Pumpkin Beer Bread: A Party Favor

Don’t you love the smell of fresh baked bread? That lovely smell rarely comes from my kitchen because frankly, baking bread is too much work and requires more patients than I can give to that little loaf. THEN I discovered the beer bread, oh yeah! The beer takes the place of the yeast needed for bread to rise. There is no need to knead the dough, let it rest, punch it down, let it rise again….who has time for that?!? With beer bread, you simply mix four ingredients with beer and then bake. Voila! Fresh home baked bread. When I was trying to think of a fall treat I could send each guest home with at the Football Party, this beer bread came to mind.

This pumpkin ale that I paired with the bread mix is really good too! A co-worker of mine mentioned that she stocks up on this ale because its only seasonal and she loves it so much. Once I tried it, I knew what she was talking about. It isn’t a sweet cider, it’s definitely a beer but it has a hint of spice on the finish. There really is just a faint flavor of pumpkin and it goes so well together.

Here are the ingredients you need for Basic Beer Bread:
3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 oz beer

Since I was making 10 Fall treats to-go, here is what I did. I found these clear cellophane bags on the party aisle at my grocery store for $2. I purchased whole wheat flour to give it that hearty fall feel. And lastly I purchased the pumpkin ale and the disposable loaf pans. Everything cost me less than $20.

Because I was assembling these in bulk, I dumped the whole wheat flour into a large mixing bowl because it was quick and easy to scoop and measure this way.


Using a one cup measuring cup I scooped 3 cups of flour into my bags.

Then measured 1 T sugar, 1 T baking powder and 1 t salt, right into my gift bags.

Twisted and tied the bags closed and set aside.

Repeat process until you’ve filled enough bags for your guests.

Next I placed my pumpkin ale in each disposable loaf pans.

I experimented with different bows and ties, but settled upon a simple silver bow tied around the top of the bags.

The last thing I did was print directions to make and bake the pumpkin beer bread. I think hand written instructions would have been more personal, and attaching the note to the ribbon would have tied it together nicely, but I had many more projects to move on to at this point.


My guests seem to really enjoy these as did my co-workers. One friend of mine said her bread turned out really well, and she thought it had more of a banana flavor than pumpkin. When I do these again, I might add a tiny bit of nutmeg and/or cinnamon to the dry ingredients to give it a more prominent holiday spice flavor.