Beer Bread 'The Bread Bible' Alpha Bakers
Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 9:28PM 
Hmm, I need more experience "building a burger" but the home-baked beer bread buns make up for it!
Join me Facebook
Today is the monthly post for 'The Bread Bible' by Rose Levy Beranbaum and it's 'Beer Bread'. Porter or Stout give this bread a wonderful rounded flavour, a slight bitterness in the after taste and a somewhat more pronounced beer flavour around the crust. Yet, it's never over powering and will appeal to beer drinkers and non beer drinkers alike.
It's an adult bread and oh my it must be the best bread to serve for your BBQ entertaining. Delicious served with equally strong flavours, think well seasoned barbecued burgers, flat spiced mushrooms, bitey cheese, roasted capsicum dip and the like.
Sheeesh, you don't need a McDonalds build your own burger now, black beer burger buns all round!!!
I got a touch "tired" this week so a few less photos, but I've included the a YouTube video of Rose actually making the beer bread (6 minute 40 second mark) plus a few photos/serving suggestions of mine below.
This was a quick loaf to make with no starter required and about 2 -2/12 hours rising time. Yeast, malt, sugar, most of the bread flour and some wholemeal flour were combined, black beer was added then salt.
I used a beer another alpha baker recommended, 'Coopers best extra stout' from an Australian brewery...., thanks Catherine from the blog plylliscaroline the stout was perfect.
I was using my stand mixer so 7 minutes of kneading and there it was, just as Rose described "putty-coloured dough".
The dough came easily from the mixers dough hook.
The dough went away (well actually I put it away) to rise. After rising the dough was shaped, I divided my dough in half, made one half sized boule and four buns. Off it goes for another rise. You can slash the tops now with your favourite design, Rose has several with instructions in 'The Bread Bible'. Then off to bake.
Easy to shape this dough, ready for it's second rise.
Awww, the robust flavour of the beer bread reminds me of mum, bless her heart she loved a high tea on one hand but always partook in the opportunity to share a ploughman's lunch. I think she found it amusing that the traditional ploughman's lunch offended my sensibilities (no cutlery, rip apart bread and cheese and suck down a pickled onion!! wash it down with beer) and Mum did love a pickled onion!
Ploughman's lunch, perfect for casual get together. The pronounced flavouring of the beer bread pairs perfectly with aged bitey cheddar, apple and pickled onions of course.
You could skip a few steps, serve ploughmans cheese with your beer bread and a slice of apple. See how I used the word "slice". Ploughman's lunch is not an ancient British tradition, but rather a measure from the cheese board in the UK post rationing to promote the sale of cheese. So "forks", "knives" and perhaps even "little napkins" were around!!!
I prefer the vegan way with organically torn fresh beer bread topped with hummus and spiced marinated pine nuts.
Would I bake again? Yes, loved it.
Would I change anything? No
How it works... now I've joined the fabulous existing alpha bakers, once a month I will post about what I have baked from Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'The Bread Bible'. This won't include the recipe due to copyright and publisher restrictions however, I will be posting how it went and photos of making/baking the gorgeous baked goods.
The Bread Bible
You might also be interested in making: Fondant masquerade mask cupcake picks