Beer Bread!

[Thirsty Mallard]

Tailgate season is upon us and for my crew I am trying to come up with a good beer bread.

I made some with some Shiner Bock based on a recipe on their site, but it wasn't much to talk about. I figure since it is a lager and therefore not as sweet that the flavor of the beer doesn't come through the bread.

So I think I am going to try it with a better, fuller, sweeter beer. I was thinking Aventinus Weizenbock or maybe a Trippel or something.

Anyone have any experience with beer bread and have a good beer of choice? I know we have some cooks out there. If not, I will make a few loafs trying different beers and report back. A nice experiment if you will.

[Henning1966]

Ok i will post an idea here until bug gets here to give ya better one. If you want to be able to taste the beer i would say try a Scottish ale low on hops with some residual sugar and malt profile in it.

[Thirsty Mallard]

I like the sound of that! I will add that to the experiment list...

[Ozbrewer]

i like to use LAmbic in beer bread, it gives it that Sour Dough type taste, but its not for beginner bread eaters

[Thirsty Mallard]

Ok, part 1 of the exeriment was carried out.

I was curious whether a thicker, more sugary beer would impart more flavor to beer bread.

As a control, I made 2 loaves of bread using Shiner Bock, which is actually just a dark lager.

As a variable, I made 2 loaves with two different Double Bock beers. I forget the brand names, but they were Double Bock. I chose these because I felt the Double Bocks have that heavy sweetness character to them and that would come through really well in the flavor of the bread.

Ok... so... (keep in mind I am no food critic)

The Shiner bread came out as I expected. Tasted mostly like bread with no real influence from the beer. I believe that since this is a rather crisp and smooth lager beer, that it doesn't import much taste to the bread. It did seem to give the bread a chewy densness and imparted some good color.

I will admit, after tasting the beer, I expected the Double Bock beer bread to have some good hearty sweetness. Well, there was definitley a taste difference as the Double Bock Bread was a bit sweeter, but not near as much as I had hoped for. Interesting.

So I have discovered that Double Bock Bread is better, but not quite what I was looking for yet. I will say it is pretty awesome still, and a great addition to any tailgate. It is also really easy to make.


More to come as I continue the Beer Bread Project!

[Bug]

Are you using dme in your recipe? If not you should. Also, I find that darker beers such as a porter are best for breads. Their dark color makes for a beautiful crust and crumb, and the flavor of a porter is quite nice. Here's a recipe if youd like to try it, let me know what beer you use and how it comes out.

Bug

4g Fleishmans instant yeast
9.3g DME
380g Bread flour
30g Whole wheat flour
255g Beer
8.3g Salt

Use the straight dough method and bake at 450 for 15 minutes then 400 for about 40 minutes. Good luck!
By the way, if you live in the bay area there is a fairly easy way to harvest the wild yeasts that live in the area which would make a much better bread than usiing instant.

[bub]

Ok not to pick on you... BUT....
I noticed you are using metric measurements for all the ingredients... should i then assume that I should bake at 450 C? That will be a dark bread if I do... not even sure my oven gets that hot.
BUB

[Bug]

sorry about that. No its fahrenheight. I use metric always for baking bread because it is more accurate, I can give you oz's or tablespoon equivilants if you like. I also just realized that it seems like I was saying that porters are darker than the double bocks he used previously. What I meant was that I've had better success with dark beers in general and my favorite has been with a porter.