High Life Beer Bread

A couple of weeks ago I was boiling some brats, in beer, to thaw them before I put them on the grill. The boiling beer made the whole house smell like fresh baked sourdough bread. Yum. Since then I have thought of nothing but making bread, and using beer in it. Yesterday, the stars aligned, I had everything I needed, I had just cleaned the kitchen, and I made the bread I have been thinking about for over a week.

The first thing I did was search online for 'beer bread'. Most of the recipes I found were for quick breads (no yeast, baking soda or powder for leavening). That was not what I wanted, so I created my own recipe using some guidelines from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" (did I mention that I have misplaced my copy, I think it's at my sister-in-law's house, but I found it on Google books).

Sandwich bread is a standard bread (57-60%hydration) with some enrichment (fat, and or dairy). Using the formula method described in the book, here is my formula/recipe.

Joybee High Life Bread

• 6 cups flour (1.5 cup whole wheat, 4.5 cup bread) = 100%
• 1.5 cups warm water, 1-12 oz bottle of room temperature beer = 50%
• .5 cups fat (.25 butter, .25 almond oil) = 8%
• .33 cup instant potato flakes = 5.5%
• 1/2 tbsp salt = 2%
• .25 cup sugar = 4%
• about .25 cup roasted garlic (mashed)
• 1 tsp thyme, 2 tsp basil and 1/2 tsp sage
• 1 package yeast

Set beer (I used Miller Highlife b/c it's my favorite) out at room temperature for a few hours. Roast garlic at about 250 degrees F for about 1 hour. Mix all the dry ingredients (including yeast) in a large bowl. Heat water for 1 minute in microwave, let it sit while you melt the butter, mix it with the oil, and mash the garlic. Once everything is prepared, add all of the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until all the flour is incorporated. This makes a pretty wet dough. Knead for about 10 minutes until dough becomes smooth, and is not sticky, but still soft. Put in an oil coated bowl, roll to coat all sides and cover with a damp towel. First rise is about 1.5 hours or until dough has doubled in size. Punch down dough, halve it and shape into loaves. Place in greased loaf pans and let rise for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the oven for steam baking. To do this, I use a cast iron on the bottom shelf. Heat the oven (with the pan in it) to 475. While oven is heating, boil some water in a kettle.

Once loaves have risen, turn oven temperature down to 375. Place loves on the middle shelf, right above the steaming pan. Then carefully pour the boiling water into the hot cast iron pan (warning: this will spit, sputter, and steam. Make sure to use enough water so the pan doesn't dry out during baking.). Shut the oven. Bake for 40 minutes.

Take loaves out of the oven, and let cool in pans for about 30 minutes. Remove from pans and bake directly on oven shelf (at 375) for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 hours or overnight if possible.

Conclusion

I only added 50% hydration instead of 58% like I initially planned. I was supposed to use 3.5 cups liquid, and I only used 3. However, it did not hurt my bread. I finished baking the bread at about 9:30 last night so I was able to let is cool over night. This morning when I woke up, I immediately cut myself a slice. It was wonderful, the crust is chewy, and the crumb is soft. The after notes of beer give the bread a hint of sourdough flavor (with out all the work). The garlic and herbs also give a nice flavor, but they are very subtle. I plan on making shrimp salad sandwiches with this bread today.

I am eager to hear your comments, and let me know how it tastes using other beers.

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What to do with extra andouille

I have a few packs of andouille sausage in the freezer. I made jambalaya a few weeks ago, and it was good. But what else can I make with andouille? Here is an easy recipe that I tried tonight.

4 medium potatoes (cut into bite size pieces)
1 red onion (chopped in large pieces)
4 stalks of celery (chopped)
rough minced garlic (to taste)
minced pickled jalapenos (to taste/optional)
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
fresh cracked pepper
kosher salt
3 links andouille (bite sized pieces)

Toss vegetables in enough oil(I used almond)to coat. Add seasoning, toss until distributed, place in a baking pan and bake at 325f for about 1 hour.

