No Knead Beer Cheese Bread

What’s better than bread? Well, honestly not much but homemade bread. And homemade bread that requires no kneading and little effort but big flavor? Might be the top of the list. This no-knead beer cheese bread is exactly that.

I took my Easy White-Wheat Dutch Oven Bread and adapted it to make this beer cheese bread. Essentially I added cheese and beer. If you’ve ever had a beer cheese dip with soft pretzels, you’ll know why I had the idea.

Now, I’m not a beer drinker. I think pretty much most of it just tastes bitter, and bitter is not a taste my palate prefers. But I do know, adding beer to things can make them taste great. Whether it’s dips or meat for braising, it can add a great depth of flavor. But when you don’t drink beer, how was I supposed to know what kind of beer to add? I assumed I didn’t want to just pour in a can of bud light but that will probably work too.

From what I read, malty and wheat beers offered the best flavors to enhance the natural flavors in traditional bread. Which made sense. There’s still a great variety even within those, so I tried to stick to brands that are available pretty readily. I tried it with both Heineken and Fat Tire. Fat tire is described as an amber ale (however many reviews stated that was generous and closer to blonde), with a malty cereal grain flavor and some floral notes. Heineken is a malt lager, and is described as having malty sweet/fruity flavor. (Excuse my terrible beer reviews haha).

When it comes to the cheese portion, I went with sharp cheddar and muenster, but you could go with any cheese that you can grate. Something like brie would be a no. Cheddar is always a great option as it’s melty and the sharp versions have a good recognizable flavor. Plus, at least in America it’s incredibly easy to find.

Honestly, one the best things about this beer cheese bread though is how easy it is. You don’t need to knead, you just need to have time. You mix the dough for maybe 60 seconds, and then 12 hours later you fold it onto itself and that’s it. Time does all the work. You do need a dutch oven though, but it doesn’t need to be anything expensive or fancy. Something like this Lodge one would be perfectly fine. You don’t need a $500 Le Creuset for this recipe.

Beer Cheese Bread Key Ingredients

• Beer – I tested this beer cheese bread with both Heineken and Fat Tire Ale and both tasted relatively similar. I think the Heineken might have had a slightly stronger beer taste. Feel free to experiment and try whichever beer you enjoy most.
• Cheese – Like beer, you can use your favorite kinds of cheese. I would recommend using one that is more flavorful (I used a sharp cheddar) and one that is more melty (I had Muenster in my drawer and chose that). However, any cheese that is good in mac and cheese would probably be great. Fontina, Gruyere, Gouda, Mozzarella, Pepper jack, etc.
• Yeast – There is yeast in beer, yes. However that is not enough to give this bread sufficient rise. We use a small amount of instant yeast to help give this bread the structure it needs.

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