Spent Grain Bread

My husband started home brewing beer a couple of months ago and if you've never seen the process you might find it interesting that the combination of grains that makes the beer are steeped in a pot of hot water in what can be described as a great big tea bag.  Not exactly, but it gives you an idea.  Once those grains have steeped long enough to make delicious beer they are removed and discarded.  I thought they looked too good to just throw out so I did a web search for some spent grain bread recipes.  I found one that looked interesting and gave it a try.

Some people use those spent grains as bird feed.  Perhaps that's what I should have done!  The loaf looked great when it came out of the oven.  I lovingly brushed it with butter and waited, drooling, for it to cool enough to slice into it!  It was like a novelty shop gag gift loaf.  The knife went through the crust into a great void of hot, delicious-smelling air, with an inch of sticky, glue-like dough on the bottom. Definitely one of those laugh-or-you'll-cry moments in the kitchen!  I believe the extra moisture in the wet grains was to blame.  Or, more accurately, I was to blame for not compensating for the extra moisture in the wet grains.  Lesson learned.

The hubs brewed again yesterday.  In the weeks since my last bread effort I've given some thought to what I'd do differently.  I hit the internet again for ideas.  Nothing I found looked quite like what I wanted.  So I grabbed bits and pieces of recipes I liked and came up with my own recipe which resulted in a rustic, dense loaf with a hearty, crisped crust.

Here is the recipe I came up with.  This is just how I made mine - not how I will probably tweak it going forward.  I'll share those results as they happen.

Whitacre Dry Spent Grain Bread

1 ½ cups warm water

1 Tbs honey

1 Tbs yeast

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour + extra for kneading

½ cup wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/3 cups dried spent grains*

Combine water, honey and yeast in small glass bowl and let activate for 8 minutes.  In food processor combine wheat flour, 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour and salt.  Pulse to combine.  Add yeast mixture to flour and process until smooth.  Add spent grains and remaining cup of all-purpose flour.  Process for 30 seconds until ball forms.  Turn out on lightly floured board and knead until firm but elastic, adding additional flour as necessary.  Place in greased bowl, cover with towel and let rise in warm place until doubled (about one hour).

Divide bread into two pieces.  Form into oblong loaves and place on lightly floured baking sheet.  Allow to rise for an additional hour. Slice tops with sharp knife before baking.

Bake in 450F preheated oven for 25-35 minutes.  Place a pan of water on the lower shelf to create a crispier crust.  Cool slightly and serve!

* For dried spent grains:  take 3 cups wet spent grains that have been allowed to drain a bit and spread them evenly on a baking sheet.  Bake in oven on low (170F) in 20 minute increments, stirring after each 20 minutes, until dry (about 2 hours).  Process in food processor until desired coarseness is achieved. Yields approximately 1 ½ cups dried grain.

Things I'd like to try going forward:  More honey.  Longer rising times. Molasses and raisins? Press some fresh rosemary sprigs into the crust before baking? Bake that bad boy in my pizza oven in the yard. (I also found a spent grain pizza dough recipe.  You'll be hearing more about that I'm sure!)

Tell me, bakers, what are you thoughts?  Have you tried baking with spent grains?  Do you have any hints, tips, or suggestions for me?