Beer Batter Cheese Bread

Ingredients
8 ounces Gruyere cheese (4 oz shredded and 4 oz cut into 1/4-inch cubes)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (12-oz) light-bodied beer, such as Budwiser
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 9x5 inch loaf pan.
- Combine shredded and cubed cheese, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper in large bowl.
- Stir in beer and mix until well combined (will be very thick).
- Pour into loaf pan, spreading batter to corners. Drizzle melted butter evenly over top of batter.
- Bake until deep golden brown and tooth pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.
- Cool bread in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto rack.
- Cool completely and slice as desired (good warm, too).

Variations
- With smoked gouda and bacon: Follow recipe for bread substituting 8 oz gouda for gruyere. Stir 8 slices of bacon (cooked until crisp and crumbled) into bowl with cheese.
- With cheddar and Jalapeno: Follow recipe for bread substituting 8 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese for Gruyere. Stir 2 seeded and minced jalapeno chiles into bowl with cheese.

Hints
- Makes 1 9-inch loaf.
- Insert a toothpick in a few spots when testing for doneness; it may hit a pocket of cheese which resembles uncooked batter on the toothpick.
- Mild American lagers like Budwiser and Miller Genuine draft work best.

Submitted by Kelly