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Several recipes for savory flatbread call for light beer as an ingredient. What would be an acceptable Halal substitute that would preserve the taste and texture of the bread?

The bread is typically fried in a pan rather than baked in an oven, and contains a mixture of green herbs and cheese. It is not left to rise.

Kate Gregory
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Aaargh Zombies
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2 Answers2

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Beer is added for two reasons: flavor and - especially in rather liquid, pourable batters - for the fluffiness due to the carbonation.

The latter can be achieved with any fizzy drink, typically carbonated water.

For the former, decide whether you want/ need the slight bitterness contributed by the beer and of it’s not super important, just skip it (but use another liquid, see above). Otherwise aim for a slightly „sharper“ cheese or a higher ratio of bitter herbs. Some leftover black tea could also work, but substitute only some of the beer and the rest with water.

My gut feeling would be to not bother, just add regular water for firmer doughs and carbonated water (soda water) for batters.

Stephie
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I would suggest looking for a Middle-Eastern or Indian flatbread recipe, most/all will not have beer in them.

Or use non-alcoholic beer.

Max
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  • non-alcoholic beer might be considered as non-halal if brewed where alcoholic beer was brewed earlier – Vickel Dec 29 '22 at 21:44
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    @Vickel if you are buying any large brand, then non-alcoholic beer is not _brewed_, it is just beer with alcohol removed from it (through low-pressure distillation or reverse osmosis). Specially brewed beers with neglible alcohol content are usually avaliable only from small breweries for a premium price (unless you are living in Islamic country, where it is slightly more avaliable). So, yes, most non-alcoholic beers are definetly non-halal. – Revolver_Ocelot Dec 30 '22 at 08:20