May 8, 2022 - 5:07am
Sourdough beer bread
I just made one of my most delicious loaves ever. 900 gram loaf using Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, very dark, instead of water. The loaf itself is ho-hum but the flavor is excellent.
Questions: How should the beer be prepped before mixing? Heated, allowed to go flat?
The fermentation and proofing were veeerrrry sluggish.
Share
Loaf looks great!
I’m not sure, but I think the high alcohol content of an Imperial Stout will slow down yeast activity. Slow fermentation might be the nature of the beast with that beer for hydration.
that's what I thought, too.
How do I get the alcohol out without losing the flavor components?
Nice crumb Dave. Alcohol has a lower boiling point (78.37 °C) than water so theoretically you could gently heat it to remove the ethanol.
I will preheat the oven to about 180°F and place the beer in a suitable container within and monitor the temp using a remote wireless probe. To try to get the beer temp to around 175°F or so for an hour. I hope this will drive off much of the alcohol without changing the flavor too much. Because it sure is tasty.
I think the loaf looks great and I'll bet it tastes even better!
Heating a mixture of alcohol and water will eventually remove the ethanol from the beer. But the initial boiling point of the mixture will not be 78 °C but closer to 100 °C. The vapor is enriched in ethanol but a significant portion of water will also evaporate. (An explanation with diagrams can be found here). Doc Dough also had a post here about ethanol-water mixtures.
You may also find that some of the more desirable volatile flavor components of the stout will also evaporate. Even at a lower temperature some of the liquid will evaporate, the same way the water will evaporate below its boiling point.
Another possible interference with bulk fermentation and proofing is the high residual sugar that may be present in the beer. I made a rye bread from The Rye Baker (Pain au Cidre) using a hard cider with 6.5% ABV and did not notice any sluggishness with the rising. The hard cider had a much lighter body than Old Rasputin. It did use IDY and not sourdough culture, though.
I’ve used beer many times and simply use it at room temperature foam and all. I have never had any fermentation issues. You can try using 75% beer and the rest water and see if that helps. No need to heat it up in my opinion for what it’s worth.
I'm no longer a beer-drinker, but just checked their web site, and see that Ol' Raspie is rated at 9% ABV, kind of high for a beer, if I remember correctly.
So "watering it down" (I know, "sacrilege!") to 6.5% may help fermentation.
I have taken your comments to heart and decided on an alternate plan for my next experiment. Perhaps tomorrow...
I will mix the wet and dry ingredients without the starter and perform a salt-o-lyse for 45 ~ 60 minutes after initial mixing in the KitchenAid. Hoping that will allow the alcohol to magically disperse enough to not kill the starter.
Thanks for helping. This bread is really really good!
I still cannot get the dough to perform as desired but due to a happy circumstance I did improve the flavor.
I added very small amounts of other flavor elements and got an even more delicious result. Whole wheat and rye flour, dehydrated onion and garlic, caraway seeds, Sesame seeds, Poppy seeds, molasses, honey, barley malt syrup, unsalted butter.
Anyway, thanks for the help. Going to be a while for my next experiment.