QUICK CRUMBLY ROSEMARY & THYME BREAD

From the amount of texts I have received from my friends in the last few weeks – it seems like everyone is trying to make bread! Unfortunately, at least for most of my friends… they can’t seem to find yeast. I said I would create a bread recipe for them without baker’s yeast, so here it is!

The best part? There’s no kneading, no rising time, and the entire process (with baking) takes under an hour!

This bread isn’t your typical sliced sandwich loaf – it’s rich, decadent and crumbly – but it definitely does the trick! The secret is to use a Beer instead of yeast! The yeast from the beer means this bread rises quickly in the oven giving you a scrumptious warm crunchy loaf to nibble on. I added fresh herbs to it, and flake salt, for an aromatic twist that made my whole house smell like Provence. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder (not soda!)

1 tsp Kosher salt

1/8 cup honey

1/8 cup light brown sugar 

1 (12 oz) beer (this can be any kind – the darker the beer the darker the flavor/color) – I used pumpkin beer which gave my bread a hint of an orangey color!

1/3 cup salted butter cut into squares

Fresh rosemary, chopped and 1 full sprig

Fresh thyme, chopped, and 3 full sprigs

Flake salt

PREPARATION

1.     Preheat oven to 375° F

2.     Grease an 8x4 loaf pan (9x5 works too) with butter – be generous and get all sides and bottom!

3.     Sift the flour into a mixer or large bowl (just pour/tap it through a sieve) to aerate the flour – this is important to give it some lightness – otherwise it will be very, very dense bread. If you don’t have a sieve then you should whisk the flour in the bowl.

4.     Add the baking powder and Kosher salt and combine.

5.     Pour in the full 12oz beer, the honey and the brown sugar and mix together with a spatula. DO not over mix this – you want it to be just combined so there are no dry parts– if there are a couple lumps that’s fine!

6.     Add in the herbs – I don’t like to use too much rosemary (1 tsp is fine) as it can sometimes be a bit bitter – but lots of thyme! Really any herbs will do. If you’re going for an Italian feel, try adding oregano to this mix too!

7.     Spoon the mixture into the loaf pan. 

8.     I like to top this bread at this point with some fresh rosemary and thyme (whole sprigs) as it looks pretty!

9.     Cover the entire bread loaf with the pats of butter (it might look like too much but trust me, this gives it the super crunchy bubbly crust!) 

10.  Sprinkle with flake salt. 

11.  Bake for 40-55 mins until golden brown and a toothpick put into the center comes out clean. 

12.  Serve warm with salted butter!