This is a very simple recipe that I threw together today. I used what I had on hand, I even added a bag of frozen peas. It was a real hot day today, so I cooked this outside on the grill (didn't want to heat up my kitchen). I cooked this in a big roasting pan that I found at a yard sale.

I thought this recipe tasted really good.

I hope this gives you an idea on how else to use andouille.

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How to Make Granola

I never liked eating cereal for breakfast. That is until I first had granola. There is something about granola that is addictive to me. It may be the mix of crunchy and chewy that I love. It may be the nutty sweet flavor of the oatmeal, the chewy plump raisins or other dried fruit, I don't know but I love it.

I first learned how to make granola from my sister-in-law. She always keeps a big Tupperware container of home made granola in her pantry.

It is very simple to make, I usually don't even measure.

1. Fill your container mostly full of rolled oats, almonds and what ever else you like in your granola (leave enough room to shake it all up)--do not add raisins or dried fruit yet
2. Pour in some sweetener (like maple syrup or honey) and oil (vegetable or canola) mix and toss at regular intervals use just enough sweetener to make it slightly sticky (depending on how sweet you like it) and just enough oil to make every thing shiny
3. Put granola in a baking sheet (about 2 inches deep) in oven on low temp (250F) bake checking and stirring every 15-30 minutes until granola is golden and dried.
4. Let cool for a few minutes and now add the raisins/dried fruit. Put it back in the container to store it

Well that is the basics of granola making.

For more about granola check out:

At my local store the other day, on a quest for granola making supplies, I found something new to try. The store is a kind of ethnic food place with lots of products from India (I find all kinds of interesting new products I've never seen before). So I was looking for some oatmeal (rolled oats, because I didn't think I had enough), which I did not find, but I found something called parched rice. Obviously it is some king of rice product, but it was wafer thin (almost like rolled rice). I bought a smallish bag of it along with my other supplies (sliced almonds, almond oil, coconut chips, and both golden and black raisins)

When I got home, I was very excited. The first thing I did was try the parched rice. It did not have much flavor, it is unseasoned, and had a tough texture. I tried roasting it (like I would in my granola) and that did the trick. It was crispy and slightly nutty (sort of like a flat rice crispy--with out the sugar). That decided it for me, I was going to put it in my granola.

My Granola Recipe:

• 5 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups parched rice
• 1.5 cups sliced almonds
• 1 cup coconut chips (which are like flakes)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup maple syrup/little bit of honey (just what I had on hand)
• 1/2 cup almond oil
• 2 cups raisins (1 golden, 1 black)

I mixed the oats, rice, almonds, coconut chips, and brown sugar. I added the maple syrup and oil tossing and mixing thoroughly. I put this all in my 13x9x2 inch baking pan (it was very full) and into a 250 degree Fahrenheit oven. I baked it for a total of about 2.5 hours stirring every 30 minutes until it was dried and golden.
*makes about 23 1/2 cup servings

This turned out to be the best granola I have ever made. The flavors and textures are so good together. This is a definite keeper.
Nutrition facts thanks to www.nutritiondata.com. For more nutritional information for this granola.

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French Toast

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When ever I have a good dense home made bread (especially cinnamon raisin) I want to make french toast in the mornings. Some people get a little scared when they hear 'french' in cooking, but this is not a difficult recipe. I don't even use an official recipe, it's all very basic.

The main thing about french toast, is you soak your bread in an egg mixture so it softens and absorbs some of the flavor. Then you bake, toast or fry it. It's raining today or I would try grilling it...maybe another time.

• note this is a great use for slightly stale bread

• also note this works best with a more substantial slice of bread, one that will not fall apart when it gets soaked

My bread:

From my earlier post, I have cinnamon raisin bread. This is a great type of bread to use for french toast b/c it has so much flavor. As I mentioned in my post, this bread is rather dense so it will hold up nicely.

My Soak:

I am only making enough french toast for myself (so only 2 slices). I think I will use only 1 egg. Then I will add milk, for this I will use vanilla soy milk. It has great flavor, and a little less fat than regular milk, and I won't need to add any vanilla extract.

