I have been making this simple 4 ingredient beer bread for as long as I can remember. It is buttery and crunchy on top and never lasts more than a couple hours in our house. I got the recipe from the family member years and years ago. We just love how easy it is, while also being the best beer bread recipe!

What is the Best Beer to Use for Beer Bread?

I personally like a lager or brown ale for beer bread. Hypothetically, you could use any beer you wanted, because the carbonation is the key for this bread. But I probably wouldn’t suggest a fruity beer or a sour– I can’t imagine that a Bud Light Lime would be your best choice for this beer! I also don’t care for super hoppy beers in this beer bread, so I probably wouldn’t personally choose an IPA. However, a pumpkin beer would probably be super tasty in this.

My go-to choices are whatever brown ale or lager we have in the fridge. Pabst Blue Ribbon and Budweiser are great accessible choices!

What Can I Use Instead of Self-Rising Flour?

If you don’t have self-rising flour– don’t fret! The recipe I was given calls for self-rising flour, which definitely makes it more intriguing as a 4 ingredient beer bread recipe. However, I’m willing to bet most people don’t keep self-rising flour in their pantries these days! I almost always go out of my way to get self-rising flour, because it makes this recipe as simple as possible (and also why mess with a good thing?).

But if you can’t make a trip to the store, according to BHG, for every cup of self-rising flour, you can substitute one cup of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon baking soda.

4 Ingredient Beer Bread Recipe

4 ingredients is all you need! 3 cups self rising flour, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 12 oz of beer, and 1/4 of melted salted butter (if using unsalted butter, make sure to add a pinch of salt to it).

All you do is preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, mix your flour, sugar, and beer together in a bowl until the big lumps are gone. Try not to over mix!

Then transfer your batter to a greased loaf pan before placing in the oven for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, briefly remove from the oven to pour the melted butter over the loaf evenly. Then return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes.

Once removed from oven, let cool slightly before removing from loaf pan and letting cool completely before cutting into loaf!

Beer Bread Optional Add-Ins

The sky is the limit to customize this recipe. Adding fresh herbs to the batter is one way. You could also make this beer bread a bit reminiscent of Red Lobster bread and add shredded cheddar cheese to the mix and mix some garlic powder, parsley, onion powder, and salt into the butter mixture to be poured over the loaf.

Here’s the picture of the recipe I was given years ago! Love a simple recipe from family!

If you are looking for additional minimal ingredient recipes, check out my 3-ingredient pumpkin muffins or 5-ingredient brie with apricots!

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