Onion & Cheese Beer Bread

Below is another recipe that I originally posted on Six Degrees of Supperation. I love that the post includes pictures from my family's 2010 "Dolphin Point Olympics" :). 

I absolutely love homemade bread, but making homemade bread can be very time consuming.  However, with beer bread, there is no kneading, no yeast needed (the beer does the work), and no waiting for the dough to rise. And of course, it is delicious! Let's get started...

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• ½ Cup Finely Chopped Onion
• ¼ Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Garlic Cloves, Minced
• 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Cup Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 12oz Bottle Lager-Style Beer
• 2 Tablespoons Butter

Start by dicing the onion.

Next, if you are like me, you will have to take a break because your eyes are burning and watering from chopping an onion. But I got all I needed without having to leave the room this time :).

At least chopping garlic doesn't make me cry (note that I chopped some extra garlic here for another recipe...you just need two cloves for the bread).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 10 minutes, or until browned, stirring occasionally.

Stir in pepper and garlic and cook for another minute. The whole house should be smelling really good at this point.

Set aside the yummy oniony, garlicky mixture.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Make a well in the center of the mixture.

Add the cheese, onion mixture, and beer to the flour mixture.

I won't tell anyone if you steal a small sip.

Speaking of beer...I made this bread for my family last week during our annual 4th of July trip to Port O'Connor...a trip that includes our annual "Dolphin Point Olympics." One of the events is beer pong. While Josh and I won last year, my beer-pong-champ-of-a-husband couldn't make it down this year, so my sister Hannah and I teamed up.

We were the Pink Ladies.

Despite a valiant effort, we lost...badly...to a team that had never played beer pong before...my grandparents!!

Do you see me slumped over in defeat? Unbelievable.

Anyway, back to the beer bread...

Stir the mixture until just moist. Don't overmix or the bread will get tough.

Spoon batter into a 9x5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle one Tablespoon of melted butter over the top.

Bake for 35 minutes...and get ready for your house to smell AMAZING!

Take out of the oven and drizzle with remaining one Tablespoon of melted butter.

Bake for an additional 25 minutes or until deep golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool in the pan for five minutes, and then remove from the pan to cool completely.

Slice and enjoy. I recommend slathering the piece with butter :).

Look at those yummy bits of cheesy, oniony goodness in there. Mmmmm.

Also, the leftovers (if there are any) make for really good toast at breakfast.