Spent Grain - Bread

[snccoulter]

Made this today it turned out really well except the crust was a bit thick. I will have to do it again tough...

 

[hereforbeer]

Made this just now,and it is badass.Topped it off with almond butter and jelly.Thank you HBT.

 

[HItransplant]

3 cups spent grain
5 cups bread flour (approximate)
1 Tbsp salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup homemade Irish Stout
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 pkg dry baking yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm (112*F) water
Pinch of cornmeal

Combine grain, 2 cups of bread flour, salt, and brown sugar in large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.

Dissolve 1/2 tsp white sugar in 112*F water in a small bowl. Sprinkle dry yeast on water surface. Cover bowl w. foil and hold between 110* and 115* for 10 mins.

Meanwhile, add beer and oil to grain/flour mixture and stir together. Slowly add 2 more cups of bread flour and combine (I just used my hands, coated w. flour to avoid sticking).

After 10 mins soaking, gently stir yeast mixture, replace cover and rest for 5 mins or until yeast cream is nice and thick.

Add yeast mixture to dough and combine by hand. Slowly add remaining bread flour until dough is stiff and only a bit sticky.

Turn out dough onto floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes. Place dough in large bowl coated w. nonstick spray, cover w. damp towel, and leave for 2-3 hours (or until roughly double in size) in a warm spot to rise.

After initial rise, punch down dough and turn out onto floured surface. Shape into a round loaf, pulling the top of the loaf tight. Grease (or spray) a large cookie sheet and sprinkle with a bit of cornmeal to prevent sticking. Place loaf on prepared sheet, cover w. damp towel, and allow to rise for another 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until roughly doubled.

Preheat oven to 425*F. Bake loaf on center rack for 20 minutes. Using a spray bottle with clean water, mist the entire loaf (6-8 squirts) every 5 minutes for the first 20 minutes. Then reduce oven temp to 375* and bake another 25 mins, or until loaf sounds hollow when thumped with a knuckle. Cool, cut, and munch.

Yum! This thread got me going, so thanks for the inspiration.

and thanks to you sfbayjay. I made your recipe yesterday. First loaf of bread, and it was nothing but success.

This recipe is definitely a saver, and it will be a redo.

I have to say making bread is a lot like brewing beer... except with less worry about sanitation .

 

[Golddiggie]

Planning on trying the recipe (from sfbayjay) after this weekend's brew day... Is there anything I should do with the spent grain I save? Such as running through a food processor to get it into a finer state? Or soak it overnight in water to help it blend in, or make it even better?

I plan to reserve enough grains from the coming brew day to make at least a couple of batches, so I might try the above methods of grain altering (one per batch)... But if someone has already tried any of them, please post if it was good, bad, ugly, or you couldn't keep people away from the bread...

 

[NyQuil_Driver]

My lady just whipped up a couple loafs of spent grain bread from my steeping grains:
12oz Caramel 80L
4oz Black Patent
4oz Chocolate

Looks beautiful, but could use a bit more butter for flavor. But then, I love me some butter.

I wrote the whole thing up here: Baking Project: Spent Beer Grain Bread

 

[Golddiggie]

My lady just whipped up a couple loafs of spent grain bread from my steeping grains:
12oz Caramel 80L
4oz Black Patent
4oz Chocolate

Looks beautiful, but could use a bit more butter for flavor. But then, I love me some butter.

I wrote the whole thing up here: Baking Project: Spent Beer Grain Bread

I reserved about 6-8 cups of spent grain from Sunday's brewing... It was from a more pale ale recipe, so 2 Row, MO and some 45L Caramel Malt... Can you ask your baker if I should add more buttah to the recipe? I'm also thinking about sending the grains for a spin in my food processor before using them (I also have a stand mixer with a dough hook and such) to help make a finer texture in the bread (less big chunks o grain)...

 

[NyQuil_Driver]

My lovely baker says that for this recipe, she'd probably up the butter to about 2-3 tbsp, which will make the bread a bit softer. Another teaspoon of salt will help the flavor, and shouldn't affect the yeast too badly.

As for the processor, she doesn't see why not. Give it a whirl

Baking: It's science for hungry people.

 

[Golddiggie]

My lovely baker says that for this recipe, she'd probably up the butter to about 2-3 tbsp, which will make the bread a bit softer. Another teaspoon of salt will help the flavor, and shouldn't affect the yeast too badly.

As for the processor, she doesn't see why not. Give it a whirl

Baking: It's science for hungry people.

