I love home baked bread, but sometimes the thought of dealing with the yeast and the rising and the big mess just puts me off. So when I saw this recipe for Soda Pop Bread in the Arizona Republic newspaper Saturday, I was intrigued. It was submitted for Jan D'Atri's Phoenix Living column by Doris Elkins of Mesa. And here's the intriguing part -- it only has 3 ingredients!
Soda Pop Bread
(makes 1 loaf)
1-1/2 Cups (12-ounce can) Ginger Ale (not diet)
2 Tablespoons Sugar
3 Cups Self-Rising Flour
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine sugar and ginger ale. Slowly pour in the flour. Stir to just moisten. Do not over-beat.
Pour dough into a bread pan (approximately 10 inches by 6 inches).
Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.
When using a convection oven, cooking time will be reduced about 10-15 minutes.
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First, let me say that this dough does not "pour" into the bread pan. It is thick and sticky and you have to scrape and plop it in. It does not call for greasing the pan, but I think next time I'll try a light coating of baker's spray (oil with flour) since it stuck a little on the bottom.
My oven tends to run hot, so when I checked it after only 30 minutes in the oven and it looked pretty golden brown and done on top, I pulled it out. However, when we were having it for dinner and sliced near the center of the bread, it was a tiny bit doughy so I should have let it bake a little bit longer.
As far as the texture and taste, we really liked it. It's very dense. We served it up with a steak dinner, just slathering butter on it. It would probably be very good toasted with jam and even for sandwiches. I'm planning to try adding some herbs (like chopped fresh rosemary) to the dough or even a handful of grated parmesan cheese for a little more artisan style bread. And now I'm wondering what other flavors of soda pop would work in this. Hmmmmm.
I love that it's only 3 ingredients and that I had a loaf ready to eat so quickly. This is the kind of bread you could make as someone is on the way over for an impromptu meal. Definitely a keeper!
