Butter Beer Bread

The last few weeks have been very busy.  I was glad this morning when I had a chance to bake something.  I decided to try a quick bread.  This bread is an adaptation from a honey beer bread recipe.  Of course I used some spent grains and the beer involved this time is a Hitachino Nest White clone - which by the way is fabulous!  I found this quick bread to be very yummy.  It is great by itself, but I am sure it would be great with some butter spread or crumbled into a nice stew or chili.

Butter Beer Bread (yields 1 loaf)
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. spent grain flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. honey
12 oz. beer
1/4 c. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper (I actually forgot to grease the pan; however I did line the bottom of the pan - there is plenty of butter being used.  I used a stone loaf pan and I really don't think that the parchment paper is necessary).

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.

In a small bowl, mix beer and honey together.  Add beer mixture to the dry mixture and combine with a wooden spoon.

Pour 1/8 c. of the melted butter in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan.  Spoon batter into the pan evenly.  Top with the remaining 1/8 c. of melted butter.

Bake in 350F oven for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes.  Cool for an additional 10 minutes on a wire rack.  Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Spent Grain Cinnamon Apple Muffins

I have been craving baked goods incorporating apples.  This week has been trying for me.  I have tried numerous recipes for various things and I wasn't happy with most of them.  I was determined this morning to bake something that not only tasted good, but also was visually appealing.  I went back to my roots and pulled out my BHG cookbook (11th edition) for inspiration.  I decided upon using a basic muffin recipe and adapt it to what I am craving... apples and spent grain!

So was born the Spent Grain Cinnamon Apple Muffins.

Spent Grain Cinnamon Apple Muffins (yields 12)
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. spent grain flour
1/3 c. white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp.  salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. oil
1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced

Preheat oven to 400F.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper cups.  I like to spray just a tad of non-stick spray to ensure easy release from the liners. 

In a medium bowl, stir together flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon*.  Make a well in the center of the dry mixture.  *feel free to adjust the cinnamon to a level of your liking.  I think perhaps this could be increased to a full teaspoon.

In another bowl, mix beaten egg, milk and oil - for the oil, I used a vegetable & canola mix.  Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until moistened.  Note, the batter will be lumpy.  Fold in the apples.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes in a 400F oven till golden brown.  Cool on wire rack for a few minutes.

I am sure that they would be perfect just like this, but one of my earlier failed recipe attempts left me with a glaze.  So I decided to glaze the top of the muffins and sprinkle with a little bit of ground cinnamon.

Glaze
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp. butter, room temperature
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 tbsp. half & half

Mix all the ingredients above till smooth.

After the muffins have cooled, but are still a little warm, spread some glaze onto the tops of each of the muffins.

Sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Enjoy!

Spent Grain Hamburger Buns

I wanted to make use of some leftover pork shoulder and what better way than to have BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. Only problem was that I didn't have any buns. So I found this recipe online and decided to give it a try. Of course I added some spent grain to it and it turned out fabulous! I didn't realize how easy it was to make hamburger buns and they are so delish! I will never buy store-bought hamburger buns again!

Spent Grain Hamburger Buns (yields 12):
1 c. milk
1 c. water
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt

5 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. spent grain flour
.25 oz active dry yeast

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. water

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, water, butter, sugar and salt.  Bring to boil over medium-high heat.  After boil is reached, remove from heat and let cool till the mixture reaches less than 110F.  If you are reading this page, chances are you're a homebrewer - and you all know not to pitch your yeast when the mixture (wort ;P) is too hot because you'll kill the yeast. 

In your stand mixer bowl, mix the flour, spent grain flour, and yeast.  When the milk mixture is lukewarm, add it to the flour mixture.  Using the dough hook, mix for 8-10 minutes.  Place dough in a oiled bowl, turn to coat and cover with a clean towel till the dough has doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide into 12 equal portions.  Roll each portion into a ball, ensuring it is smooth and tight by pulling the dough tightly around and pinching at the bottom.  Place dough balls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. 

Gently flatten each ball till it is about 3-4" in diamter.  Cover with a clean towel and let rise, probably about 30 minutes or so.  I had to make a trip to the Homebrew Supply Store, so mine sat for a few hours.

Arrange the racks in your oven so neither rack is in the very top-most or bottom-most position.  Preheat the oven to 400F.

Mix the egg yolk and tablespoon of water in a small dish.  Brush the yolk-mixture ontop of each of the rolls.  If you wanted to sprinkle some sesame seed or other delightful garnish, now is the time to do it.

Bake for 10 minutes and then place them on the other rack in the oven - ensuring each pan gets some time on the upper rack.  Bake for another 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

Enjoy!