Bacon

Texas Breakfast Beer Bread

Name: Texas Breakfast Beer Bread
Yield: Makes 1 loaf
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 5 strips bacon; 2 jalapeños (depending on heat level -- ours are pretty hot right now so I used 2); 3 cups self-rising flour; 1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar; 1/4 cup maple syrup (preferably grade B); 1 beer (I used Abita Amber which gave it a nice but not overpowering beer flavor); 4 ounces cream cheese; 4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter; 2 tablespoons maple sugar

by: aargersi

November 12, 2014

3 Ratings

Photo by Bobbi Lin

Makes 1 loaf

Jump to Recipe

Author Notes

A while back my neighbor (she who loves tres leches cake) brought me a loaf of the jalapeño beer bread from the Czech Stop (http://www.czechstop.net/) and said, "Learn how to make this, only better." I got working on it and came up with a pretty damn good jalapeño cheddar beer bread. It occurred to me that the bread already had some primary breakfast components (cheese, jalapenos, beer) (don't judge) and only needed a bit of tweaking to truly be a breakfast item -- enter bacon and maple and voilà: breakfast bread! This is easy enough to make in the morning, it's wonderful warm from the oven, and it also toasts up nicely if you'd like to make it the night before. —aargersi

Test Kitchen Notes

This bread made my weekend. The interesting blend of flavors and textures was delicious and unexpectedly fun. In alternate bites, you get spicy, sweet, salty,and creamy. It was a cinch to make and smelled wonderful. With great deviled eggs and a Bloody Mary, you have a great and easy New Year's (or any day) brunch. The next day it made great (OMG!) French toast (I fried it in olive oil with a touch of bacon fat). Two great breakfast treats for the price. —Annie stader

Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Ingredients

5 strips bacon
2 jalapeños (depending on heat level -- ours are pretty hot right now so I used 2)
3 cups self-rising flour
1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar
¹/₄ cup maple syrup (preferably grade B)
1 beer (I used Abita Amber which gave it a nice but not overpowering beer flavor)
4 ounces cream cheese
4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
2 tablespoons maple sugar

Directions

Heat the oven to 350° F. Crisp the bacon in a skillet. When the bacon is cooked, drain it on paper towels and pour 3 tablespoons of bacon fat into a loaf pan (to be honest, I didn't measure, I just dumped. Five strips center-cut bacon produced what looked like about 3 tablespoons of fat). This bread is not for the faint of heart: Did I mention that?
Roughly chop the bacon. Remove the stems and seeds from the jalapeños and roughly chop them.
Put the flour into a mixing bowl. Mix in the cheddar cheese. Now make a well in the middle and pour in the maple syrup and the beer. Mix together until everything is moistened and combined (a few lumps are okay).
Break the cream cheese into small chunks (I just pulled it apart by hand, but you can also cut the block into smaller pieces) and drop them into the dough. Add the jalapeños and bacon and fold them in until everything is uniformly mixed. Now scoop the dough into the loaf pan and spread it evenly. Pour the melted butter on top (yeah, I know) and put the pan on a baking sheet and into the oven. Set the time for 20 minutes.
At 20 minutes, sprinkle the sugar on top of the loaf, then bake the bread for another 40 minutes, or until a toothpick test comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool for about 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan.
There. Breakfast.

Tags:

Contest Entries

Your Best Breakfast Baked Good

See what other Food52ers are saying.

Niknud
Nicole F. Scalissi
Nicole Otis
cindy
Lindsay-Jean Hard

Country living, garden to table cooking, recent beek, rescue all of the dogs, #adoptdontshop

Popular on Food52

14 Reviews

Stacey February 5, 2019

I made this last night. I am not a jalapeño fan, so omitted that. I added a beaten egg because for some reason it bothered me that there wasn’t one. Did not have maple sugar, so faked some by adding a splash of maple extract to some Demerara sugar. Very tasty! And the house smelled nice and mapley!

billy December 22, 2016

i found it odd that this recipe didn't include eggs. i made it for work party and it was ok, but not very tender. i would not make this again as is.

Niknud March 16, 2016

Beer and bacon for breakfast, oh goodie!

Nicole F. March 6, 2016

Any ideas for vegetarian substitutions for the bacon?

aargersi March 7, 2016

You could use leave it out and use a little extra butter for the pan

Nicole O. December 18, 2014

It's sooooo good. It's my breakfast this week. I could have added more jalapenos because mine weren't hot at all. I didn't have maple sugar so I used regular sugar on top. My hubs is also allergic to pork so I used beef bacon. I'll definitely make this again.

aargersi December 18, 2014

I am so glad you like it! I am making a couple of loaves this weekend too!

cindy November 15, 2014

Help, I don't have self rising flour, what to do?

aargersi November 15, 2014

Never fear Food52 is here! :-)

https://food52.com/blog/8375-how-to-diy-cake-flour-and-self-rising-flour

That article tells you how to make it. It's my new BFF, a lazy bakers dream!!

Lindsay-Jean H. November 12, 2014

I really, really love your primary breakfast components.

aargersi November 12, 2014

Some day the Food52 office will have to make a pilgrimage to Texas and we can all get together and drink beer and margaritas and eat jalapenos at every meal!!!

Lindsay-Jean H. November 12, 2014

YES.

savorthis December 4, 2014

Let me know when Abbie, I'll hop down from Denver!

aargersi December 4, 2014

Absolutely!!!