spent grain bread

[dwightr8]

So, I finally got around to brewing a couple of days ago (Scottish Wee Heavy, OG 1.080) mainly so I would have some spent grain (17 lbs) to play around with. I also saved a couple of quarts of sweet wort to use for liquid/sweetener. With the beer bubbling happily it was time to see what I could do with the sg. Since I bake mostly with sourdough anyway, I decided to forgo any extra yeast and just go natural - probably not the best decision since my starter has been kind of flakey lately. After going through a lot of recipes for spent grain bread and my own experience with other kinds of bread I came up with the following recipe:

100g Sourdough Starter (@ 100% Hydration)
190g Sweet Wort
80g Whole Wheat Flour
240g All Purpose Flour
160g Spent Grain (Damp)
8g Salt

I fed my starter early in the day and let it become active before I added it to the dough. I mixed all ingredients in the evening and let them sit at room temperature overnight. In the morning I folded the dough over in the bowl a few times over the course of 2-3 hrs. I then formed the loaves and let them rise until about doubled (This is the tricky part - deciding when they have risen enough but not too much. Better to error on not quite fully risen as opposed to overrisen.) They were then baked @ 400F until the interior temperature was ~210F.

The results:

My starter never really got very active but I pressed on anyway and the dough was very slow to rise in the bowl. Since we were having the (possibly future) inlaws over for dinner, I was pressed for time and had to bake before I would have liked. I actually sliced and served the bread while it was still a bit warm and before I had a chance to sample it. I have to say when I finally got a taste of it I was shocked. It was kind like the beer - a wee heavy - but flavor wise it was some of the best I have ever made. I think I favorly impressed the (possibly future) inlaws as well as my SWMBO.

Next time I make the bread I think I'll throw a little extra yeast in. The bread being quite heavy, I think it needs a bit of help rising. Other than that this stuff is a real keeper.

Cheers,

Dwight