• note on soy milk: I only buy and use organic soy milk. This is the only way to make sure the beans used in my soy milk are not genetically modified. While it is not certain if genetically modified foods cause any health risks, I choose not to support genetically modified (GM) soybeans for other reasons. GM seeds are patented by the company that modifies them. They then sell these seeds to the farmer. However even after the farmer buys these seeds he/she does not own them. After planting and harvesting the farmer is not allowed to keep the seed and replant he/she must buy a new batch of seeds from the company that modified them. I don't like this so I choose not to support it. I would rather support farmers not big corporations.--I apologize for the rant

So I have an egg/milk mixture (kind of like scrambled eggs). To this I add a little cinnamon, alittle nutmeg, and a little maple syrup. This is all up to individual taste and smell, I never measure--if you use regular milk, you may want to add just a dash of vanilla extract. Then let the bread soak for about 10-15 min per side (this depends on how stale/hard your bread is. It can soak over night if necessary).

My cooking method:

I will be frying my french toast. So heat up the pan about a medium heat, grease/oil the pan. You can use butter if you want, I will be using almond oil (it has a little less saturated fat and it wont burn at this temperature. Fry the toast on both sides until it is browned and a little crisp.

Finish off with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and enjoy. (I will be enjoying mine with a few links of turkey sausage)

Results:

Wow that was a great breakfast/lunch. 2 pieces was more than I could finish with sausage and fruit. I did not add any more maple syrup to the toast when it was done (I didn't want too much sweetness b/c I also had fruit)

I had a whole fresh pineapple that I cut up, I had about 1/2 cup of pieces, about 10 grapes, and a banana cut up. The fruit was a wonderful addition to my breakfast, it added great color, and freshness.

I still have 1 piece of french toast and 2 sausage links left for later.

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Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I love bread. I became interested in learning how to bake bread in college and have been trying to perfect my skills every since. I give much praise for the book The Bread Bakers Apprentice. This book taught me so much. I suggest it to anyone who strives to make extraordinary bread.

Oddly, I decided to try going gluten free about a year ago. Seems crazy, I know. I had some reasons to give it a try, and it was a challenge to see if I could do it. Well I got a chance to learn some new recipes an try some new things. I stayed gluten free for at least 6 months. It was challenging and I have a lot of respect for people who have to live gluten free.
I am no longer gluten free and I haven't made bread in over a year. I am so happy to be back kneading the dough and filling my house with the smell of fresh baked bread. I decided to make a loaf style bread instead of a 'rustic' type just for quickness and ease. So I made Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread.

Formula: 3 parts flour: 1 part liquid
3 cups bread flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup toasted rolled oats
.5 cup flax seed meal
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1.5 cup raisins
1 package yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 cup 2% milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup melted butter
In a large bowl I mixed the flours, oats, sugar, raisins, and yeast. I mixed the milk, egg, and melted butter in another bowl and let it sit at room temp for about 1 hour. I mixed the liquid with the flour stirring (adding a little more milk to make a sticky dough. I turned the Dough out onto a floured table and kneaded for 8-10 min until the dough became soft and tacky (but not sticky). I did this by hand, if you have a stand mixer feel free to use it. Once dough is kneaded, put it into a lightly oiled bowl rolling it to coat all sides, cover with a damp towel and let rise for 90 minutes.
Once risen, punch down dough, separate into 2 pieces. Roll out pieces to about 8x10 inch rectangle about 1 inch thick. Smear with butter, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon/sugar, then roll tightly pinching the seam together and tucking the ends under. Place rolled dough into greased loaf pan (9x5). Let rise for another 90 min. or until it fills the loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35-40 minutes.

Conclusion:
This bread turned out wonderfully, soft, chewy and slightly sweet. The oat meal adds a nice texture. The whole wheat gives this bread a denseness and makes a more substantial slice. Wonderfully addictive. Great with or with out butter.

Let me know what you thinkFor more nutritional information about this bread this link will take you to my recipe page on NutritionData.com. This is a really cool website where you can enter your recipes and it calculates the nutrition facts.

p.s. I got my grill thermometer yesterday. Will post more when it is installed.

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