Hard Apple Cider “Beer” Bread with Maple Butter
Hard Apple Cider “Beer” Bread with Maple Butter has a tangy apple flavor, the crispest crust ever, and sweet maple butter. It comes together in minutes with only 5 ingredients!
Happy Monday! We’re starting off our week with one of my biggest weaknesses….homemade bread. I’d say homemade bread is right up there with coffee, chocolate, salted caramel, and anything Mexican for me.
Normally I like to keep things pretty healthy, but I also believe in balance. If I deprive myself, I’m going to binge at some point, and that wouldn’t be pretty. 🙂
This bread is the closest thing that I’ve come up with for a Game Day recipe, and I can hardly believe it. I intended to much sooner, but better late than never!
Truthfully, I was very excited for football season to start because it always brings a new season full of hope. Being a Raider fan hasn’t been easy the past several years, so trust me when I tell you I’ve really needed hope!
Things are actually looking decent after winning the past 2 games, so I am feeling hopeful. 🙂
Naturally I’ve digressed because I started talking football, so back to this hard apple cider beer bread!
I’ve been craving apples like nobody’s business lately…you’d think it was fall or something? And I’m normally a red wine kind of girl, but like I said….the apple thing. 🙂
Lately I’ve been drinking apple ale and hard apple cider on occasion because it’s been very hot, and they’re both so refreshing.
Long story short, I decided to make beer bread with hard apple cider instead, and to say I was ecstatic with the results is an understatement.
Beer bread is special because it has a great tangy flavor (try my Beer Bread if you need convincing).
The hard apple cider gives this bread a really tangy apple flavor. I was really surprised how much the flavor came through, and it really helped satisfy my apple cravings.
The maple butter is the perfect thing to slather on this bread. The sweetness helps balance out the tang. The creamy butter atop a nice, warm slice of this bread is just heaven.
Fall heaven!
This cider beer bread is the easiest thing in the world to make, and takes only 5 ingredients. The bread is extra special due to that rustic, crispy crust — it’s just pure comfort food.
It’s the perfect thing for Game Day served alongside some chili, pulled pork, ribs — you name it! It will be a sure fire hit. I mean, isn’t everyone impressed with homemade bread? And nobody needs to know how easy is it is.
That will just be our little secret. 🙂
Love bread? Check out all of my Bread recipes.
Serve this hard apple cider beer bread with the following:
Hard Apple Cider “Beer” Bread with Maple Butter
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted, and divided
- 12 ounce bottle hard apple cider I used Angry Orchard
For the maple butter:
- 8 tablespoons butter 1 stick, softened
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- pinch of salt
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a standard loaf pan with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of the melted butter, the hard apple cider, and stir just until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread evenly. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of melted butter over the top, and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely.
Prepare the maple butter:
- Beat the 8 tablespoons softened butter with the maple syrup and pinch of salt until combined and place in a bowl. Allow to solidify at room temperature. Serve softened with the beer bread, and enjoy!
Notes
- The maple syrup may be substituted for honey in the bread and the butter.
- Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour's Classic Beer Bread.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
83 Comments on “Hard Apple Cider “Beer” Bread with Maple Butter”
Mondays definitely call for homemade bread! Beer bread is one of my favorites. I just love the texture and taste, so this hard cider version looks amazing! Such a great idea, Marcie! And that maple butter looks just perfect, too. Can’t wait to try this out! Pinned!
Beer bread is so good — I totally agree with you. The hard apple cider gave this even more flavor, and the butter was such a treat! Thanks for the pin, Gayle, and have a great week!
What a cool idea- love the maple butter!
Thanks, Medha! The maple butter was definitely a treat!
Why didn’t I think of this? We keep hard cider on hand because it is delicious. But I would have never thought to bake with it. This is genius. And maple butter is the best.
The hard apple cider gave this bread so much flavor — I’m not sure why it took me so long to do this! Thanks, Jen, and I hope you give it a try soon! 🙂
Love homemade bread and this looks perfect! Need to try it, never used beer cider for baking! The maple butter is a perfect addition!
The hard apple cider gave this bread more flavor than I imagined! Thanks, Mira!
