Guinness Bread with Molasses
Ingredients
3 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
A pinch of salt (roughly 1/8 teaspoon)
12 ounces of Guinness extra stout
Butter for greasing the pan and painting the top, about 3 tablespoons
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan well with butter.
Whisk together the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl:
Slowly pour the Guinness into the flour mixture. (The “pub cans” are larger than 12 ounces, but they have better carbonation, so I pour most of it out and leave a swig to drink. This has never failed me, but if you are a stickler, use a 12-ounce bottle of Guinness instead.)
Start stirring the beer into the dry ingredients, and when you are about halfway done, add the molasses. Mix well, just to combine.
Don’t work the heck out of the batter – because that’s what it’ll look like – but you don’t want lumps, either.
Pour into the loaf pan to no more than 2/3 full. Pop into the oven immediately and bake at 350°F for 50 minutes. Since ovens can vary, check the bread after 40 minutes and see if a tester inserted into the deepest part of the loaf comes out clean. If it does, you’re done.
Let the loaf cool a bit, maybe 5 minutes, and then turn it out onto a rack. Paint it with lots of soft butter, which will melt as you go.
