Perhaps you’re crinkling your nose at the thought of rosemary with beer, but hear me out. These “quick bread” beer biscuits are beyond easy and delicious.
I’ve had beer bread on the brain since I made pumpkin beer bread this weekend, so I hurried home yesterday to make these biscuits before sundown. Beer bread requires just a few ingredients and, unlike most breads, there’s no need to wait for the dough to rise! Just mix together some basic ingredients, pour in a beer and stir it all together. Go ahead, crack open a beer for yourself as the dough puffs up in the oven. Revel in the secret to lazy breadmaking.
These biscuits turned out so good that I ate three of them for dinner. Carbs don’t scare me.
Butter doesn’t either, for that matter.
Rosemary & Feta Beer Bread Biscuits
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Side dish
Here’s a basic beer bread recipe with options to add rosemary and feta biscuits, as well as other variations.
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 can of beer (12 ounces)
- Up to ¼ cup of water (if the dough is too dry)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix the dry ingredients well, add your spices and cheese (optional), then pour in a can of beer and mix it all together. If the dough seems very dry, slowly add up to ¼ cup of water, until all of the flour is incorporated. Try not to overmix, though.
- Pour the dough into a lightly greased loaf pan or divide it into a muffin tin. Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes for bread or 25 minutes for biscuits.
Notes
- The recipe makes one loaf of bread or 12 good-sized biscuits. I’m partial to biscuits because there’s more surface area for crust.
▸ Nutrition Information
Variations: Use different types of beer. For these biscuits, I didn’t want a strong beer taste, so I used a light American domestic that had been hanging out in my fridge. American domestics are practically tasteless from the can, am I right? You can also add spices, cheese and/or nuts to change the flavor and texture of the beer bread.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Rosemary and feta beer bread (shown above): add one package (4 ounces) of crumbled feta and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary. I followed this recipe by kitchenMage.
- Pumpkin beer bread: use pumpkin beer and add pumpkin spice and nuts, à la A Cozy Kitchen.
- Dill and cheddar cheese: I can’t wait to try this recipe from Farmgirl Fare!
Have you made beer bread before? If not, might I suggest you try it this weekend? You’ll be amazed. Plus you’ll have a good excuse to sip on a beer on a lazy weekend afternoon. ;)
If you have already discovered the beauty of beer bread, what are your favorite variations? I’ll try yours next week!
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Ally
This looks delicious, can’t wait to try it!
Jean
these look so tasty! i will have to come up with an excuse to make them :)
xo
jean
www.fadedoldjeans.com
Sarah
What a great recipe. Thanks for sharing! Love it!
caroline
wow… i have to make these soon! just looking at them made me starving. surely i can not mess them up!
Chiara
This sounds absolutely delicious!!!
What a great idea!
kirsty
ooooh im intrigued – must give it a go xxx
kris&kel
What a unique combination–they sound amazingly delicious! What a cute and wonderful sit you have!
<3 kris&kel
style-haus
mmmm, love biscuits and carbs don’t scare me either! like how simple the recipe is.
Samantha
I don’t actually cook, but my mom’s used beer in different sorts of breading batter before.
Thanks for you comment, stop by again soon! :o)
-Samantha
http://thisfashionista.blogspot.
kirsty
they look yummy thanks for sharing xxxx
Jackie
wait you don’t need yeast? i always wanted to make bread but it sounds so complicated… until i saw this recipe!
jac
SAUCYJAC.blogspot.com
Meghan
Hi Kate,
I wanted to see if it would be possible to share your recipe on CraftBeer.com. One of the goals of our site is to bring craft beer to the dinner table (either as pairings or through using beer in a recipe).
I would create a post similar to this one: http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/beer-and-food/recipes/recipes-list/show?title=white-rascal-turkey-stuffing
and include your bio/photo and link back to your blog. Cheers!
Meghan
Peanut
Thanks for this awesome recipe! ^.^
After months of just greedily looking at your feta beer bread biscuits, I finally got around to trying them yesterday. They smelled incredible while in the oven and tasted very, very delicious, but I think I wouldn’t have needed the extra two ounces of water. The dough was almost runny and they came out with not nearly as nice a crust as yours. I’ll try them again soon and will try to get to the crumbly texture your dough had rather than following the recipe by the letter. :)
kate
Hey Peanut, I’m sorry your biscuits didn’t turn out quite like mine! I have adjusted the recipe accordingly. My dough was so dry that I needed to add the water, but maybe the humidity or brand of flour had to do with it. Thank you for your input!
