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When I was a newspaper reporter in northern Kentucky, I used to love eating at Drawbridge Estates, a sprawling restaurant/entertainment complex, where they had the most delicious beer bread. I had never even heard of beer bread until trying it there. But I was immediately hooked on its rich flavor.

Whenever my friends would visit, I’d bring them to Drawbridge to have the beer bread. We’d even buy the mix in the gift shop, so we could enjoy the bread at home. Because, we assumed, it would be way too complicated to make beer bread from scratch.

Wrong!

If you can throw common ingredients into a bowl and stir, you can make beer bread. The beer supplies the yeast (brilliant!), and there’s no kneading or rising involved. In less than an hour, you can enjoy fresh, warm, slightly sweet, hearty bread slathered with butter. It’s one of the best things in life!

And, if you want to incorporate more whole grains into your diet, beer bread is the perfect vehicle. I like using half whole wheat flour and half white flour whenever I bake bread, because it’s easier on our stomachs than straight whole wheat.

Note that there’s such a thing as white whole wheat flour (it’s not bleached and is still a whole grain.) My family prefers its mild flavor, so I use that instead of red whole wheat flour, which is a bit strong tasting. I am partial to King Arthur flour for all of my baking, and I can find its white whole wheat product at the grocery store, next to the regular flour.