The Fresh Loaf

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Finally back: House Bread revisited

foodslut's picture
foodslut

Finally back: House Bread revisited

Here's my story about changing my house bread because of wanting to share olive oil.

We brought back 10 litres of freshly-pressed olive oil from a press in my parents' home town in Italy, and we wanted to share it with friends.  Not having enough small flip-top bottles in the house, I bought some beer for the resealable bottles.  I don't drink beer, so I thought I'd use it up making some bread.  I was cautious, going 50-50 beer-water on my house bread formula.

Here's the beer I used:

After a bit of tweaking, here's the formula I used:

 Bakers %2400 gramsPoolishRemainder
AP50515129386
Rye2525864193
WW2525864193
Old dough *33340 340
Water35361258103
Beer35361 361
Oil10103 103
Salt221 21
Seeds **15155 155
Fresh yst331823
 233   

* - 70% hydration pâte fermentée

** - pumpkin seeds, since they're what happened to be in the pantry

First, the poolish - before....

... and four hours later:

Mix up the rest of the ingredients, autolyse for ~20 minutes, knead until smooth, then bulk ferment in the fridge for about 16 hours, with the odd fold when I'd remember (2-3 times).

Next was shape and proof (~60 minutes at room temp on top of fridge), and into the oven....

.... for 500F (~8 minutes) with steam, followed by 400F for about 45 minutes until the crust was to my liking.

Here's the loaves....

.... and here's the crumb.

How much different was it from the regular house bread?  Only the slightest hint of the pilsner was tastable in the latest version.  I've been using it for sandwiches through the week with strong cheese, as well as with salmon salad, to good effect.

Maybe the next try will be with 100% beer hydration.

Comments

wassisname's picture
wassisname

That looks like really good beer, wish I could help you dispose of it!  Clearly it makes a great loaf, too.  Nice bread!

100% beer hydration works great, I've done it on a number of occasions.  Looks like this bread has a lot of flavor on its own so I can't imagine the beer would overpower it.

Marcus