Good to know... What temp did the mad-baker cook your loaf at? I have a stone that I can bake on, to help things out... Been a dog's life span since I've used it, but I have it.

I think we need some pictures of what she's made for you...

Would she recommend 1 tsp or 1-1/2 tsp of salt (since your other site posting mentioned she used 1/2 tsp in the batch)...

Also, what kind of flour did she use? I have some AP, as well as a fresh bag of 'better for bread' flour...

 

[NyQuil_Driver]

You are very correct about the need for pictures. I was dreadfully aware of the lack of photographs when I was whipping up the blog post. I'll take some tonight.

She ran it at 375*F for 30-40 minutes, but I'm pretty sure she put it back in for a few more minutes due to the needle test.

 

[Golddiggie]

You are very correct about the need for pictures. I was dreadfully aware of the lack of photographs when I was whipping up the blog post. I'll take some tonight.

She ran it at 375*F for 30-40 minutes, but I'm pretty sure she put it back in for a few more minutes due to the needle test.

Sheet pans or on a stone??

 

[NyQuil_Driver]

Neither. She used a pair of loaf pans, so we can use it for sammiches.

 

[Golddiggie]

Neither. She used a pair of loaf pans, so we can use it for sammiches.

No wonder she had to put them back in...

I'll be using my baking stoooone for this... I might go for a traditional round loaf for one (full circle round) and maybe something like a French loaf for the other (although it could be difficult to put "we surrender" on it) Just need to get some cornmeal to dust the stone with to make working with it easier (to slide the bread on and off)... First time I'll be using my pizza peal in ages too...

Brewing, another gateway activity...

 

[Mongrel]

Here's the recipe I use, easy and AWESOME. Pictures here: http://beerreviewdude.com/beer-recipes/spent-grain-beer-bread-recipe/

This recipe comes out great, and I've been gradually simplifying it.

3 cups all-purpose flour (If you can get Robin Hood flour use it)
1/4 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1/2 cup spent grain, preferably low on the roasted malts (I don't worry about the roasted, match the grains with the beer used)
12 oz of ale (pale ale, amber, esb, stout all work)
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Cook the same way with the dutch oven.

 

[Golddiggie]

Just mixed up NyQuil_Driver's recipe, with a couple of modifications...

1. I put the spent (still wet) grains through my food processor to get them into a finer crush state.
2. I used about 3 tbsp of soft butter (added with the grain before adding the yeast slurry).
3. I put the bread flour through a fine metal strainer before using it.

Ended up using the 5 cups of 'sifted' flour. Most of it went into the mixer (dough hook) but the last little bit went onto the board where I did some kneading.

I have it on the board, beneath an inverted (and oiled with EVOO) stainless bowl (large enough). Plan to check on it after an hour to see where it's at. Thinking of punching it down, kneading it some, then putting it into the bowl (covering with a towel) for another hour (or so) until it doubles again. Then I'll split it into loaves, let rise, and bake on my pizza stone.

Thinking about melting some butter to pour on top of one of the loves (after running a knife along the top length)... Still have a couple of hours to decide on that part.

 

[Randar]

Man, I had a nice sammich at lunch today with my spent grain bread. I use a loaf pan for sammich bread and have a recipe that looks a bit like sfbayjay's but I freewheel a bit with some of the ingredients and include vital wheat glutens to help replace some of what was lost in the mash. Helps with lift and chewy texture to prevent it from being too dense, IMO.

It also feezes pretty well. I have used grains from anything from a blonde ale to dark porter to pumpkin ale to rye IPA's. The lighter grains will give less roasty or hearty taste but will show the sugar through (brown sugar or honey becomes apparent). I started using honey as a sort of natural preservative to help as much as possible as it will spoil relatively quickly without all the additives the major bakers use for preservatives.

Will post the recipe tonight.

 

[Golddiggie]

Here are the two loaves I made today/tonight...

Planning to cut into them tomorrow... I've let them cool down and have them wrapped in foil, inside a large ziplock bag (so they won't dry out any)... Smelled really, really good when baking... The one on the bottom was split with a knife and had butter poured into the cut before baking. The other was just scored a little with a knife (crosshatch pattern)... I'll post up images tomorrow of one of them cut open...

 

[Randar]

I put the spent (still wet) grains through my food processor to get them into a finer crush state.

This is the single most important step. I add the grains and any liquid additions to the blender and let it go for as long as possible to pulverize every last husk into oblivion. Nothing is worse than the sharp hulls being stuck in your teeth.

