Making bread with ale yeast

Focus · 03-10-2008, 04:39 AM

So are there any brewing cooks (or cooking brewers) out there that have accomplished this successfully. I've seen several beer bread recepies that call for beer added as the liquid mixing agent - and I've tried a couple to varing degrees of success - but what about using actual brewers yeast to make your bread rise rather than bakers yeast that you wouldn't let get within a mile of your beer. I'm imagining a bread that smells and tastes like yummy, yeasty, foamy beer that's at the peak of fermentation at about 3 days or so.

Certainly this has been discussed before, so if someone can point me to the thread... much appreciated.

Focus

PS. Please provide credentials to establish your creadibility as both a brewer and a cook.

Arneba28 · 03-10-2008, 08:01 AM

Credentials. Full time Asst. Chef last 8 years in Italian/ Greek restaurants...Bad idea...brewers yeast #1 not good at baking temps
#2 alcohol in bread....normally the small amount that is created will bake off and leave little residual taste.. brewers yeast will I believe..
#3 brewers yeast is more expensive then baking yeast...why bother

Danek · 03-10-2008, 08:42 AM

I tried making pizza dough with yeast I harvested from a primary. It tasted interesting, in a good way, but didn't rise particularly well. Not sure I'd bother trying it again. Bread yeast makes better dough.

DeadYetiBrew · 03-10-2008, 08:56 AM

i've made plenty of beer bread (i try to make 1 loaf per new beer i make, so far the more flavor the better the bread) haven't used brewers yeast to make bread yet. It shouldn't be that far from normal bread bakers use to get their yeast from brewers.....

The guys on basic brewing radio did a test. A small beer batch with bread yeast and a small loaf of bread with brewers yeast. They didn't notice much difference in either. I lay that blame with the fact that he used a clean yeast in the bread instead of something more flavorable.

Focus · 03-10-2008, 02:53 PM

interesting inputs. I trust the resident chef, but I still think I'll give it a try sometime. The follow up quetion would be how much?

How much brewers yeast (both packet o' dry muntons & White Labs liquid vial) is equivalent to one pack/one loaf's worth of Fleischmans.

I don't expect that it'll be all that stellar - and that I'm better off using the actual beer in the bread - but I like to experiment...

PseudoChef · 03-10-2008, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arneba28

Credentials. Full time Asst. Chef last 8 years in Italian/ Greek restaurants...Bad idea...brewers yeast #1 not good at baking temps
#2 alcohol in bread....normally the small amount that is created will bake off and leave little residual taste.. brewers yeast will I believe..
#3 brewers yeast is more expensive then baking yeast...why bother

In your #1 do you mean doesn't like high temps during proofing or something?

Also, your #2 doesn't make any sense. Both bread and beer yeast (they are the same organism, after all) will be capable of making alcohol.

**BigKahuna** · 03-10-2008, 04:39 PM

I make pretzels from the yeast cake after bottling.
When it gets really good...is when you bottle one batch..and brew another on the same day. I use a good handful of the brewing grains in a whole wheat bread dough..and instead of yeast from the jar, I just scoop about a cup or 2 of the yeast cake into the bread.

Comes out fantastic...but you need to eat it while it's hot...Like We'd ever give it time to cool.

BleedsDogFish · 03-18-2008, 08:03 PM

Would you make beer with bread yeast??

**Yuri_Rage** · 03-18-2008, 08:19 PM

Credentials: read the forum (lots of food recipes, not hard to find my brew-related posts)

I know I've read an article on the subject, and I wish I could find the source. Basically, it stated that most brewer's yeast isn't tolerant of high temperatures and works less aggressively than baking yeast. Baking yeast works fast to ferment the sugar present in bread dough, making it rise. When placed into the oven, the yeast go into a hyperactive state before dying from heat exposure, creating the fluffy texture found in most bread. Brewer's yeast will result in longer rise times and a denser texture due to the fact that the yeast will cease activity at a much lower temperature.

I made one batch of bread with brewer's yeast, and I found that to be exactly the case. It wasn't very good bread at all. I'm sure you could have some success with it, but it's quite expensive, and the results may be disappointing.

With regard to the ester flavors produced by some strains of brewer's yeast, I don't think they'll survive the baking process. Esters are alcohol based, and usually rather volatile. Baking will probably cause them to evaporate out of the bread, leaving little aroma or flavor behind. If you want banana and clove in your bread, add bananas and cloves.

**Brewing Clamper** · 03-18-2008, 08:50 PM

I make bread with beer yeast all the time. It is actually quite tasty, especially with a Hefe yeast (wlp320 I think). I've experimented with different ways of doing it. Everytime I've done it, it's been from a yeast cake so there's other "goodies" in the mix. I'll mix about 1/2c of the cake with 1c. warm water & 1c. flour basically making a sponge. I let that ferment for a day or two. Then I make bread with it as I would any other sponge. The best results are by adding some regular baking yeast to the dough to help with the rising. I have gotten the same amount of rise from the beer yeast, but it took a long time to do so, about 7hrs, compared to about 1.5hrs by adding a tsp. of baking yeast. The flavor of the beer yeast definitely present, and quite pleasant too!