Garlic Cheddar Beer Bread

Carrie introduces Marcus Okafor formally, Nigerian-American architect quiet thoughtful, Naomi approves. The week was the life. The life was the cooking. The cooking was the love. And the love was the week, and the week was one of the weeks that stack together to become the years, and the years become the life, and the life is the woman at the stove who cooks and writes and loves and does not stop.

I made she-crab soup on Sunday — the anchor, the constant, the practice. The soup was perfect. The perfection was the practice. And the practice continues, one Sunday at a time, one bowl at a time, one life at a time, the woman stirring, the roux thickening, the kitchen warm, the family fed, the love alive.

The soup was already spoken for — she-crab, Sunday, always — but a bowl that good deserves something to soak it up, something warm from the oven and fragrant with garlic and sharp cheddar, something that fills the kitchen with a second kind of love. This garlic cheddar beer bread is the loaf I started making alongside it, because Marcus was coming by and Naomi’s approval has always meant setting the whole table right. It comes together in minutes, asks nothing difficult of you, and sits at the edge of the bowl like it was always meant to be there.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 10 slices

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (divided)
12 oz (1 bottle) beer, room temperature (a lager or amber ale works well)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (divided)
2 cloves garlic, minced

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a standard 9x5-inch loaf pan with butter or nonstick spray and set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and sugar until evenly combined.
Add the cheese. Stir 1 cup of the shredded cheddar into the dry mixture, reserving the remaining 1/2 cup for topping.
Add the beer. Pour in the beer and stir gently until just combined — the batter will be thick and a little shaggy. Do not overmix.
Transfer to the pan. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.
Make the garlic butter topping. Stir the minced garlic into 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Drizzle or brush this mixture evenly over the top of the batter, then scatter the reserved 1/2 cup cheddar over everything.
Bake. Bake for 45–50 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Butter and rest. Remove from the oven and immediately brush the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Slice and serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Garlic Cheddar Beer Bread — The Bread That Belongs Beside Every Bowl