amazing!
October 25th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Wow, is that steam for real? Amazing capture!
October 25th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
This bread looks fantastic! I love the stuffing idea- that’s a definite must-try for Thanksgiving!
October 25th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Oh wow, that shot of the steaming bread is award-winning, please find an event to post it too!!!
The beer bread is a regular on many SA barbecue spreads!!
October 25th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Oh man that is making me hungry – love that last shot.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Well, if we are talking in metaphors, can we say you are smokin’? Ha ha ha. I’ve never had beer bread before; I wonder if it tastes, well, beer-y.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:24 am
That bread looks excellent to me!! Must be very tasty too!!
MMMMMMMMMMM,..to enjoyed with a good warm bowl of home made soup!
October 26th, 2009 at 4:03 am
You ran into an old flame, eh? The plot thickens
LOVE LOVE LOVE the steam coming off of the cider bread!
October 26th, 2009 at 4:23 am
I completely agree – cider and chedder go great together (I LOVE cider!). As a non-beer fan (I know – bad Canadian girl), I’m wondering if it adds much of its flavour to the bread?
October 26th, 2009 at 4:34 am
I’m giggling. All of my old boyfriends would be really old by now, like me, and I think if we ran into each other at the drug store, we’d just burst out laughing at how middle-aged we’ve become! But hockey seems to be a great outlet for frustration, so I’m glad you got to play.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:46 am
And I have to make this now.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:35 am
This looks great! I’m always looking for homemade “not pretty” breads to have with stews and soups, and this is going to be the next one I try.
Thanks!
Have you ever tried Strongbow? It’s my favorite cider.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Fabulous photos! And a mouth-watering loaf of quick bread…cider, cheddar and gouda, oh my!
October 26th, 2009 at 7:55 am
why do we always run into ex’s at the weirdest times? seriously.
is that a good cookbook: the pastry queen? heard others talk about it.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Love the photos! Congrats to the winner!
October 26th, 2009 at 8:40 am
That beer bread looks great! I haven’t been a fan of beer bread in the past, but your photo makes it look so good, and cider sounds intriguing…
Yes, you’d think you could escape your past by moving to another state. These days though, people have a habit of tracking other people down via the internet. I’m not on Facebook or anything like that, but a few years ago I had an ex track me through my workplace’s web directory. Ugh. Let the past stay in the past, please!
October 26th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Beautiful pics with the steam! I keep meaning to make cheesy beer bread using our favorite locally brewed beer for my BF.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I’m so glad I have never run into an ex – at least not until this day. It must be a weird feeling, I guess. :S
Pea, your sweet recipes are to die for, but when you go savory… My goodness! This is absolutely wonderful.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Congrats to the winner! The winning photo is the birdseye view of that crunchy yummy top!
~ingrid
October 26th, 2009 at 11:19 am
The bread looked fabulous & i’m sure you did, too.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Beer, cheese, bread – the perfect way to get over a run-in with the ex. Love that pic with the steam swirling up.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I try to avoid going to Wal-Mart when visiting my hometown for JUST that reason. I come from a small town and everybody hangs out at Wal-Mart.
At least you were just picking up face wash and tea in your workout clothes and not something like Vagisil. He was probably embarrased that he was making a tampon run.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
That picture of the steam is killing me – yum! I’ve actually never had beer bread before, but I love all the ingredients, so I’m sure I’d be a fan!
October 26th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
This looks great, love the addition of the hard cider. Can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks for posting.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Hi Peabody! I’ve been following for awhile but this is my first time commenting. Your photograph of the steam rising from the bread is stunning! I’m going to have to try making this bread now so I can feebly try to replicate this shot.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Um…that picture with all the steam coming off the bread is AWESOME!!!! I made beer bread for the first time this summer and it is some kind of good. I bet cheese just makes it better.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
I’ve never had beer bread but I’m liking the way it sounds. So how was the ex holding up?
October 26th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
At first I thought you were going to say your ran into Martin Brodeur and I was going to get jealous:)
This bread looks great! I love all the flavors and that last photo of the steaming bread is making my mouth water.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Utterly breathtaking pic. Wow.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Don’t worry about him – happily married and running errands in another state definitely trumps tampon run for sister while visiting. Besides, he recognized you first and you had to think about it – so obviously, you win.
That bread looks sooooo ridiculously good – especially with all that gorgeous steam (holy crap – how did you get that shot!?) – that bread would be perfect here since we got our first snow of the season today.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Gee Pea, I am needing more details of what happened…did he look old/ hunky; did he seem glad to see you; Is he married with 10 kids? So many questions left unanswered.
I bet he is writing on his blog right now…” Remember the hockey girl that got away so many years ago and I have never really got over (it on an earlier blog post), well I ran into her at the drugstore.
She was looking radiant. I tried to hide but she spotted me. I wanted to die… I was buying tampons. She seems happy.”
Your bread looks fab. Beer and cheese bread. Millions of men will be wishing they had married you now. That is man magnet food.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
LOVE that bread! And it’s his loss
October 27th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Man, who would’ve thought that an ex would turn up in those circumstances? Fabulpus bread – love the steam rising off the top. Mmm, mmm.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Man, who would’ve thought that an ex would turn up in those circumstances? Fabulous bread – love the steam rising off the top. Mmm, mmm.
October 28th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Terrific story! You know you always look better than you think you do, right? And more importantly, how did HE look? Probably not as good as you.
Love the steamy shots! I have some hard cider that has been sitting in my pantry forever, this a great way to use it.
October 28th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
This looks delicious, Peabody. (And might I add the steamy picture is pretty darn HOT!) It’s actually going to be down in the 50 here in Phoenix tonight, so I might whip up some of this yummy bread!
October 29th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
That’s too funny…I love that he was buying tampons. I’m sure he had an “oh crap” moment as well.
The bread looks great of course.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Oh dearie me. This post, for some reason, makes me want to drink beer and eat this bread…you can sport it up while I do so.
October 31st, 2009 at 1:31 am
My husband would absolutely love this bread. Thanks for posting the recipe.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:35 am
I have been wanting to try making a cheesy beer bread and I really like the sound of adding cider to it!
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:51 pm
wow, love the photo with the steam. i haven’t made homemade bread in a while…maybe i should put the mini loaf pans on my christmas wish list for this year
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:18 am
Wow. I am so hungry right now and I think I could eat the whole loaf of this!!
November 4th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Wow that bread looks absolutely delicious! My b/f loves anything to do with beer, so I know he’d love this!
November 6th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Beautiful shot of the smoke coming up from the bread!! I love the photography!
December 19th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
What a photo! And what a bread-I made this tonight during our blizzard (with a few substitutions due to our inability to leave the house) to go with some chili and we ate half the bread and almost no chili! I’ll post the adjustments if you’re interested!