Beer Batter Cheese Bread

Ingredients

• 8 oz Gruyere cheese, 4 oz shredded and 4 oz cut into 1/4" cubes
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 4 tsp baking power
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 (12 oz) bottle of light bodied beer - mild American lagers like Budweiser work best
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease a 9" by 5" loaf pan and set aside.
3. Combine the shredded and cubed cheese, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in the beer and mix until well combined
4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, spreading it to the corners
5. Drizzle the melted butter over top of the batter. When cooked, the butter topping gives the bread its golden colour and produces a deep, craggy crust.
6. Bake until the loaf is deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into several spots near the centre of the bread come out clean (45 - 50 minutes). More than one toothpick test is recommended as hitting a pocket of cheese will make the toothpick appear as though it's covered in uncooked batter.
7. Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack. Cool completely and slice as desired.

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