As you may or may not know, I am a big frequenter of food and cooking blogs along with beer blogs, and when I saw this recipe for garlic + herb beer bread on one my favorite food blogs some time ago, I knew I wanted to make it. I just never got around to it for some reason. But when I tried Dogfish Head’s new Saison du Buff, I knew I had the perfect beer for it.
Saison du Buff is, clearly, a saison (link for those who need a reference), with a very Simon-and-Garfunkle-ish twist: it’s brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
I have always been a fan of beers with ingredients or tastes that you wouldn’t normally think to put in your beer: I love smoked ales and lagers, am always eager to try beers brewed with cocoa or maple syrup or chai tea, love sour ales, would drink a bacon beer if there is one. I love palate-mash-ups of savory and sweet, sweet and smokey, sour and sweet, what have you. So this unusual beer was right up my alley- you don’t normally think to drink such savory herbs; they are reserved for turkey stuffing or…well, beer bread. Since I was a fan of the beer, and it shared many of the same ingredients the recipe called for, I knew it was the perfect beer with which to make this bread.
And the recipe is just about the easiest thing I’ve ever made. You first mix 3 cups flour and all the herbs and spices it calls for in a bowl.
I had to make some substitutions, but that’s part of the adventure of cooking: we only had 1 cup of all-purpose flour left, so I used 1 cup all-purpose and 2 cups bread flour. We didn’t have dill, so I used chives. And we didn’t have any fresh herbs (and I wasn’t going to go out and buy expensive packets of fresh herbs just for this recipe), so the ones that were supposed to be fresh were actually dried (and I didn’t bother to adjust the measurements- it was just really herby!). I also just heaped in some forkfulls of garlic, because in my experience, you don’t have to measure garlic: there can never be too much. And none of any of the ingredients were local, that I know of (it was the concept of the original recipe, but I didn’t worry too much about it here).
Anyhow, then you pour the bottle of beer in:
Then you swirl it all around, until you end up with a very thick batter like this:
Then you bake it in the oven at 375* for 45 minutes. And you get this:
Which you then cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then on it’s own for another 10 minutes (minimum…can be served at room temperature so it doesn’t really matter). Then you slice…and take lots of luscious bread pictures:
Then you serve it with something delicious. We went with giant meatballs:
Overall, I think it was a success. I’m not sure if my bread flour substitution had anything to do with it, but I would’ve liked it to be just a tad moister…maybe I’ll throw a little butter in next time. Overall, though, it was fluffy and delicious, and fantastic covered in a little of the tomato sauce from the meatballs. And will be eaten again for lunch tomorrow (or actually today, by the time I post this…I sometimes like to save posts to put up during the day when people are more likely to read it) along with a hot bowl of creamy tomato soup.
As a side note, I normally would have bought another bottle of the Saison du Buff to pair with dinner (we only had one left in the fridge). But when I went to Total Wine to get another bottle on Saturday, they were COMPLETELY SOLD OUT. And then the day of breadmaking I had a headache and was feeling really lazy and didn’t want to run out again, so I decided to just cook with it and leave the pairing for another time. I’m sure it would have been awesome though. The herbs in the beer (and the light body) would have gone well with the meatballs, which were heavy but had many of the same spices (like the bread).
yummmmmmmmmmmm!! I love that bread!
Thanks for the recipe!! Haha I’ve been quietly stalking your blog for some time now and it’s provided me with many delicious ideas 🙂
Does this Saison du Buff that you used have a lower alcohol content then other beers? I think I might like the herby mixture in this beer. Might see if Woodley Wines & Spirits downtown has it- dad and I are making a run there today.
Don’t think so- I think it’s around 5% or so, average. Definitely try it if they have it!! This is probably a stupid question given the name, but where is Woodley Wine & Spirits? Woodley Park? And is it worth trekking to Woodley Park for?
Yes, Woodley Park, and it is worth trekking to for 2 reasons: 1. in addition to wine/beer/spirits, they also have a great selection of organic, Swiss method decaffeinated coffee beans, and 2: they sell smoked whitefish in their deli.
Mmmmmmm. Actual smoked whitefish or whitefish salad? If it’s the former, you sold me on just that.
Actual, whole or half smoked fish! What beer would you pair with that?
http://shmaltz.com/HEBREW/index.html
The chosen beer! Hahaha
good one!
Sounds damn tasty! Wish I could find this beer locally.
Oh no! Do you live in a town without a Total Wine or similar craft brew emporium?! I couldn’t imagine such a life…
No, we have multiple Total Wines, but for some reason they don’t have it yet.
Definitely keep your eyes peeled- it’s worth every poor rendering of the Simon & Garfunkle hit that people will give when they see you drinking it.
I forgot to mention in the post that it’s a joint effort between DFH, Stone, and Victory, which is kind of cool…and which is why I’m now tacking on that info in the comments 🙂