 

[Randar]

Thinking of punching it down, kneading it some, then putting it into the bowl (covering with a towel) for another hour (or so) until it doubles again. Then I'll split it into loaves, let rise, and bake on my pizza stone.

I get fluffier loaves when I let the second rise occur "in place". IN other words, I try to handle it as little as possible after the second rise. I also usually punch down before it has fully doubled. Punching down reduces some of the gaps and holes and fluffiness, so except for the loaves I am going to be using for sandwich bread, i hardly punch it down at all.

Spent grain (or any "whole grain") bread can be too dense if you over-handle the dough or punch it down overzealously.

 

[Randar]

Here's the recipe I use, easy and AWESOME. Pictures here: http://beerreviewdude.com/beer-recipes/spent-grain-beer-bread-recipe/

This recipe is essentially a modification of the Mark Bittman No-Knead Bread recipe. Simple and easy indeed.

Note about the dutch oven: it is not needed if you have a good convection oven and/or a bread/pizza stone.

Also, the technique Bittman uses of super-heating the oven and then dropping the temp at time = 0 creates a crazy-thick crust on spent grain breads. It can be almost unchewable, but with your oven (everyone's is different) and some slight tweaks to the technique, YMMV.

 

[Golddiggie]

I get fluffier loaves when I let the second rise occur "in place". IN other words, I try to handle it as little as possible after the second rise. I also usually punch down before it has fully doubled. Punching down reduces some of the gaps and holes and fluffiness, so except for the loaves I am going to be using for sandwich bread, i hardly punch it down at all.

Spent grain (or any "whole grain") bread can be too dense if you over-handle the dough or punch it down overzealously.

Well, I kneaded the dough twice, then let it rise while the stone was getting up to temp (on the pizza peal) before sliding it over to the stone to bake... I did that with both loaves, giving the stone enough time to recover between loaves (about 20 minutes, probably more than I needed to).

I cut into the round one just a few minutes ago to sample... Pretty damned good. Here are a couple of shots...

Really good texture, not heavy at all. I think sifting the flour before using it really helped out. I'm going to wait on making another batch until I've tasted the second loaf. I do think that I'll add a bit more butter with the next batch, and perhaps some honey too.

 

[Randar]

Nice! Looks tasty indeed. It doesn't keep like store-bought bread, so eat up!

 

[Golddiggie]

I plan on sharing some with family (this weekend)... Need to find room in the fridge for the loaves now...

How well would the uncooked dough freeze? Thinking that with the next batch, I'll freeze half the uncooked dough so that I can bake it another day...

 

[GetLooseontheGoose]

Oh this is awesome...who knew i would be baking some whole grain bread.

BTW thanks for the info on saving grains in the freezer!

 

[Randar]

I wouldn't freeze the dough. Same reason you don't want to freeze yeast. You won't get it to re-rise easily/readily.

The bread itself freezes quite well though. Just wrap it tightly in aluminum foil. It lasts weeks if not a couple months this way.

 

[ChshreCat]

Actually, you can freezer bread dough.
http://breadbaking.about.com/od/beginnerbasics/ht/freezedough.htm

 

[Randar]

My Basic Recipe:

- 3 Cups spent grain (still wet or thawed)
- 1 cup warm water (a little more if using frozen grains)
- 1 Tbsp dry baker's yeast (proofed according to package directions w/ 1/4 cup water and sugar)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar (or cut the brown sugar in half and use 2-4 tbsp honey)
- ~5 cups bread flour (I do this by feel as I mix, I never measure)
- tbsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp Vital Wheat Glutens (adds chewiness and lift)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees for rustic loaves, 425-450 for sandwich loaves or baguettes, and to 400 for buns/rolls (higher pre-heat temp caused thicker crust)

Blend grains and water in blender or food processor until completely pulverized and there are no recognizable husks.

Mix all ingredients except white flour in stand mixer with dough hook. Add bread flour while mixing until dough is proper consistency (glutens have formed and dough is elastic).

Remove dough and place in greased bowl until it has doubled (or 1.5x original). If making rustic or fluffier breads I will not punch down. Sandwich and buns will get punched down lightly. Split into loaves or buns and let second rise occur "in place" (on baking sheet or similar). When loaves have doubled again or reached desired size, place in oven and drop temp to 400 degrees.

Bake until done (toothpick inserted in center pulls out clean).

