Beer Bread

I’ve learned to make an awesome bread made with beer draff and beer! Or skip the draff if you don’t have easy access to it. And it is fairly easy to prepare, and I promise this is the best bread you’ve ever had…

Ingredients

• 400 gram flour
• 100 gram draff
• 1/2 or 1 ts salt
• 1 bottle of beer (33 cl)
• 1 ts dry yeast

Other requirements

• Large bowl
• Oven proof pan
• Oven, large enough to fit the pan
• Kitchen mixer with dough hooks
• Towel
• Another beer for you…

To draff or not to draff

Draff is a byproduct when brewing beer. Back in the day it was added to bread for it’s taste and to give the bread a real bite. Nowadays it is fed to pigs or used to grow mushrooms on. You can get it at a local brewery if you ask nicely. To my taste 100 gram is more than enough, but feel free to add more if you want to train your jaws. As a replacement rye, oats or barley can be added, but it will taste a bit different.

The beer

The final taste of your bread really depends on the kind of beer you add to it. And you can experiment as much as you like. So go ahead and bake some bread with a fresh IPA, dark stout or a malty tripel.

Let’s start

• Step 1) Grab a beer and take a sip…
• Step 2) Mix the flour with the draff, yeast and salt in the large bowl. You can sieve the flour if you want, or not.
• Step 3) Pour the other beer into the bowl and mix it al together, until the dough stops sticking to your hands. Too wet? Add some flour. Too dry? Add some more beer or water.
• Step 4) Put the towel over the bowl and let it rest for about 12 hours. If you are in a hurry, use fresh (wet) yeast instead and let it rest for about 2 hours. Please note that you might get bigger bubbles of air in your bread.
• Step 5) Scatter some flour on a clean flat area and take the dough out of the bowl, fold the dough a couple of times into a nice round ball. Let it rise for another 2 hours.
• Step 6) Fifteen minutes before the dough has finished rising, the oven may be preheated at 250 ˚C with pan and lid in.
• Step 7) Take the pan out of the oven, remove the lid, scatter some flour over the bottom and put the dough in the pan. Carve a nice line or cross in it with a knife.
• Step 8) Put the lid back on and place the pan in the over for 25 minutes, still on 250 ºC.
• Step 9) After 25 minutes, take the lid of and let it bake for another 20 or to 25 minutes. Keep a close eye on it at the end, black crust is not very tasty.
• Step 10) Remove the pan from the oven, the bread from the pan and let it cool preferably on a rack. And then..:

You’re done! Bon apetite! It pairs excellently with a beer tasting and stinky cheese. Or soup. Or just with some salted butter and a slice of cheese. Or homemade hummus with too much garlic. Or whatever you want to put on it 😃

Enjoy!