SC - beer bread recipe (was re: small feasts)

[Decker, Terry D.]

> have a quetion about using homerew in cooking.  One of the men in our shire 
>makes a fairly good home brew (so I 'm told).  His beer generally has a layer
>of
>stuff in the bottom of the bottle.  When drinking they just pour the beer off
>gently and then dispose of the sediment.  Would you want to keep that
>sediment 
>when using it to cook with?  Or is it just nasty stuff that should be
>disposed 
>of?
>
>Mercedes
>rudin at okway.okstate.edu

The sediment is the residue of the fermentation process and is usually
pretty bitter and nasty.  I personally would not add it to what I'm
cooking.

For the beer bread, there should be enough yeast left in the brew to get
a rise, although it may take longer than the original chemical aeration.
 I would use the beer at room temperature or even warm it to 90 to 100
degrees F to improve the action.  If you are still worried about the
rise, add about a 1/4 teaspoon of dry active yeast to the beer.  Actual
rise time will depend on temperature, quantity of ingredients, etc.

Medieval baking was primarily done with ale barm.  This is the scum off
the top of the ale pot, where, since ale is top fermenting, much of the
yeast dwells.  Beer is bottom fermenting.  In baking, it produces a more
bitter taste than ale.  In making a medieval style beer bread, ale would
probably be the liquor of choice.  Don't let this stop you from running
up a batch of beer bread if what you have is bottom fermented beer, I've
got a quart of porter left from my wife's birthday party, half of which
is going in a black and tan and half into a batch of beer bread as an
experiment.

If it doesn't work out the first time, don't let that bother you.
Whether you suceed or fail, please let us know what you did, so those of
us who try the recipe have some ideas of the limits of the recipe.
Baking is one area of cooking where you don't know what you have until
it comes out of the oven.  I expect to have to try the recipe three or
four time to get an acceptable, reproducible recipe for a medieval style
beer bread.  It will probably be a week or two before I try, and if you
have made the recipe by then, your experience will help me decide how to
approach the project.

My current project is to produce a period manchet.  My first attempt
produced what I call Francis Drake's bowling balls.  My second attempt
was much better, producing roll-like breads with an exterior like a
brotchen and a muffinish interior.  The color was off due to the choice
of flours.  I'll post a full report sometime next week after I sort out
some problems with the baking temperature.  I hope you will do the same
with the beer bread.

Bear 
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