Now, this is just my basic recipe and I modify it accordingly to what I am trying to do. Reduce sugars to honey only and add herbs/garlic/EVOO for a savory loaf. I have added powdered milk for texture flavor and this works nicely as well. Have tried flax or sunflower seeds, oats, other similar grains, cornmeal, Tusing 1/3 cup honey and no brown sugar, etc. They've all turned out well.

Infinite options and possibilities really. The rolls/buns are great for bringing to potlucks or dinner parties.

 

[Randar]

Actually, you can freezer bread dough.
http://breadbaking.about.com/od/beginnerbasics/ht/freezedough.htm

I stand corrected. Now that I think about it I have seen those frozen "bake at home" loaves in the store and they do rise, so why wouldn't it work? I will have to give it a go sometime. Thanks for the link!

 

[Golddiggie]

Actually, you can freezer bread dough.
http://breadbaking.about.com/od/beginnerbasics/ht/freezedough.htm

I like the first step on that page...

Double the yeast. Use only active dry yeast - not fast-acting yeast. Mix bread according to the recipe’s instructions but double the yeast amount. This is to compensate for the yeast that will die off in the freezing process.

Since I used normal bread yeast in my first batch, and have two packets left, I could do this for a good amount of the next batch I'll make. I also plan on freezing some of what I made, from the first batch (already baked) so that I can have it later... I'm trying to use/eat/give away a decent amount, since it's just me here.

I'm thinking that I might use a little of my honey porter in the next batch of bread...

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I made some today with some of the grains from a schwarzbier brew yesterday. I've never had much luck with whole grain breads rising so I left it a bit wet to make sure it rose. It didn't have much natural body so the loaf spread out instead of rising up - looks like a dark ciabatta.
WOW is it tasty. I know I should savor or share it, but I have a feeling it's not going to last that long. I dried the rest of the grains in the oven afterwards to make them easier to save for future batches. I have a feeling they'll get used fairly quickly though.
Brewing could turn into a 2-day affair - brew beer Saturday, bake bread Sunday.

 

[Golddiggie]

I'm brewing again tomorrow (Monday)... I'm planning on saving some of the wort (not sure if I should use the hopped or reserve it before adding the hops) to use for both the yeast starter, and add some more sweetness to the bread.

I'm also planning on making some dog treats with some of the rest of the spent grain. I would save some of the grains in the freezer, but I'm brewing about every week or two... When I get to a bit longer between brewings, I might freeze some of the grain for using later (for bread and such)...

I think it's great that we can brew with the grains, then still have other things we can do with them, other than tossing or composting.

I am thinking of freezing some of the dough I make this week. That way I can simply pull it from the freezer (a day or so ahead) and bake it up fresh as I wish.

 

[Golddiggie]

Since we're snowed in today, I'm making another batch of bread... Going to freeze some of the dough to be baked later...

Also making the dog treats with some of the spent grain... Those are drying out now, in the oven... I went with the original recipe (from the other site) which worked really well...

 

[Randar]

Let me know how the frozen dough works for you when you get around to using it. I usually end up making a couple loaves and some goes bad before I get to it. I would love to be able to stop buying store bought sandwich bread altogether.

 

[Golddiggie]

Randar,

I'm planning on making one medium size loaf of bread to eat for the next 5-7 days... I'm thinking that I'll make another loaf (for freezing) that's about the same size (probably 1/3 of the dough batch)... I'm also looking to make dinner roll sized 'balls' so that I can pull what I want to bake the day/evening before, put them into the fridge, and have them with dinner the following evening. Could be something really good to do.

I'll post up how this works out... Should know within about a week, or so... I would keep in mind that they say to only freeze dough for ~4 weeks...

 

[Randar]

I'm also looking to make dinner roll sized 'balls' so that I can pull what I want to bake the day/evening before, put them into the fridge, and have them with dinner the following evening. Could be something really good to do.

Man, that would be perfect. Make roll or bun sized portions and then bake any time... Definitely interested in how that turns out!

 

[Golddiggie]

Man, that would be perfect. Make roll or bun sized portions and then bake any time... Definitely interested in how that turns out!

Got the smaller dough balls in the freezer (been in there for a few hours now)... I'll be able to put them into a bag tomorrow (individually wrapped of course)...

When I made this batch I sliced the grains in the food processor a lot more than with the first batch I made. I wanted to make the pieces as small as possible, so that they would be more evenly distributed through the bread. Plus, less chance of someone getting a grain hull in their teeth. I ended up using 3 cups of spent grain post-food processor in this batch (was 4-5 cups before spinning).

