Beer bread

I’m sure you know that Czech people consume most beer per capita. It’s nearly 150 liters a year for one person. That is 300 hundred bottles. 

I’m not sure who drinks mine because I consume about three bottles a year. And by consume I really mean eat. I don’t drink it. Beer is quite popular ingredient in many a dishes, so here is the most simple one. 

As one Czech saying goes: “Beer is the nation’s bread.” So, let’s turn our proverbial bread into actual bread. And let’s add a potato to make it soft longer.

You are going to need (for a small loaf):

• 250ml pale lager
• 500g flour (just because it’s Christmas and we are supposed to sin the most, I used plain flour, not whole grain I usually use)
• 1 potato
• 20g yeast (the one from the cube)
• 1 table spoon salt
• optional: typical Czech bread spice is cumin, I hate it so I don’t use it but you can if you really want to get it right add one table spoon

1)      Boil the potato, let it cool down, peel it, and grate it. 
2)   Mix all the ingredients together and knead till it forms dough (that is gonna take some effort, trust me) which doesn’t stick to your fingers or which doesn’t fall apart. 
3)    Let it sit somewhere in the dark warm spot so that the yeast can do it’s job for about an hour or two. 
4)    Preheat your oven to 210°C and put your bread pan or tray into it. When the oven is the right temperature, put your dough into the hot pan or whatever you use to make bread in. Cover it with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  
5)    After 30 minutes, lower the temperature to 170°C and bake without the cover for another 30 minutes. 
6)    Take it out, let it cool down on a baking rack (don’t let it in the pan, the bread has to “breathe” – the air must come to it from all sides).