Wow! I am loving the sound of this apple cider beer bread with maple butter. This is such a genius idea. Loved it Marcie!
Thanks so much, Anu! 🙂
This is game day enough for me! I’m not really into watching any games on TV, so it’s only about the food for me and I am a total bread lover too!
Homemade bread is pretty much my undoing! I do enjoy the game, but this bread was a big distraction. 🙂
Comfort Food!? Count me in! Love the ingredients you use in this recipe!
Thank you, Ambar!
This is pretty much the BEST idea ever! I love apple cider and I love fresh baked bread, so this looks like a winner to me 🙂
Thanks, Denise! Hard apple cider and bread is definitely a win-win in my book. 🙂
I have such a weakness for homemade bread too! This looks completely delicious, Marcie! Love the hard apple cider and oh my gosh, yes to the maple butter!
Thanks, Kelly — sounds like you share my weakness! 🙂
Nothing compares to homemade bread! It is always the best comfort food! Love this beer bread – the flavours are wonderful! 😀
So true! Thank you, Jess! 🙂
Pretty sure I could devour this entire loaf on my own Marcie 🙂 Love that you paired it with maple butter – so yummy!
I almost did devour the whole thing, Trish! Thanks so much!
Homemade bread is definitely one of my biggest weaknesses too! And beer bread is so easy to whip up … which means I can eat more of it right?? lol Love that you used cider! I must try this!
That’s exactly what it means — you can eat more! OR that’s what I told myself as I ate more. 🙂 This stuff was dangerous!
OHH YES! IF I could eat bread, I would bury my face in this!!
I think I did that enough for you and me both, Gigi! 🙂
I think I could eat this entire loaf, Marcie! Homemade bread is the best and this looks incredible!
I think I did eat the entire loaf! haha Not entirely, but it was kind of close. Thanks, Danielle! 🙂
That bread looks fantastic! I love the apple cider in it, that’s such a great idea. And maple butter? Yum. That’s perfect!
Thank you, Stacey! I’ve been putting maple syrup into everything lately, so the butter had to be done. haha
I just bought some hard apple cider this past weekend too! I always start craving it when fall rolls around and I agree that it’s refreshing for this warm weather we’ve been having. Using it in bread is pretty much the best idea EVER. I bet it tastes out of this world with the maple butter…you’ve definitely got me drooling over this one, Marcie!
Thanks, Sarah! I’m glad I’m not the only one on a hard apple cider kick right now! It tasted so good in this bread. 🙂
Dear Marcie, What a marvelous idea for bread. This sounds wonderful and looks so light and moist. I can only imagine how wonderful it is. xo, Catherine
Thank you, Catherine! The hard cider did make this bread so moist. 🙂
This was sooooo good! I was excited when I found I had all the ingredients on hand, so I made it immediately! So easy! I ran out of maple syrup making the bread so used honey in the butter for spreading. It was delicious. I’m making this again and again! Thank you!
Isn’t this the easiest bread in the world to make? I’d so happy you enjoyed it, and I appreciate your taking the time to let me know — thank you! 🙂
I’d like to make this ahead and take it with me visiting family for Thanksgiving. Have you tried freezing it? Thank you in advance.
I’ve only had beer bread one time and it was so good! Love this homemade version!
Beer bread is too easy not to make! Thanks, Nancy!
YUM! I can imagine the hard apple cider really delivering in the taste department! I saw this on FB and have been thinking about it ever since…Thanks for sharing your recipe…love it!
It really did deliver, Annie! I was so happy with the results. Thanks so much for the kind words! 🙂
Bread is my weakness. In fact, I might have to make this ASAP. I could go for warm homemade bread right now!
This was definitely dangerous to have around, but sometimes danger is a good thing! Thanks, Dorothy! 🙂
This recipe sounds so amazing Marcie! There is an apple orchard near us that makes their own hard cider and I am in love with the stuff. Will have to try this!
Homemade hard apple cider sounds incredible! This would be the perfect thing for it…besides just drinking it. haha Thanks, Christin!
