Dark German-American Beer Bread:

Today's goal was to make a bread that had the substantial feel and flavor of a good dark German bread. I recently made a "kit" German beer bread, and I tried to identify the ingredients and translate them to American ingredients and American measurements.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon yeast.
2 cups light rye flour.
1 cup whole wheat flour.
1 cup white flour.
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast.
1 quarter cup flax seed meal.
1 quarter cup nonfat dry milk.

1 tablespoon brown sugar.
1 tablespoon buttermilk powder.
1 tablespoon wheat germ.
2 tablespoons gluten powder.

1 tablespoon olive oil.

1 egg.
1 12-ounce bottle stout beer. (I used Obsidian Stout.)

Instructions: I mixed all the powdered ingredients in the bread machine, and add all the liquids. Consider adding a little bit more liquid (another egg? A quarter cup more beer, or perhaps milk or water).

The dough was very thick, heavy and cold because I used cold beer. Do not use cold beer. Use beer that's at least room temperature, preferably body temperature. 

I let the bread machine mix it, rest it, and mix it a second time. I pulled it out of the machine, shaped it into two small loaves, sliced a cross in the top of each, and put them in a warm oven.

It took an hour to rise, then, with the bread still in it, I pre-heated the oven to 350º. After 30 or so minutes or so of constant checking, I boosted the temperature to 400º and left it there for another eight or ten minutes.

Results: Excellent: very dark, very flavorful bread. The most “German” beer I’ve made yet. Completely unsuitable for peanut butter sandwiches, it might be excellent with roast beef with sharp cheddar cheese, or fried eggs with garlic and Parmesan, or Havarti and grilled onions. It would be excellent alongside a bowl of hearty beef stew or chili.

Potential improvements:

·         Mix the dough in the KitchenAid, not the bread machine. (Good plan: much better.)

·         Do not cut crosses in the top of the loaf.  (Also good plan; makes it taller.)

·         Consider making a single, long (not round) loaf. (detail: all my cast iron is round!)

·         Consider a modest amount of grains. (Excellent idea!)

·         Consider a sourdough version of this.  (Need to try this.)

·         When flouring the dough to shape it, use dark flour. White flour looks dorky on the crust. (This makes it prettier.)

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Second try:

1 tablespoon yeast added to 1 bottle warmed Obsidian stout to start in the Kitchen Aid.  

2 cups light rye flour 

1 cup spelt flour. 

Half cup whole wheat flour. 

Half cup white flour. 

1 tablespoon flax seed.  

2 tablespoons millet. 

2 eggs.

Same last seven ingredients of powdered goods; same oil. 

Result: Lighter,  both in weight and flavor. Cruncher. Very good. My Expert Bread Tester said, "The flavor of the second loaf was much more interesting, beginning with the flavors of the grains, and after moment the Stout making itself known wonderfully without overpowering the taste of the other ingredients as it did in the first loaf."

Comment: I really like baking bread in cast iron. Even a frying pan is a good breadpan!

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Third try:

Same as second,  with these changes: 

* no millet,  slightly more flaxseed. 

* no sugar,  honey or other sweetener. 

* half teaspoon chicken. bouillon, for salt. (I can't believe I forgot salt the first 2 times!)

Result: probably the best yet: better texture, slightly better flavor. My Expert Bread Tester said he considered this one the best of the three.

I was concerned that having no sugar would make it hard for the bread to raise. I warmed the cast iron pan and greased it before putting the dough in it, and I let it raise in a slightly warmed oven (as in the second attempt), and it rose well: ready to bake in 25 minutes. (I took the dough out of the oven to preheat the oven to 400 this time: baked for 25 minutes: just perfect the first try!)