Pumpkin Beer Bread

I was recently a lucky recipient of two large bottles of Autumn Maple beer from The Bruery in Southern California.  My immediate thought was...Beer Bread!  What a perfect accompaniment to a nice glass of cold beer with the hint of yams and warm spice.  So I scoured through the internet, cookbooks and my recipe binder and finally landed on this hearty recipe from Ezra Pound cake blog.  I wanted to climb through the looking glass when I saw the picture of her beer bread.  She perfectly depicted the idea of tearing off a hunk of bread from a loaf and eating it as quickly as possible.

I made a hefty loaf of bread in my spring form pan.  So every time I ate it (which was quite frequently), I concocted a different topping.  In the picture below you see butter and honey in a little bowl.  The first time I ate it, I slathered a slice with the butter and honey.  The next time I took a bowl of bread over to M's house, and melted the honey and butter together and we gave the bread a dip.  Yes.  This is by far the way to go...syrupy, salty coating for every bite.  The bees would have been proud and the bread sort of falls apart from the hot honey butter.  All the more reason to lick your fingers.

I am sort of relunctant to say that the weather seems to have taken a slight crisp turn, but as a consolation, we have beer and beer bread to keep us happy and warm.  If you are lucky enough to have access to beer such as Autumn Maple, do yourself a favor and buy double the amount.  Half for cooking and half for drinking...you kind of need both.

Pumpkin Beer Bread

Adapted from EzraPoundcake blog
Yields one hearty loaf

Beer bread is a great centerpiece or accompaniment to a meal that you can share with your friends and family.  The pumpkin puree adds a hint of autumn and little flecks of orange.  Use a good quality beer like The Bruery's Autumn Maple for a richly flavored bread.  Serve with a nice pumpkin soup and a slab of butter and honey.

2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

12 ounces beer
½ cup pumpkin puree (canned or made from fresh)

2 Tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Slowly pour the beer into the dry ingredients, stirring with a wooden spoon as you go.  Add in the pumpkin and stir just until combined.

Line a bread loaf or spring form pan with parchment paper.  Pour half of the butter into the bottom of the prepared pan and tilt it around until the butter is evenly spread.  Spoon the batter into the pan.  Evenly pour the remaining butter on top of batter.  Slide into the oven.  Put a baking sheet on the shelf below the bread in case the butter drips (which it probably will).

Bake about 60 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown on top and done in the middle.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Serve with melted butter and honey and a glass of beer.