Shiner Bock Beer Bread

My future son-in-law, Chris, loves Shiner Bock beer, and when he visits, the fridge is well-stocked with it. There was one lone bottle left from the last visit, and hubby and I aren't beer drinkers, so what better use to make of it than in bread.

We recently visited Salt Grass Steakhouse (Texas to the bone!) and enjoyed their pre-dinner bread. I found a "copykat" recipe and made a couple of adjustments to accommodate what I had on hand and for the bread machine. My changes were to substitute rye flour for whole wheat flour, to eliminate the water, and to use part honey, part molasses in place of all honey.

My iPhone photos don't do the bread justice, but the results were excellent! Moist and slightly sweet, it tasted like what we had in the restaurant, only better. Rye flour gave it a nutty depth, and the molasses, well it always makes bread better, in my opinion. The bread sliced easily, smelled so good while baking, and was the perfect accompaniment to our grilled chicken and salad.

Shiner Bock Beer Bread
See CopyKat.com for original recipe
adapted for bread machine

1-1/2 -1-3/4 cup Shiner Bock beer, flat and room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast

Mix beer, honey, molasses, and oil and pour into bread pan. Whisk together flours and salt and scoop onto liquid. Make a well in flour mixture and pour in yeast. Set bread machine to Dough cycle. When cycle is complete, remove dough onto floured surface and punch down. Knead in small amounts of flour if necessary to keep from sticking. Cut dough into 3 equal portions and form each portion into round loaf. Place loaves on lightly oiled or parchment prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap that has been lightly sprayed with baking spray. Let rise until doubled, or about 30 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove to wire rack and allow to cool before slicing.