Saltgrass Steakhouse is a chain steakhouse restaurant in the USA. I haven't been to one in at least 20 years, but have good memories because it's one of the first places we were able to take baby cowgirl, Fuzz. As far as Texas themed restaurants go, they did everything right from acoustics to service to food. But what they are probably most famous for is the Shiner Bock Beer Bread which they bring to the table with the drinks. It's a dark brown round yeast bread with a hint of beer flavor and light sweetness.

Beer Bread With Yeast

This is an old copycat recipe for the Saltgrass Shiner Bock Beer Bread. Some beer breads are quick breads, where the leavening action comes from beer and baking powder, but this one does call for yeast and requires two rises. As for the beer, using Shiner Bock gives you a particular flavor. I've used Lagunitas, Guinness and even non-alcoholic beer and have different thoughts on each. If you can find it, go with the Shiner.

Fairly Small Yield Recipe

This recipe gives you two small loaves of bread. Each loaf feeds about 3 or 4 people. If you are baking for two, you can halve it and make just one small loaf. It still involves some time since you have to let the bread rise twice, but it's mostly passive time. The active prep is less than 10 minutes if you use a stand mixer with dough hook. That being said, I just re-wrote this recipe so that anyone can do it without a stand mixer. In fact, I think sometimes breads that include whole wheat flour actually come out better when kneaded by hand.

Beer Bread with Non-Alcoholic Beer Notes

Okay, so about that non-alcoholic beer. I accidentally bought non-alcoholic beer for Valentine's Day. After realizing the mistake, I tried to use it in this bread. The bread rose as usual and looked fine, but I didn't care for the flavor, which was something like citron or bug spray. I'm not really interested in trying it again with more IPNA, so I went and bought some Shiner, made it the usual way and updated the notes.

More Notes

Beer Temperature -- The beer needs to be room temperature or a little warm. The hot water is enough to get the yeast going, but the dough still needs to be fairly warm, so do not use cold beer. If you have to warm it a little in the microwave you can heat for 30 seconds, but don't boil it. For my last batch, the beer was about 80 degrees F.
Instant vs. Active Dry Yeast -- I usually make this bread with instant yeast, but active dry is a great choice too. If using active dry, use warm water instead of hot. Put the two tablespoons of water in the mixing bowl and add the yeast. Let proof, then add the remaining ingredients. Sometimes you can get away without proofing active dry, but it doesn't take very long and I don't see a reason not to proof.
Amount of Flour -- Just start with 2 cups. That will be anywhere from 250 to 280 grams. As you knead, keep adding more flour (you may need up to ⅓ cup more, but probably more like ¼ cup) until the loaf is no longer sticky. If using a dough hook, knead until it clings to the hook but is still a little sticky.
Type of Flour -- You can use bread flour, all-purpose flour or a mix of two flours.I don't remember the Saltgrass version tasting very wheaty, but I'm sure it did have whole wheat. I recommend using 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup bread flour, then using more bread flour for the additional flour and flour that goes on the mat.
Score the bread AFTER the rise, not before. The old copycats say to score and then let rise. In the past I think I just went along with that because I didn't know much about bread baking. Now I always score right before it goes in the oven or sometimes not at all. Not all loaves need to be scored.
Salt -- This bread is not very salty, so if you like salt you may want to rub butter all over the hot loaf and sprinkle with Maldon salt.

Recipe