malted barley

This is my second experiment with using beer brewing methods to make a bread.

This time I wanted to see how the flovor of hops would taste in a baked loaf. 

barley flour soaker. Leave at room temp overnight.

1 lb of malted barley of your choice... I used 90% special B and 10% chocolate malt. Place grains in a large pot and cover with water (no more than 2 cups) Slowly raise temp until it reaches 160F, then turn off heat, cover, and let sit for an hour. strain the liquid into a new pot. Save the spent grain for other fun stuff. 

add whole hops to the strained wort, and begin the boil. Boil for 30 minutes, keeping a loose cover on the pot to prevent evaporation. Allow to cool to room temp. Strain out the hops and your wort is ready to add to the dough!

Combine the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Whisk together. Tear up the soaker and add to the flour mixture. Add oil, wort and water. Mix until you get a ball, then transfer to stand mixer.

knead for 5 minutes, rest for 2 minutse and knead 2 minutes more.

Place dough in oiled bowl and refrigerate at overnight or longer if needed. 

On baking day: Remove dough from fridge and allow to reach room temp, about an hour. Stretch and fold and place back into bowl. After 30 minutes, do this again. ferment until dough reachews 1.5x original size. Divide into 2-3 pieces depending on size of loaves desired (I made two, but I think smaller loaves would be better for a more open crumb). Allow to proof for and hour. Preheat oven to 500F. Add water to steam pan, insert the loaves and reduce temp to 450. After 15 minutes, rotate and reduce temp to 350. Bake for 30 minutes or until center of dough reaches 200f. 

The finished bread had a moist, chewy sandwich bread texture. It is not very sweet. I does have a nice malt flavor and i can detect a little of the hop bitterness and flavor. I think I'll add more hops next time!

NOTE: all these amounts are approximate!

SOAKER

2 cups barley flour

a few grains of instant yeast

enough water to make a sticky paste (about a cup... I didn't take exact measurements.)

FINAL DOUGH

about 3 cups bread flour

2 tsp salt

3 tsp raw sugar

1 tsp instant yeast

1 tbsp canola oil

about 1 cup of cooled wort

about 3/4 cup water 

I'm a homebrewer. One of the best smells in the world is a boiling pot of wort, and I've always wanted to somehow "eat" that smell. Well, this is what happened on my fist attempt at a "brewer's bread".

Day 1: 3/4 c KA bread Flour

  3/4 c Whole Wheat flour

          1/16 tsp instant yeast

  enough water to make a very sticky dough

mix well and let sit at RT for 18-24 hrs then refrigerate for a day.

Day 2: Go to your local homebrew store and pick up a pound of your favorite malted barley (or wheat). I used 3/4 lb caravienne and 1/4 lb belgian aromatic. Mash at 150F for an hour with one quart of water. I used a crockpot and a thermometer. Strain the wort into a bowl and sparge with a cup or two of boiling water. Process the spent grain in a food processor until it obtains a paste-like consistency. Refrigerate the wort and the grain paste overnight. 

Day 3: Cut up the biga into 10 pieces. Combine:

Biga

1 1/2 c bread flour

3/4 - 1 c spent grain paste (depending on how much "whole grain" you want to taste

2 tsp instant yeast

2 tsp coarse kosher salt

1 tsp canola oil (or whatever you like... try melted lard!)

1/2 c wort ( adjust as necessary... my final dough was very sticky)

Stir with a fork until you get a ball, then knead with dough hook on medium speed for 4-5 minutes. Rest dough 20 min, stretch and fold in bowl, repeat three times. form into loaves or boules, proof 2 hours. Set oven to 500f, pour 1 1/2 c hot water into steam pan and place loaves in oven. Reduce to 425f and bake for 15 min, rotate then bake for 10 min or until dark brown and center reads 200f.

I was expecting to get a dark, heavy brick, but I was pleasantly surprised by how light and crispy it turned out. Next time I'll add some hops!