It's Bloody Lovely!

My bread that is. To recap, a standard white loaf recipe of 500g strong bread flour, 3 tablespoons olive oil, half a teaspoon of salt, 7g fast acting yeast and 275ml of Sharp's Chalky's Bite.

Method: Measure flour, add salt and yeast and mix. Make a well and add olive oil. Mix in a large bowl, add beer ensuring all the sediment goes in too. Mix well with a spoon, then turn out onto floured surface and knead minimally. Shape into a ball and let rise on baking parchment for a couple of hours.

When twice original size, turn out onto floured surface, punch it down and knead gently for about 30 seconds. Shape into a ball and place in a lightly floured glass bowl and cover with oiled cling film. Place somewhere warm. When twice size again, bake in a pre-heated oven at bread temperature (usually maximum or around 220 -230C)for 35 minutes. Spray with a fine mist of water from time to time to create a good crust. When loaf sounds hollow to a tap on the bottom, it is ready.

Cool for at least an hour on a rack.

So, does it taste of beer? It tastes quite malty, slightly herbal and am I imagining a faint whiff of hops? I must try this with another kind of beer to see if that makes a difference, but boy does it taste great and as I have used this recipe before with water instead of beer, I can say without a doubt, the beer version is better. The crust is superb, as is the crumb and texture. I'm going to have some with pastrami I think, but no beer. Today is an alcohol free day.

I reckon though it would go well with any wheat beer.