Cheddar Beer Bread and some Pork Chops

 

Ingredients for Cheddar Beer Bread

      I have a weakness for bread. There….I’ve said it. I love bread. Sourdough bread, French bread, Ciabatta bread, croissants, bagels, focaccia, corn bread and don’t even get me started on that Brazillian cheese bread Pao de Queijo that they serve at churrascarias that my wife loving refers to as light, fluffy clouds of goodness. Nothing beats piping hot bread, especially with some butter slathered on top. Mmm…yum!!

Adding Dry Ingredients 1 tsp oregano

      Seems like there’s been a lot of bread making going on over at the Green Eggers Forum this past weekend. Saw some wonderful posts about ciabatta and focaccia. Got me wanting to make some of my own. Then I saw Jamie’s post on Our Eating Habits for a Cheddar Beer Bread and I knew that’s the one I wanted to do.

1/2 tsp basil

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 can beer (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Mix together all dry ingredients in medium-sized mixing bowl. Add Cheddar and beer. Stir until combined.

This Texas boy had to go with Lone Star

2. Place in a greased loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees. I did mine on the BGE. It took a bit longer, maybe 45-50 minutes, but you have to expect those kind of differences when you are cooking over a live coals I’m guess.

Going on to the Big Green Egg

3. Eat and Enjoy!

Done!

       Now man cannot live on bread alone…at least not this man. And since we had the Egg fired up, we threw together some dinner to go with the bread.

Pork Chops

      Stubbs used to be my go to rub. I first found it in college and used it for many, many ( I won’t say how many) years afterwards. The past few years, I’ve been branching out and trying new rubs, but sometimes its nice to go back to an old favorite. These pork chops got a liberal dusting and then went on to the grill at 450.

Grilling away

   After I flipped them (maybe 4-5 minutes in), I noticed they were starting to curl up a bit, so I grabbed my Lodge Cast Iron press and set it atop to prevent that. What you say? You don’t have one of those? A brick lined with aluminum foil works just as well.

Dinner is served

      The pork chops were pulled at 140 F and allowed to rest for 5 minutes. During that time, I grilled up some asparagus that Mrs. G had seasoned up. That was served along with a nice salad.  I have to say the bread was pretty darn tasty. It had a savory flavor from the oregano and the basil and the beer. I didn’t detect much of a cheese flavor, though. Might add a bit more next time….along with some jalapenos or diced green chiles for some heat. Pretty simple bread to make and I’ll do it again…with a bit of tweaking for my personal tastes.