It takes me a little bit to motivate when it comes to brewing beer. I'm not sure why, it's incredibly easy. I guess it's the time commitment involved. We bought a bunch of brewing supplies in December and that sat, staring at me for weeks from the bench near the back door. I finally moved them downstairs so I wouldn't feel guilty, tucking them away in the root cellar where I was sure to forget about them for a few more weeks. Then Dan went down to Boston for the night last weekend and I decided it couldn't be put off anymore.
We had gotten ingredients to make a Fat Tire clone, though with a darker malt extract and a bit more hops. The original plan was to add some spices to it, but I just wanted to get it over with so I just brewed it.
Although I always compost the spent grain, I knew from my homebrewer friend, Kat, that you can cook with it. I started at the bag, wondering if I could motivate to do something with it. After a quick Google search, I found this recipe from beer100.com. I adapted it slightly—and will continue to tweak it—but I do have to say it's one of the best breads I've ever made. Lucky for me, I can continue to make it. Kat clued me into a secret: that you can freeze the spent grain for later use. So I'll be making it again very soon!
Spent Grain Bread
Adapted from Joe Thompson's recipe on beer100.com
Adapted from Joe Thompson's recipe on beer100.com
1 cup warm water
4 Tbsp sugar
1 pkg dry bakers yeast
4 Tbsp sugar
1 pkg dry bakers yeast
2 cups spent grain
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp salt
4 cups bread flour
Whisk together water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Let stand until the yeast begins to bubble, about 5 minutes. Stir in salt, oil, spent grain and 1 cup flour.
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp salt
4 cups bread flour
Whisk together water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Let stand until the yeast begins to bubble, about 5 minutes. Stir in salt, oil, spent grain and 1 cup flour.
Mix well. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff dough.
Knead well, cover, and let rise until doubled. Punch down the dough and shape into a round loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise until doubled.
Preheat oven to 425 with a pizza stone on the lowest rack for 30 minutes.
The dough will have spread out a little on your baking sheet. Pull the ends under to form a tighter round loaf, make 3 slashes across the top with a serrated knife and transfer to the stone. Bake until an instant read-thermometer inserted in the middle reads 204-206 F, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
The crust was great and the texture was good (even though I underbaked it a tad). I thought it was a tad sweet so I'll cut or eliminate the sugar next time.
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