Bread from Beers

Carshlaton IPA available in casks and old lemonaid bottles

Post Vanguard Way Ultra recovery has been harder than expected.  I took a week off, but the first run back brought with it pain in both feet and ankles.  So I took another week off and after a gradual increase in distance I seem to be OK.

But it's not like I haven't been productive.  When I set up this blog I planned to cover the full tripartite of topics bread, sweat (well running) and beer. This hasn't really been the case- as with the exception of the odd mention of favourite beers it has been running and not much else.  I thought I would make amends, so whilst I haven't been running I've managed to find some time for some brewing and baking and linking the two.

The brew which is currently undergoing secondary fermentation in the corner of my living room is an IPA made from a kit from Better Brew.  The kit, which comes in a pouch rather than the traditional can, was dead easy to use and hoping to for some tasty beer in a few weeks time.   I plan to call it the creatively titled Carshalton IPA. 

At the end of every homebrew you are always left with an inch or two of slurry at the bottom of your fermenting vessel (in my case a plastic bucket).  Normally I just bin this, but I've heard you can use this as a starter to bake bread.  A quick search online confirmed it was possible but there were many warnings that it could create very bitter bread.

Undeterred I mixed about a cups worth of the yeasty, stale beer, hoppy and malty leftovers of the home brew without about 200g of wholemeal flour and 275ml of water to make a sponge.  Left this to ferment during the day and before bed (after several good pints of Sambrooks Junction) added another 300g. of flour and some salt, oil and extra water, kneaded and left to rise.  Knocked it back down in the morning, shaped it, went for a run (see how I combine all my hobbies!) and then baked for around 20 minutes at full blast followed by another 20 minutes at gas mark 6.

The result- a pretty tasty loaf.  The beer has a slightly beery smell as well as the sourdough taste you might expect.  The after taste is a bit bitter but, too my mind, in a good way.  So all in all a successful little venture. I've combined the left over yeast with some flour to keep it going as a new bread starter for further loaves.

IPA Bread