Cheddar-Scallion Beer Bread (Gluten-Free)

It’s amazing to me how many more gluten-free options there are both at the grocery store and in restaurants. That has certainly made it easier to remain wheat-free. I’ve found good alternatives for homemade sweets (cakes, brownies, cookies and quick breads), pastas and crackers. But bread is still the hardest to recreate in a wheat-free world.

Last week I was having lunch with my friend, Deb B, who is gluten-free. We were reminiscing about real bread and that got me thinking that maybe beer bread would be a good compromise.

This is a slight variation from a recipe I found on the Cup4Cup website. I’ve had such good luck with Cup4Cup flour that I figured it was a good place to start. The bread turned out well – moist on the inside and a bit of “crust” on the outside.  It also made a nice tall loaf which is satisfying as so many loaves of gluten-free bread are small. While I eat barley and rye so I could use most beers for this recipe, I wanted to make it truly gluten-free so Deb could enjoy it. I used a bottle of Omission’s Lager which is specially crafted to remove the gluten. Dare I say that this bread satisfied some of that “bread made from wheat” craving.

While this recipe can be made using traditional all-purpose flour and beer, you can also check out two other recipes for beer bread on Riegl Palate that are quite tasty:  Guinness Beer Bread and Whole Wheat-Rosemary Beer Bread.

Don’t know much about gluten-free beer? Check out Paste’s The Best Gluten-Free Beers (Blind Tasting) and Bon Appétit’s 17 Gluten-Free Beers That Actually Taste Good [Updated for 2016!].

Note that I’m only wheat-free and not gluten-free. I do eat barley and rye – the other two gluten-producing grains. While oats do not contain gluten they can be easily cross-contaminated with wheat, barley or rye (either when growing or in production facilities) so I always look for oats that are marked gluten-free.