While I do grow most of my basil from seed, I sometimes can't help myself and MUST buy a beautiful plant when I see it. I recently snagged two gorgeous basil plants while out shopping. I was pleasantly surprised when one of them had the following recipe included on the plant marker. Because I had all of the ingredients on hand and just reading the recipe made my mouth water, I tried it. And I loved it....So here it is...
Basil Beer Bread
3 cups self-rising flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
12 oz warm beer
1/2 cup chopped basil
In large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Pour mixture into a well-greased loaf pan or dish. Put loaf pan into an unheated oven. Turn the oven on and set at 350 degrees. Bake for 50 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.
***I think I would leave it in the oven for a few minutes longer and just keep a close eye on it. This first loaf didn't get quite as brown as I would have liked.
The basil smell alone was enough to get the hubby wandering into the kitchen to find out what I was up to. I sliced it up while still warm and used some of this overly delicious herbal butter that I had made up the day before. I followed the recipe I found at my idol Nancy aka The Lemon Verbena Lady's blog. (Be sure to visit her site for great recipes and herbal wisdom.)
It was a huge success as we skipped dessert and opted for another piece of bread instead. Needless to say, this will be a recipe that we'll use quite a bit in the coming months. Many thanks to the lovely Nancy for the awesome herb butter recipe :)
