Brewer's Loaf

It’s surprisingly difficult to make wonderful bread from spent grain. Despite its wonderful scent, adding spent grain to bread early causes a sharply acidic smell with strong biological odors (similar to a light vomit). Surprisingly, the malodor seems to dissipate with time as the loaf loses moisture and the bread recovers a full and sweet malty smell. However breads fermented with the barley end up gummy and have a strange crust that is gluey in appearance. The wet grains also retain a very high amount of moisture, and the baker needs to be careful because outside of the loaf might look done but the interior may have too much moisture and an underbaked interior due to the moisture retained by the soaked grains.

Adding dried grains avoids these problems. The loaf comes out with a pleasant sourdough smell and a beautifully browned crust.

I have also found that chopping the grains can help with the bread’s texture and structure, as some of the grains are quite large and a large amount of them can be overwhelming.

Brewer’s Loaf #1

Michael Schmitz

Combine:

• 2 c bread flour
• 2 c barley flour
• 1 c spent grain (moist)

Mix well. Let stand 12-24 hours in a warm place. Add:

• 2 c bread flour
• 1/2 c rolled barley
• 1 T gluten
• 2 1/2 t salt

Brewer’s Loaf #2

Michael Schmitz

Combine:

• 2 c spent grain (moist)
• 2 c bread flour

Mix well. Let stand 12-24 hours in a warm place. Add:

• 1 c bread flour
• 1/4 c spent grain (dried)
• 1/4 c rolled barley
• 2 t salt
• Yum!

Brewer’s Loaf #3

Michael Schmitz

Combine:

• 1 c bread flour
• 1/2 c whole wheat flour

Mix well. Let stand 12-24 hours in a warm place. Add:

• 1 c spent grain 1 tsp salt