Beer bread V1.0

Getting a bit disappointed with the progress of the beer bread, I decided to go back to the beginning, almost.  Here is the recipe I have been using.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 can lite beer, room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Mix flour, sugar, and beer.
3. Pour into nonstick bread pan that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray.
4. Let sit 15 minutes to rise.
5. Bake until thumping bread sounds hollow (≈50 minutes).

The 3 cups of flour my original attempt weighed 450 grams {although the bag of flour claims 3 cups should only be 360 grams}.  The 2 tbsp. of sugar weighed 35 grams.  A can of beer is 12 fluid ounces.  Therefore, I combined those ingredients until just enough to moisten the flour and poured it into the pan.

The left-hand photo is the dough after mixing, and the right-hand photo is after 15 minutes of rise.  The pan has not been sprayed, as I did not do that the first time I made the bread.  Also, the original recipe included an egg wash.  I did not like what that did to the top crust, so I abandoned it.  That should not have a bearing on the dough rise, should it?  {I hate when I think of another experiment I have to do.}  As the photos show, there was a rise but not really to sandwich bread height.  I let the bread sit another 10 minutes to see if there would be any more rise.

Nope.  There was no perceptible additional rise with the additional 10 minutes.  {I'm going to have to get out my tripod so comparative pictures are all taken from the same angle from now on.}  My recollection is that the first bread rose higher.  I also recollect the top of the refrigerator was warmer on the first batch.  Perhaps it isn't rising due to lack of warmth during the rise.

It also had crust and crumb problems, which is why I started trying to improve the recipe.

The baked (left) and cut (right) loaf.  First thing I learned is USE THE DARNED COOKING SPRAY!  After that, the loaf is pretty much as I remember.  The crust is thick and crunchy, more like French bread than sandwich bread.  Now I just have to figure out how to get it to rise more.

The pictures on the page appear smaller than they are.  To see them larger, simply double click on the picture.  Also, I always welcome your constructive criticism.  Click on the Comment link below next to the icon of a pencil; it may say “No” or have a number in front of it.