Thank you, Senika! I was really excited about this too — it was better than I imagined! 🙂
Never made a beer bread, I tasted one bought from a super market but homemade is always better. Will definitely give your recipe a try.
Homemade is definitely always better, and this is so easy you can whip it up in about 10 minutes! Hope you enjoy it, Ella! 🙂
Wow – simply loving the texture of this bread! Nothing quite like homemade bread – especially when it looks like this!
Thanks so much, Sashi! This was so moist with a very crispy crust and was the easiest bread to make!
This bread is EVERYTHING! Like seriously wowza. I want a slice with that butter omg!
This bread was my everything until it was gone! Now I just need more. 🙂 Thanks, Jocelyn!
What a perfect-sounding bread! I’ve actually never seen one with these delicious ingredients in before. And how amazing that you use so few ingredients. Just love this, especially the maple butter ….swoon!
Thank you, Helen! Bread certainly doesn’t get any easier than this! 🙂
Oh my goodness does this look incredible or what! I could go with a nice big slice, accompanied by plenty of that maple butter!
Thanks so much, Sam! 🙂
I love this idea! I’m obsessed with beer bread but this is such a great fall twist! And maple butter? Yeah… I’m gonna need some of that!
Thanks, Jess! The hard apple cider was calling my name so I had to do it! 🙂
Thank you, Arpita! 🙂
Ok, I be thinkin’ that I need a loaf of this bad boy sent to my house stat! You’re making my mouth water with this! Bring on that maple butter. 🙂
This was one dangerous loaf! I definitely liked it a little too much. haha Hope you’re having a great weekend, Kristi! 🙂
I am loving hard cider lately! This bread looks fabulous!!
Hard cider and apple ale are my go-to’s right now! 🙂
I’ve been wanting to try beer bread and love this version!
I hope you try it, Deb!
This looks very yummy !! I made a cider loaf recently that came out delicious….I will have to try hard cider sometime!!
Thank you, Nicole…and I will have to try regular cider! 🙂
This is really, really good. Went perfectly with my homemade beef vegetable soup. On a Monday as well! BTW – it is great the next morning toasted too!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Raquel, and thank you for your feedback! I’ve eaten it for breakfast too. 🙂
I just tried this recipe, but the store didn’t have wheat flour so i used brown rice instead and it came out great! I looked it up and angry orchard is gluten free so if you replace wheat with rice that makes it gluten free.
I’m amazed that this turned out with brown rice flour — that’s good to know! Thank you for sharing Aster — I will have to try it!
This was a smash hit in my house. Super easy to put together. And it tastes like fall! Exactly what I was looking for, thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it — thank you for the feedback!
Thank you for the recipe! This is genuinely some of the best bread I’ve ever had! I don’t usually eat much bread but I’ve made this recipe three times now because I like it so much.
Heads up, I’ve been using black cherry hard cider, because that’s all I’ve had on hand, and all three loaves have turned out perfectly. I’m pretty sure any flavor of cider would work as long as it’s sweet and fruity.
Also, this last time I tried the recipe, I also tried browning the butter like in your “brown butter maple beer bread” recipe. I didn’t notice a huge change in flavor from just using regular butter. From what I could taste, the cider flavor comes through more strongly than the butter. But the bread does overall taste extra rich and delicious so it might be worth trying this trick again!
Thank you for sharing your feedback Aubrey — I appreciate it! The black cherry cider must have amazing flavor and I’m glad you enjoy the bread!
Is the salt measurement correct @ 1.5 tsp? I followed this recipe exactly as presented and found the bread too salty, sadly, ended up throwing it out. The maple butter was tasty but I omitted the salt.
The measurement of 1.5 teaspoons of salt is correct, and that’s not large amount for 3 cups of flour. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you, but I’ve never gotten feedback from anyone regarding the bread being too salty.
Quick, easy. Excellent!
I used just 1 teaspoon salt, 2 T butter in bread, skipped maple butter
thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it!
One of my favorite things to make! Although I add cinnamon in the mixture. Wanting to try this with apples mixed in too…
Cinnamon (and apples) sound like wonderful additions! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipe Lindsay. 🙂