Beer and barley bread

This bread - simply awesome.

Everyone who knows me and has read my blog knows that I love bread and especially, the bread dough. There´s nothing more satisfying for me than sinking my fingers into a perfect bread dough, mmmm! Even the thought of it gives me goose bumps.

Not only do I love bread and dough but I also happen to love beer. A lot. So, I´ve just tried to invent as many things as possible I can use it for. Beer gives bread an amazing taste. I´ve used beer also for example in my oat- and malt breads (which I will translate for you soon) and they are oh-so-yummy, too.

I normally buy non-alcoholic beer for baking for two reasons: 1) it´s cheaper 2) this way I make sure I won´t drink it before I start baking things! :D The normal beer works just as well in baking as long as you´re willing to give up your refreshing beverage for a good cause. 

This bread is very easy to make. It takes a while for the dough to rest and develop gluten but do give it time! The more patience you have with bread (and bun) dough, the better the result will be. But the actual work part is basically just mixing things in a bowl with a lot of love - very easy.

I cooked a beer and potato soup to go with this bread but I think any kind of warm soup will go with this one. To be honest, I don´t think you´ll even need a soup. Just brush a nice layer of butter on top of warm bread and I promise there will be a one very satisfied smile on your face :))

One medium sized bread:

1 bottle/can (0,33 l) of lager

11 g dried yeast

1 tbls honey

2 dl wheat flour 

Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Pop a cloth on top and let the dough rest for 1-2 hrs.

Note: we only have normal wheat flour in Finland. This means we don´t have self-rising flour so, I always mean NON-self-rising flour when I talk about wheat. I use “half hard” flour in my baking. In bread-baking this means that the gluten forms pretty easily in the dough and the bread holds it´s form nicely.

Add:

3-4 dl wheat flour

2 dl barley flour

a knob of soft butter

15-20 g salt 

Add the ingredients into the (hopefully bubbling) dough. Put the dough into a food mixer that has a dough hook attached to it. If you don´t have a food mixed you´ll have to knead the dough by hand. If you make a lot of bread invest in food mixer, it´s a life-saver and totally worth every penny.

Knead the dough in the machine for approx. 10 minutes. If you work by hand double the time. The dough is ready when it forms a ball and it comes off the edges of the bowl. If this is not happening you´ll have to add some more flour to the dough and keep kneading. The amount of flour depends on many things, for example humidity can be a big factor so, never put the whole amount of flour into the dough. Work it first and then add it little by little if needed. When the dough is ready it´s supposed to look like this:

Let the bread rest about 20 minutes in the bowl and then knead it by hands against floured surface. Put the bread into a floured “rise-bowl”(see below). Cover the bread with a cloth and let it rise for 1-2 hrs.

Simsalabim! When you let the dough work it´s magic, this will happen:

Make the topping before baking the bread:

soft butter

honey

Mix the butter and honey together.

Also:

sunflower seeds

salt

Put some baking paper on baking tray and put the bread on the tray. Re-shape the bread if it looks like it´s loosing it´s bready form. Bake the bread for 15 minutes in 200°C. Take the bread out and brush it with the honey-butter mix. Sprinkle the seeds and salt on top and bake for another 15-20 minutes. You can check if the bread is ready by knocking the bottom of the bread. If you hear a hollow sound, the bread is ready to go.

Now it´s time to enjoy! :)

Have a beerful weekend everybody!

Rakkaudella,

Paula