I’ve been a little obsessed with making bread for the past few months using my wonderful bread machine. This week, I stumbled upon a recipe for sourdough based on a beer starter and gave it a whirl. The recipe calls for little to no use of the bread machine – you can do it without. It was the most difficult bread that I’ve made so far but also very tasty.

I’ve modified the recipe from one featured in The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook (German beer starter & Sourdough Bread) though the recipe remains very close to the original (it’s a great book, I highly recommend it if you’re into making bread and use a machine).

Beer Starter
3/4 c. flour (I used King Arthur’s All Purpose Flour*)
2 T rye flour (again, King Arthur’s)
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 c. flat beer (I used Troegs Sunshine Pils*)

Whisk all ingredients together. Pour into a glass jar – cover with cheesecloth and rubber band and then again with plastic wrap.

As with a regular sourdough starter, let the starter rest in a warm area (room temp of 75-80 degrees will do). Do not allow the starter to exposed to direct sunlight as it will overheat the starter and could affect the yeast.

The starter should rest for 1-2 days. Stir it occasionally each day until ready to use.

* Don’t be fooled. The quality of ingredients does affect the taste and texture of the bread. Use good flour and beer that you like.

Sourdough French Bread
beer starter (as above)
1/2 c. water at room temp
3 c. bread flour (again, King Arthur’s)
2 tsp. salt (I used sea salt)
2-1/4 tsp. or one packet active dry yeast
-
1/4 c. cornmeal

Place all ingredients except cornmeal into bread machine (or you can mix and knead by hand). Use the “dough” cycle and let the machine mix and knead the dough for about 1.5 hours. When the cycle is over, deflate the dough with your fingers and let rest for about 3 hours.

Shape dough on cutting board using extra flour as needed (dough will be sticky). Cover dough and let rest for about an hour.

Knead dough to deflate. Line a bowl with a clean kitchen towel and flour (inside the towel). Place the dough in the bowl, covering the dough with the towel and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap. The dough will now rise in the fridge (yep, you read that right) for the next day or so.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take the dough out of the fridge (it will look as though it hasn’t risen much after you take it out), reshape gently using the cornmeal (the dough will be really tacky). With a knife, cut slashes into the bread – about 3 or 4 (it gives you the pretty appearance that sour dough is known for).

Bake the bread for 12 minutes at 450 degrees. Reduce the oven to 375 degrees and bake for 25 more minutes, being careful not to overcook. The bread will be brown and crusty.

Take it out of the oven and enjoy!

–

I’m a butter on bread girl and I think this bread would be yummy with some butter and jam. I have so far tried it on its own, also good.

Since I used the pilsner, there isn’t a strong “non-bread” taste. You can definitely pick up on the yeast, though. Remember that there’s yeast in beer already and combining the yeast-y beer with yeast in the starter and then more yeast in the bread – well, you can guess what happens.

If you try it, let us know what you think!

(Image: Newscom)

Post from: EveryJoe

Tasteful Tuesday: Beer Starter for Sourdough Bread

These are the bratwurst beers I’d pick off the cuff:
1. Jever Pilsner (or any of a number of other hoppy Pilsner-style beers)
2. Spaten (or Augustiner Edelstoff, if you can find it)
3. Victory Hop Devil
4. Gaffel Kölsch
5. Beck’s (that one’s for sentimental reasons, but I’m sticking with it)

I almost picked the Flying Fish Extra Pale Ale, but since I didn’t I’ll add their recipe for Grilled Brats and Beer.

Post from: EveryJoe

Beers and Brats

I’m a pain in the ass about beer glasses, I admit it. Not only do I (strongly) prefer my beer from a glass, I prefer it from the correct glass as well. My wife has grumbled at me in the past because, having switched from a Pilsner to a Munich Helles, I also switched from the already dirty glass to a brand new, clean glass.

In my defense, I have gotten better about it. During those summer backyard barbecues I happily dug an overly-cold beer out of the barrel of ice, popped off the top, and drank my beer like a real American. Hell, one time over the summer I even drank my beer out of a can.

For those of you who aspire to that level of anal-ness, Beer Advocate has a handy guide to the many different beer glasses and the beers best drunk out of them. For the most part, it’s a very practical and eminently useful guide. There was one bit of advice which gave me pause, though:

Never chill your glassware, and decline if served a frosted glass.

Now, I’m as picky as the next guy, but if offered a beer in a frosted glass, smile, say thank you, and take the damn thing.

Photo from beernewsletter.com

Post from: EveryJoe

A glass by any other name

Now, I must confess to often choosing a big-bodied red wine with my favorite slice, but there are plenty of times I’ll enjoy a nice pilsner or other lager-style beer instead. The flavors in beer seem to compliment those in pizza, it’s as simple as that. Or perhaps not.

You see, someone has decided that if those two flavors go together, why not simply combine the two? So they have brewed – get this – pizza-flavored beer. According to the beer’s creator, they expect it to be used for cooking (which I can understand) as well as for drinking (which I can’t).

Post from: EveryJoe

Beer and pizza, pizza in beer

So, I mentioned a wonderful beer I had at a party recently. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the beer I brought to the party, which was disappointing. More disappointing is that it was from Tröegs, a Pennsylvania brewery which usually brews very fine beers. In fact, Tröegs’ beers are so good that I’ve never once complained about their Mötley Crüe-esque misuse of the poor, unappreciated umlaut.

The beer in question is the brewery’s Sunshine Pils, which is billed a crisp, hoppy Pilsner. I like hoppy, crisp pilsners, but this didn’t really do it for me. There wasn’t all that much hop, and it was kind of thin-tasting. Unfortunately, that’s been my experience with US Pilsners. So far the old Dock Street Pilsner and a Pilsner from Frankenmuth have been the only real contender for a real Pilsner from the US, but I’m open to suggestions. I’ve tried Victory, which is decent, but still not as hoppy as I’d like.

Don’t let that discourage you from trying Tröegs other brews, which are really quite good.

Photo from Tröegs

Post from: EveryJoe

A not-so-welcome guest