Well I’m having some people over to watch football and wanted to make something. Of course I have the beer brewed and a beer cheese recipe ive been contemplating. I want to make a stout sourdough bread to go with it. ( Notice a theme) anyway not sure what shape will give me the greatest % of crust. Anyone else making something something
If you brew your own beer have you ever thought of making barm bread? Hope your friends are bringing something!
So quick look it looks like a barm bread uses a levain using beer instead of water?
Yes. Barm is the froth which forms on a fermenting beer. It’s full of live yeast and used to leaven bread. Don’t think it necessarily has to fully replace all the water. The normal procedure would be to make a ‘poolish’ like preferment using some barm.
I’ve brewed alot of different beer breads last winter. Ive used beer yeast slurry and fresh krausen with alot of success.
Yes the froth is the krausen and a history of bread I read the haufbrau would visit the brewery on baking day to grab some
Sounds like the very same thing. People, back in the day, often brewed their own beer. It was very easy for them to take some barm and make bread with it.
One thing to be careful about that learned is don’t use the krausen or spent yeast from a really hoppy beer. The bread will smell nice but be bitter. A stout krausen would work well but of course now timing brew day and bake day. I think the levain using a live beer makes sense so I’ll try it next. Thanks @Abe
That’s why using only a small amount to create a poolish would be the best way. Replacing a significant amount with barm would give a bitter hoppy taste.
Using live beer works but I think it needs to be given time to be fully active before using.
Getting off topic was wondering about best shape for maximum crust . Ill start another thread about the levain
Do you have an oblong baker? I call the loaves from them “bagtards” since they’re somewhere between a baguette and batard in shape. Anyway, they have a high ratio of crust to crumb.
If you have a baking stone, you could do stout baguettes or ciabatta if maximizing crust is #1 priority.
I do use a stone and usually make rounds or boule send a picture of what your thinking if you have a shape in mind
These loaves all have the same dough weight, but there’s more crust on the middle shape.
Or try the baguette or demi-baguette shape like these:
I visited my local microbrewer for crud. Really, I don’t know what it is called but they happily give it to me and I take back some bread. They brew in these big, tall stainless steel vessels. After taking the beer there is crud left inside. They open a valve at the bottom and drain off 2 qts of liquid for me. There are lots of little pieces of hops in the stuff they give me. I use the crud to make bread, no recipe, just add whole wheat (pinch of salt) until the dough is the texture I like, the hops make into the bread, give it little pieces of bitterness in an exquisitely wonderful way that compliments whole wheat. Friends tell me it is the best bread I have ever made. Personally, I don’t get to make it often enough.
Condensed version: hops are not necessary a bad thing in bread.
The brewery owner told me what the crud is called but I forget. It is not the foam at the top, and it is not dregs because it is not at the bottom until the beer is drained from the vat. During the ferment it is floating below the foam … whatever, it is full of yeast and can inflate a loaf in as little as 30 mins when mixed with wheat. Suggest preheat the oven before mixing the dough.
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Square, flat bread, often baked in a pan, aka focaccia. You do not need to add anything to it, if the bread is good enough.
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Yes its spent yeast and I’ve used it often when I dont have sourdough starter. It’s not technically a sourdough though and has a cleaner taste (not necessarily a bad thing) i make a lot of IPA beer with a boatload if hops. You can wash the yeast though but I’m lazy
I like the idea of the baguettes looks like the baking time and temp is important