Beer Yeast in bread

From what I understand it can be done. But you are literal dealing with a different animal. So there is adjustment required.

Actually no. In the Englsh tradition and I presume across N Europe bakers always got their yeast from the brewery. All the pre 20th century manuals describe getting good fresh brewers yeast in liquid form, known as 'barm', skimmed of the top of the ale wort as it ferments. It's a yeast that performs well in the wet, is capable of rapid propagation and fast fermentation. It's ideal for breadmaking.

I have a ferment in the fridge which I took from the sediment of a particularly fine bottle conditioned ale many months ago still going strong and still enjoying baking excellent bred with it.

Tim W

With regards to quantities to be used i would suggest that you grow your wort just like your sourdough culture using flour and water, the initial inoculation could be equal amounts of flour and brewers wort (sludge) there after and subsequent feeds  can be equal parts of water ,flour and the newly created culture.

Or secondly make a sponge this will require a little more guess work and note keeping for future reference use 50% of the flour and all of the liquid for your dough and a certain percentage of the brewers wort depending on whether you want it to develop overnight or the same day. if overnight then try 1% if sooner try 5% to the weight of the flour in the dough formula,

This is where the taking notes will be an advantage and build your knowledge base.

i do have a good book on this and will try to find it when the wife wakes up its 5.26AM here and its also mothers day so i don't want to disturb her,so will add any further info some time later today.

We should also remember that bakers yeast Saccharomyces Cerivisiae was isolated and developed for it's bread making prowess, where as brewers yeast and there are many that are available to the home brewing fraternity and employed in the different styles of beers and wines,

I started home brewing so that i could use Stout in my bread making especially if making big batches the cost per bottle is about 10% of the shop bought stuff. i have used the dregs in bread making to good effect too.

kind regards  Derek

Our knowledge of history is not, nor was it ever, very good.  Almost, but not quite, all the bread ever made has been made with the yeast from making beer or wine.  The commercial yeasts you can buy at the store were all derived from these yeasts.  From the time of ancient Egyptians, and probably much earlier, bakeries were located right next to breweries so that the barm was close by. 

We used to think that sourdough was the way bread was made in the old days but this method was only used for people who were traveling like the pioneers heading West across North America and couldn't get their hands on brewers yeast that made bread much faster and better tasting than 'sour' bread.  Most people, even today, don't like sour bread nearly as much a commercial yeast breads and why the SD favorites of today are the weakly sour Tartine and Forkish varieties.

When it comes to bread making, sourdough is the new, exciting and hardly ever used cutting edge of it - real pioneers -   just like the old days! 

Happy baking 

Beer barm in full ferment produces a thick yeasty foam that floats on the surface and buids into nebulous lunar landscape of head. At this stage there is far more yeast than needed for fermentation and if the head collapses into the wort the ale can be tainted in taste by the excess of yeast so it is generally skimmed off. 

I don't know exactly where I got this but it may be from Cobbett's 'Cottage Economy'.  He describes small scale rural household brewing and the housewife using a bundle of twigs which I picture like a mini witch's broom to skim the yeast foam off the beer. the twigs would be hung to dry over the fireplace so that when you wanted to bake you had dried yeast to always to hand which you broke from the twigs for the bread dough.

I would live like that if I could.

Hi The book i referred  to earlier is by Elizabeth David titled "English Bread and Yeast Cookery" 

ISBN 978-1-906502-87-4 It is a very interesting book with great references to historic writings on bread and bread making there is a chapter on yeasts balms etc which is quite fascinating as well as recipees of those days when most bread was made at home and was immensely important to the diet.

regards Derek

http://wholewheatfsm.blogspot.com/2012/12/recipe-ale-barm-bread-beer-mash-bread.html

http://www.carllegge.com/2014/01/cider-barm-sourdough-bread/

http://www.houseofbakes.com/spent-grain-barm-bread/

http://www.williamrubel.com/2011/11/24/sir-hugh-plats-manuscript-an-english-bread-circa-1560/

http://www.medievalists.net/2013/07/04/bread-in-the-middle-ages/

https://youtu.be/5i3Tn8CkoXU