holding on

Despite the fact that the forecast is predicting temperatures in the 80s this week (and the week after), I am resolutely holding on to Autumn. After all, mornings and evenings are still cool, and the breeze still carries autumn with it, even with high temperatures.

So I made bread.

Even though by the afternoon the heat was in full force, I made bread with my windows open. It felt good to make something again. When Andy came back from New Mexico, he asked me what I'd been baking over the summer. "Nothing," I told him, somewhat abashedly. Aside from the complicated emotional pattern I had fallen into, there was also the fact that my time was spent hanging out with friends who were coming back, who were going away. There was no time for baking.



Bread is one of my favorite things to bake. I know that yeast scares people, but I can't imagine why. Maybe I've just been lucky - I've never really had any problems with yeast. My own patience, sure, but not actually working with yeast. You'll also remember how much I love quick breads. This bread is somewhere in between the two. It rises in the oven, getting the yeast from beer, so you cut out that step of leaving the dough somewhere to rise for an hour or two.



Plus, it makes your kitchen (or whole apartment, if you're me) smell absolutely delicious. And it tastes pretty good, too!

Cheddar-Dill Beer Bread
adapted from here

I used Blue Moon for the beer here, which is a Belgian-style white. Feel free to use whatever beer you think would go with cheddar and dill, though!

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp dill (dried)
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
2 12-oz. beers

Open one of the beers. Take a sip. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Mix all the dry ingredients and the cheese (or, everything except the beer) together in a large bowl. Slowly pour in the beer, mixing as you go. If the dough hasn't come together entirely, pour in a little from the second beer until all of the flour mixture has been incorporated. Enjoy the rest of your beer.

Pour the dough into a greased loaf pan; I used a 9-inch pan for this, which worked out well. If you've poured in a little of the second beer, remember that the bread will rise higher from the extra yeast in the beer. It's important to take this into consideration. Bake for 45 minutes.

Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then outside the pan for another 10 minutes. Enjoy!