Am I thinking about beer because it is October?

Ok, so Oktoberfest is actually in September, not October, but we Americans aren't known for standing on tradition. I'm not actually a beer fan, but I do love German food. German potato salad is one of my favorites. For my husband's birthday, we made a trip to Full Throttle Bottles to replenish his beer stock. As if it was in fear of running out! I think that got my brain heading towards thoughts of beer. Although, he purchased a lovely bottle of chocolate wine for me on the trip, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Today I decided I'd raid some of his older beer and make some beer bread. It just sounded so yummy on a cool yet sunny Seattle day. I really wanted some cheddar beer bread, but already had plans to use the remains of my cheddar cheese making Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes and I didn't really feel like making a trip to the grocery. So I started thinking about what might sound good and what was handy. I had some lovely parm and garlic, and well, how can you go wrong with that combo!

When it came out of the oven, Sean was ready to jump all over it. My hope was to have a bit with dinner and then I'd have some left to join my potato leek soup this week. He opted to cut some and start sharing it with the kids, the neighbor, and the neighbor's kids. Blargh! Luckily there is still half a loaf left, so I should be good for a day or two. Next time, I hide the bread!

You'll notice I've split the butter in half. I did this due to a lucky accident I had with a beer bread mix a number of years ago. I wasn't paying attention and accidentally added the melted butter to the mix. I realized too late, so I melted another 1/4 cup and poured it on top. It made the box mix so much better.

Parmesan Garlic Beer Bread

3 cups flour (sifted)
1 T baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12 ounce) can beer
1/2 cup melted butter (divided into two  1/4 c)
2 cloves garlic crushed (I love the frozen stuff from Trader Joe's, so convenient)
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
chopped dried garlic to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. If you have self rising flour (I do not, you can omit the baking powder and salt, they are already in there). Add in the sugar and parmesan cheese and stir. Melt 1/4 c of butter in the microwave with the garlic (both kinds).  Pour in butter and beer and stir.

Pour beer bread batter into a prepared loaf pan. I use the stoneware pan from Pampered Chef. It makes a lovely loaf of bread and once it's seasoned you never have to worry about preparing it again!

Melt the other 1/4 c of butter in the microwave. Pour the butter across the top of the bread batter in the loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour until golden brown.

In theory, allow to cool a bit before eating. Didn't happen in my house, but maybe some people can manage that. So if you can, after about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool on the counter.

Also make sure sift, or at the very least whisk the dry ingredients to get it all broken up and light. You'll get a better result.