This being the month of St. Patrick’s Day, no doubt there’s been a lot of stout drinking going around, mostly in the form of Guinness and Murphy’s, but not for vegans, of course. Word to the beer-drinking wise: neither Guinness nor Murphy’s are Vegan. Fortunately there are plenty of brewers who do make vegan stout – Mendocino Brewing Company, New Holland Brewing and Samuel Smiths Brewery just to name a few – and there’s a lot more you can do than simply drink it. In fact, stout makes a wonderful bread
This rustic Stout and Treacle quick bread couldn’t be simpler to make and comes together quickly simply by mixing self-raising flour with a bit of sugar, dark treacle, salt and of course, that frothy malty stout of deliciousness. Its the bubbles in the stout that help give the bread its rise, so don’t go using old stale beer in this recipe.
This bread is delicious straight out of the oven but even better the next day, toasted with a good slather of nut butter or vegan butter – and perhaps a little cinnamon and sugar if that’s your thing.
Stout and Treacle Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups self-rising flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup dark treacle (or molasses)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 12 ounces of fresh stout beer
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf tin.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and sugar and whisk it all together.
- Slowly pour the stout into the flour mixture. Partially stir the beer into dry ingredients. When it’s about halfway mixed, add the treacle and mix well until just combined.
- Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Put into the oven and bake for about 50 minutes (check the loaf at 40 minutes – when a toothpick inserted into the deepest part of the loaf comes out clean, it’s done).
- Let the loaf cool for about 5 minutes and then turn it out onto a rack to cook completely.