SOUR DOUGH BEER BREAD

The perfect combination with a wedge of cheddar homemade pickles and and a glass of ipa. This will require a little patience as it will take 6 days to make the levain required for this

recipe but after that it is straight forward and very easy to make a fantastic beer sour dough,

To make the levain for the bread I've used old Rasputin stout curtesy of tollgate brewery as a freelance chef its great to get to work with local suppliers and artisan products and it works fantastically to create a great flavour to the bread. Over all this will take about 6 -7 hours including cooking time.

ingredients

for the stout levain:

30g strong bread flour

30g old Rasputin stout (at room temp ) warm

after the first day you will need to feed the levain by discarding half of it and replacing it with 30g of strong bread flour and 30g of the beer which must be at room temp and not cold,

this must be done for 6 days. You should see the levain growing by the 3 day and will be ready for use on the 6th day and final feed. The discarded levain can be used for making sour dough crackers or pancakes rather than throwing it away.

Bread ingredients

596g strong bread flour

96g beer levain(pre made and fed 1hr before use )

3g sea salt

100g warm old Rasputin stout

296g warm water

METHOD

1) Make sure you give your levain its final feed 1hr before your ready to start making the bread.

2) Take the strong flour and salt and place in your mixing bowl and mix on a low speed for 5 minutes to make sure it is well incorporated.

3) Then add the warm water and the beer and mix for 8 minutes this will start to get the gluten working and then leave the dough to rest for 15 minutes in the mixing bowl.

4) after the dough has rested place the mixer on a medium speed and incorporate the beer levain into the dough this should take about 8 mins after this cover the bowl and leave for 2 hours to ferment.

5) after the first 2 hours the dough will have doubled in size, take a dough scraper and slowly fold the dough in on its self gently to knock it back do this for 5 minutes and then cover and leave for another 2 hours.

6) after its second proof get your tray or proofing basket ready which ever you prefer ready for its final knock back and shape, remove the dough from the bowl and gently fold the dough in on its self to knock it back and shape the dough to either fit your tray or proofing basket ready for its last proof for 2 hours before going into a oven at 180oc for 30-40 minutes it may take a little longer depending on the type of oven your using. Once removed leave to cool for 20 minutes then dive in and enjoy.

Liam Foster is a freelance chef and consultant to the hospitality industry working with hotels, restaurants and a variety of businesses though out the uk, With 25 years experience in hospitality ranging from 4-5 star hotels around the world to private dining and freelance relief chef service in the uk.