The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

alcohol

Jezella's picture

Have I created a starter - It smells okay

January 16, 2013 - 11:11am -- Jezella

Hello all. I have a problem in that I don't know if I have created a sourdough starter or something that will kill me. But first I will say this is my second attempt. In the case of my first I discarded the whole thing as it had bad smells. I've since learnt that this is normal and this leads me on to the possible problem I have now. In the case of my first attempt, I had the bad smell and also, at another time, the smell of alcohol.

Maggie Lou's picture

Bad Odor Whole Grain Loaf

October 29, 2012 - 10:49pm -- Maggie Lou
Forums: 

Can anyone give me some advice?

I sometimes get an alcohol odor, somewhat rancid smelling in my just baked bread when using whole grains.  I am not certain if it is the 'combination of grains' that I sometimes use??  Are there specific combinations to avoid?  Today I combined 1/8 cup soy flour,  1/4 cup dark rye, spelt, barley flour, 1.5 cups sprouted Hard Red/millet combination, 1 cup WW, and 1.5 unbleached white; 1 T gluten; 1 T olive oil, 1 T agave, 2 teas salt.  I used 1 T yeast.  I keep my flours & grains refrigerated along with the yeast (not the unbleached). 

jjainschigg's picture

Sourdough Starter goes 'Boozy?'

June 5, 2011 - 9:06pm -- jjainschigg

I started a new starter about seven days ago, using an 'offhand' method that's always worked reliably for me in the past to produce a starter with the classic yeasty/sour/yummy smell, stable and robust, with good rising characteristics. Now the same method has produced a starter that seems to rise very well and smells great, but more like someone took the top off a Calvados still: lushly, almost 'ether-y' fruity-sweet and clearly kicking out a (probably) flammable mix of ethanol and acetones.

Mustang 51's picture

Alcohol as a flavor enhancer

October 22, 2010 - 7:34pm -- Mustang 51
Forums: 

I have been thinking about adding some bourbon to brownies to see how the taste compares to bourbon balls. It is a common practice to replace a like amount of a liquid in a recipe when adding a liquid. Alcohol evaporates faster than water. Does anyone here have experience doing something like this? Will it just dry out the brownies? Should I try something other than a one to one ratio? Any help is appreciated. I hate wasting food.

Thanks,

Paul 

FinancingBread's picture

Bread won't rise with alcohol soaked fruit

May 28, 2010 - 6:41am -- FinancingBread

I was feeling creative and wanted to add some bourbon-soaked cherries to my usual brioche dough. I had been soaking the fruit for three days and drained off all the alcohol before adding the cherries to the dough.

I just took the dough out of the refrigerator after 8 hours of bulk fermentation and it hasn't risen at all. 

Erzsebet Gilbert's picture

A winemaker wants to be a wine-baker....

October 1, 2009 - 4:53am -- Erzsebet Gilbert

Hello, everybody!

So, here in Hungary, it seems like everybody's got a farm, and coextensively a vineyard.  My husband David and I don't, but we do have an incredibly kind old neighbor who's teaching us to make our own red wine. It's so much fun - picking our own grapes, grinding them, removing stems...  Like so:

Erzsebet Gilbert's picture
Erzsebet Gilbert

Hello, everybody!

So, here in Hungary, it seems like everybody's got a farm, and coextensively a vineyard.  My husband David and I don't, but we do have an incredibly kind old neighbor who's teaching us to make our own red wine. It's so much fun - picking our own grapes, grinding them, removing stems...  Like so:

Naturally, in gratitude I've baked him lots of bread.  We're not quite done, but in approximately two weeks we will have (for $50) 150 litres of red wine!  Which leads me to my question:

I've seen and read a number of beer bread recipes.  But obviously, we've got plentiful wine...  Are there any breads which call for a splash of wine in the dough?  It seems like it would be possible, but I've never seen any; I'm still a student baker, so I don't know if there are any chemical or taste-related reason for this.  Does anybody know, and if wine bread exists, any ideas?  

Thanks!  

Erzsebet

Also, if anybody is interested in other pictures and a diary of our winemaking process, it's on my blog - http://erzsebetgilbert.blogspot.com

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