Peanut
Hi Kate,
Thank you for your answer! ^.^ And no worries, the first batch was still really nice – I made them Thursday night and had eaten 9 by Friday night… ^^;
For the second batch today I didn’t use more water (and put in sundried tomatoes) and they did get a nicer crust and also took a lot less time baking. :) I can’t say anything about the taste because my guests had devoured them to the last morsel before I could even attempt to try one myself. Since a number of them proceeded to ask for the recipe, I think I can safely say that the biscuits were a success. :D Cheers!
kate
I’m kind of obsessed with your idea of adding sun-dried tomatoes. I bet they are fantastic that way! Time to make another batch. :)
Silvia
I used a darker beer to make these and although the slightly bitter taste is not for everyone, I am definitely a fan. I’d like to try them with a dark stout, a chocolatey variety even. I replaced your rosemary for herbes de Provence, but in the aftermath I decided that your rosemary would have worked better with the type of beer I chose. Herbes de Provence would probably work better with a light beer.
Now, what remains to be seen is what spice will work with a dark stout. I’m thinking caraway seeds!
Also, the sun-dried tomatoes idea is genius!
Kate
Thanks for your comment, Silvia! Your dark stout with caraway seeds idea sounds promising. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out! I had almost forgotten about this recipe but I think it’s about time I try it with sun-dried tomatoes and feta (or goat cheese?). Yum.
Charlotte
Haha i love ‘carbs don’t scare me’. I’m going to make these this weekend – as I have no idea about beer, can you recommend a suitable one to use that I can get in the UK?
Thanks
Kate
Hi Charlotte, I’m so sorry for my late response. Any basic lager will do, like Foster’s, Kronenbourg or Stella.
Verena
“Preheat oven to 375 degrees.” – 375 degrees? Are you serious?
Kate
375 degrees Fahrenheit, yes.
Debbie
Hi –
Although this recipe has been posted for awhile, the near Fall weather here in New England (I’m in MA) inspired me to try a beer with cheese recipe – of course, I also had a ton of fresh rosemary in my garden just asking to be used in an interesting way, too – well, I chose a beer that I admittedly wanted sip in comparison to a local brew (both IPAs)… and it turned out an IPA might have been a little too bitter to place with the rosemary and dregs of parm and sharp cheddar that I used for the cheese (if I had thought to balance the bitter with something sweet, maybe it could have been okay…) — however, great news AND success — I cut the biscuits into bite sized pieces, sprayed them lightly with oil, and toasted them on a pizza stone…. the result was a delicious (and lovely colored) beer flavored crouton with herb and cheese (REALLY nice crisp cheese edges from the parm – yum!) – excellent and perfect for the season tossed with an apple and fresh arugula (yes, still bitter, but it worked with the sweet apple) salad lightly dressed with a modest tangy balsamic/mustard vinaigrette.
Mark
What changes would I need to make this into a loaf?
Mark
Got it, sorry to bother you! :)
Kasey Tennant
I just slid these out of the oven. I used sharp cheddar and chives–delicious!
I only found out about beer bread recently and can’t get enough! I love being able to make fresh biscuits for dinner on short notice.
★★★★★
Kate
How cool is the technique?! I love it, too. Your version sounds delicious!
Laura Grimes
Loved these biscuits! Mixed up in less than 10 minutes.
I used the Bell’s Porter which I bought for friends a couple of weeks ago. We prefer wine, so this was a great way to use beer in the fridge. I’m a big fan of King Arthur’s Whole Wheat Flour which made a nice fluffy biscuit. The feta was a lovely addition – the porter offset any saltiness that the feta might have had.
This is going to be a go-to recipe in my kitchen. I’m probably going to try mixing this up a bit – Masa Harina flour mixed with all purpose flour, Cotija, and jalepeno and sun dried tomatoes for a southwestern influence. Just the perfect way Friday night, no fuss bread!
★★★★★
Bianca
Does oat flour or almond flour work for this recipe?
Kate
Hi Bianca, I haven’t tried oat flour with this recipe. Typically I don’t recommend almond flour as a 1:1 substitute. I would suggest my how to make How to Make Oat Flour post as a reference.
Julie
I see that many are finding these biscuits very tasty. Lots of great combo suggestions. Have to accommodate one gluten free peep. Thoughts on a GF option? plan to make the recipe as is when it doesn’t have to be GF but looking for suggestions until then. Thanks!
Kate
Hi Julie, I haven’t tried it with this one, but sometimes an all purpose GF flour substitute can work and use a gluten free beer.