The easiest bread in the world

Now, this is not a new thing for me to shout from the rooftops - in fact, I've even blogged about it before. But it is such an awesome recipe that it deserves to be shared - and it went down a treat with our pumpkin, kumara and peanut soup for dinner tonight!

The essential ingredient list is simple:

 - 330ml beer
 - 2.5 cups of self-raising flour (or plain flour + 2.5 tsp baking powder)

The method is pretty simple too:

Preheat the oven to 160 celcius. Mix the ingredients together in a bowl (I used half white and half wholemeal flour today, to give it a bit more texture).

I'm told that a little kneading can improve it but it's fine without - so that's an optional extra. Then turn the dough onto a greased pan and shape as desired, or use a loaf tin if you prefer.

To be a bit fancy, I put some olive oil on top then ground some pepper and sea salt over the top - but again, an optional extra. Or of course you could put your own twist on it - rosemary, sea salt and olives, maybe? A sprinkling of parmesan?

Then bake it for around 40 minutes - cooking times will vary depending on how thick your loaf is and the temperature of your oven. I find this bread is best served fresh, and it's pretty crusty so is a great match for soup - a good recipe to have on hand going into winter (Wellington is making us painfully aware of the season change this week - the winter coats are officially out!).

What's your best 'cheating' recipe?