Amstel Bread

Author: Alex Recker

I proudly offer my recipe for Amstel bread - reliable, consistent, and low maintenance - it's like the M16 of dinner sides. It makes a small loaf that serves about 4-5 people, and it's incredibly easy to throw together. No kneading required and very conservative with yeast.

I usually throw it together around 11 PM. That way, it's ready to proof by 10 AM and ready to bake around lunch time.

This works with any beer, although I'd recommend you'd stick to light beer.

Materials

  • water, cold (1 cup)
  • Amstel light (1 cup)
  • yeast, dry active (0.50 tsp)
  • flour, all purpose (4 cups)
  • kosher salt (3 tsp)

Procedure

  1. Add all ingredients into a bowl. Mix with a stand mixer and dough hook for 30 seconds, or by hand until the dough comes together in a sticky ball.

  2. Cover the bowl tightly in tinfoil. Set aside in a room temperature place. If you have a drafty house, a turned off oven works well. Let the yeast rise overnight.

  3. Remove the tinfoil. Using a rubber spatula, deflate the dough by scraping the sides and turning it over onto itself a few times with a folding & wiping motion.

  4. Scrape the sticky dough into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles, and gently smoothen the top with the spatula.

  5. Using a basting brush, lightly brush the top surface of the dough with oil.

  6. Cover with tinfoil and set aside to proof at room temperature for approximately 2-3 hours.

  7. Remove foil. Using a very sharp knife, make a slash down the middle of the of the dough surface about a quarter inch deep. It doesn't need to be pretty - this only serves as a weak point to control where the cracking happens.

  8. Bake at 450 F for 35 minutes.

  9. Immediately remove from pan and cool on a rack.