With the extra yeast added, I went with a little more wort for it's starter. I actually used some reserved wort (before adding hops this time, I have some with hops reserved too). I also added a few ounces of honey to the yeast starter. I also upped the butter a few notches. I thought I was doubling it, but I went a bit beyond that. I forgot how much one stick of butter actually was ... I got it really soft and just added the entire stick to the recipe. I'm hoping the flavor of this bread is more than the first one. While that was good, it was really, really light.

With the extra liquids, and such, I did end up using about 1-1/2 cups of flour more this time. I still put the flour through a strainer to help sift it.

I will say that I either baked the first batch too long (only about 40 minutes that time) or this recipe is just better all around. These loaves are software, with actual 'spring' to the loaves. Maybe it was the double punch-down that I did on the first batch that caused the other batch being so dense. I ended up baking the one more sandwich loaf shaped for about 25 minutes (still at 375F) where the round loaf ended up taking about 30 minutes...

Tomorrow is taste testing on this batch... I'll also post up some pictures of the dough before letting it rise, as well as the baked loaves and the ones I'm freezing.

 

[Golddiggie]

Got pictures of the latest batch...

Dough before letting it rise:

Money shot of one of the two loaves I baked last night:

Half a slice of bread from the same loaf:

The frozen dough balls before wrapping them up for longer freezing (up to ~4 weeks):

This batch came out much better than the first one. I think it's a combination of several factors. The longer spin in the food processor for the grains means they got cut up a lot more. The larger dose of butter probably didn't hurt things. The double yeast, while intended to help the bread survive freezing, probably also enhanced what was baked last night. Then there's using the unhopped wort (plus about 3 ounces of honey) for the yeast starter. I still only used the 1-1/2 tsp of salt in the dough, for yeast 'control'... I also only let it rise once, before punching it down, pulling off the two loaves for baking last night, plus rolling up the dough for freezing.

For the frozen dough, I used a combination of freezing paper and aluminum foil to wrap each one. The freezing paper should make it easier to get the paper off of the dough once it's thawed, and the aluminum foil should add another layer of protection. Next time, I think I'll make smaller balls for freezing, so that they're more individual sized. These might come out as being more sized for two... Or one hungry person.

I expect to bake one of the frozen dough balls in about a week. Sooner, depending on how long what I have out lasts... With how this batch tastes, and the texture, I don't think it will last all that long... Given a light toasting, and a little bit of butter spread on it, it's really F'ing good. :rockin:

I do think that I'll use more honey in the next batch though. Depending on what beer style the grains come from. It could be a mocha stout that's in the planning stages. I think that would be really good as a sweeter bread.

 

[r2eng]

Wow, made a double-batch today after a Vienna Lager brewday.

Excellent, thanks!!

 

[mack25]

I was sick of the snow yesterday, so I decided to dig out the smoker and smoke up a pork shoulder. Since I had 12 hours or so to kill, I figured I'd try my hand at spent grain bread. Made little buns using grains from a brown ale and homebrew Octoberfest in place of the water in the recipe (hey, that keg needs to get kicked, right?) A little egg wash and kosher salt on top.

The end result, with homemade wiskey-maple BBQ sauce and SWMBO's killer cole slaw.

And a *can* of beer. Canned beer required when eating BBQ, right? Thank God good beer now comes in cans.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

out of curiosity how long did you have to let them rise?

I've made this twice now and both times 2 hours for the 2nd rise made a nice dense, chewy bread but I would think it would take quite a bit longer to get something usable as a bun. Don't get me wrong, it's great stuff, just mine seems better suited to 1/4" thick slices for a sandwich, anything thicker and the bread is a meal in itself.

Along that line though, maybe I should just make bread bowls for venison chili, I doubt they would absorb enough to get soggy. And just like BBQ, chili requires a nice hearty beer to wash it down...

 

[mack25]

A good 3 hours, give or take, while I was tending the smoker (so it may have been even longer). And bread recipes seem to always say to punch it down and let it rise again - I didn't do that. Figured the more co2 produced, the better. It's still denser than a normal bun, but it worked out well. Took longer to cook than I expected too.

One thing I did which I think made a difference, was took all of the wet ingredients
(beer, spent grain, oil, butter) and puree'd in the blender until nice and smooth, instead of just throwing them into the mixer independently with the flour.