first loaf
The ongoing search for the best fresh bread.
These lovely loaves were created with the same basic bread dough recipe we use, but the yeast used was from the bottom of the fermenting barrel from the Belgian ale that Ken brewed.
When Ken first brewed the beer I wondered aloud whether or not the yeast would be suitable for baking – the answer: YES!
third loaf (note the color difference as the ‘starter’ ages)
The bread was chewy and moist, the flavor had the subtle flavor of ale and was amazing slathered with butter.
To utilize the wet yeast in the bread, use the same proportions of wet yeast as you would in a simple sourdough recipe; we used roughly 1/2 C of yeast-flour-water starter for a single loaf.
We tried to keep the beer yeast as a starter much in the same way as one would keep a sourdough starter. It lasted through another loaf, but by the third feeding and baking the yeast starter had begun to lose the ‘wang’ of the ale which is what we really appreciated about this bread’s flavor. (note photos above) Thus, we finished the yeast in one last loaf and are looking forward to the next batch of beer and a few more loaves of bread made with yeast from home brewed beer.
~Enjoy!
