Monday 20 December 2010

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.

18 comments:

Sat In A Pub said...

Is this now TBB-Tandleman's Bread Blog?

Tandleman said...

Nah - this is an very occasional thing.

John Clarke said...

Measure floor? Does the kitchen have to be a minimum size before you can make this?

Tandleman said...

In the best Captain Mainwaring tradition "I wondered who'd spot that one first!"

Corrected.

Sat In A Pub said...

Keep it. I like the sound of Tandleman's Bread & Beer Blog. Remember, according to the Apprentice last night, pink is the new blue.

Neville Grundy said...

I agree with Tyson. He has a beer and cheese blog, and I have a beer and music blog, so join us multi-subject bloggers!

Tandleman said...

Sorry, no. (-;

Erlangernick said...

Alcohol free day?!? Penance?

Tandleman said...

Nick - No. I like to have 3 a week of those. Sensible at my age.

Erlangernick said...

Too bad, I was hoping for a colourful confession.

Neville Grundy said...

Is this bread any good for cheese on toast?

Erlangernick said...

Speaking of "bloody lovely", B really likes her new Lancaster half-pint glass. It's all she wants to drink from nowadays. I shall scour the internets for a source for a couple more...pint glasses, mind.

Tandleman said...

If you don't ask, you don't get.

Tandleman said...

RedNev

It was fine toasted, so I don't see why not.

Mark, Real-Ale-Reviews.com said...

I'm engaged in some bread advertising at the moment, we might be looking for some recipes you know!

Erlangernick said...

"If you don't ask, you don't get."

Heh...at first I thought you were suggesting that if I were to ask nicely, I'd get more. Silly me.

I think it was your Scottish charm, what little there might be left after decades of living abroad. The story follows for the rest of you:

After a long day working the SIBA fest, Tandyman guided me through a small (by his standards) pub crawl. Somewhere along the way, we were drinking halves of who knows what served in a Lancaster glass. I remarked on how lovely I found the logo, and impressed Tandleman with my knowledge of the story of the rose, being a poor Yank and all.

So he charmed the bartender out of a glass for me on the way out.

Stuart Howe said...

very pleased to have been selected as your bread beer although concerned that it may be because you thats all you think chalkys great fit for. If you send me your postal address i'll send you a case to make gone your loss. Stuart@sharpsbrewery.co.uk

Tandleman said...

Hi Stuart. Your beer was selected for the finest of reasons.It was pale, it was an interesting recipe and it was bottle conditioned. In short I thought it would work and it did.

Thanks for the kind offer. I'll drop you a note with my address.