Bread

British Columbia Ale Trail Trip and Cheddar Rosemary Beer Scones

15.08.2017 4 Comments

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BC Ale Trail and Tourism New West, Discover Surrey and Tourism Delta. All opinions and text are mine.

I started to fall in love when I saw they’d named their fermenters after the Golden Girls. Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sofia stood in the corner of Steel & Oak Brewing Co., protecting the beer as the yeast began to work it’s magic. The beer, most of which are traditional German lagers, is fantastic. It was my fourth stop on an out-of-the-way tour of a small section British Columbia that I’d otherwise never go to. A small part of the country, just minutes from Vancouver, that I’m glad I was able to spend a few days exploring, glad to find the hidden gems that haven’t crossed my awareness until now. Steel & Oak left an impression and gave me a reason to drive the two hours north again soon.

My suggestion: Black Lager

As an off-the-beaten-path sort of traveler, I was thrilled to discover the places otherwise left off the touristy agendas. The places you remember far after you’ve returned home, the people and experiences that weave themselves into your traveler’s soul.

My two-day journey along BC Ale Trail’s New Westminster/Delta/Surrey Ale Trail began at a brewery that’s rapidly collecting awards and taking names, a force to be reckoned with in the BC beer scene: Four Winds Brewing. As an LA girl and self-proclaimed Taco Snob, I side eyed the offerings before I was completely blown away with how outstanding the tacos actually were, and how well they paired with the well-crafted beer.

My suggestions: Prawn Mousse Tostada and a Nectarous Dry Hopped Sour.

From there I followed the river, past rolling fields, to end up on a delightful little farm in Delta. Westham Farms is a stones throw but a world away from the busy city center of Vancouver.

My suggestions: raw honey, and ask what produce is in season.

I spent the evening in New Westminster, a section of town that’s had an inspiring rebirth that spawned a charming river front park. Just a block away from the adorable Westminster PierRiver Front Park I wandered through Columbia StrEAT Food Truck Festival, the largest one-day food truck festival in Canada, a great place for any food lover to spend a few hours. Craft beer? Homemade ice cream? Wood fire Pizza? Curry and Naan? Yes, yes I will have all of that.

Sitting at a table along the sidelines of the festival, sipping a beer and enjoying the food truck offerings, the city seemed to meander past me. The heat of the day had died a bit, and the warm breeze became a beautiful soundtrack to one of my favorite traveler activities: wandering through a new City.

Want to know what happened on the second day? Come back next week, I have so much more to share with you.

Until then, I decided to make a scone I’d found in a little café on the second day, and make it with Steel & Oak’s Royal City Ale I’d stowed away in my suitcase.

Cheddar Rosemary Beer Scones

Print Recipe

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

Ingredients:
2 cups 240g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon 6g salt
2 teaspoons 8g baking powder
¼ cup 35g shredded cheddar (plus additional for topping)
1 teaspoon 3g chopped fresh rosemary (plus additional for topping)
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch pieces
¼ cup 72g sour cream
½ cup cold blond ale I used Steel & Oak Royal City Ale

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F.
Add the flour, salt, baking powder, cheddar and rosemary to a food processor, pulse to combine.
While the food processor is running, add the butter cubes one at a time until well combined with the flour. Add the sour cream and beer, pulse until just combined.
Add the dough to a floured surface (it will be soft), gently pat into a circle about 1 inch high. Cut into 8 wedges.
Add the wedges to a baking sheet, top with remaining cheddar and rosemary.
Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges are just starting to turn golden brown. Serve warm.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BC Ale Trail and Tourism New West, Discover Surrey and Tourism Delta. All opinions and text are mine.

Beer and Bacon Biscuits

05.05.2017 5 Comments

Beer and Bacon Biscuits, the flakiest, most addictive biscuits ever!

I know what you’re thinking.

It’s almost Cinco de Mayo and I’m posting about Beer and Bacon Biscuits. But bear with me, this makes sense. This isn’t just hangover food. It’s THE hangover food, it’s carbs, and greasy bacon, and hair of the dog, all in one. It’s like a delicious magical hangover elixir, masquerading as brunch food.

I’ll let you in on a little secret, one that always surprises people: I’m a total lightweight. I don’t drink nearly as much as people think (the beer goes into the food!), and I get drunk quicker than most. Which sparked my love affair with session IPA’s, it was out of necessity not trend.

I’m also not a party when I’m hungover, I get a bit surly. I’m like a wet cat. I will, however, make some killer biscuits, using the fold-and-roll technique I learned a decade ago. It makes the most insanely flakey and light biscuits, you’ll want to steal it and pass it off as your own. That’s fine. Just make sure to buy me a beer for showing it to you. And make me biscuits the day when I’m hungover.

Beer and Bacon Biscuits

Print Recipe

Servings 6 biscuits

Ingredients

3 1/2 cup 420g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon 12g baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon 9g baking soda
½ teaspoon 3g salt
2 teaspoons 12g sugar
8 tablespoon 88g cold bacon fat or unsalted cold butter (114g) cut into cubes (or a combination of both)
1/3 cup 80g sour cream
2/3 cup 5.5oz wheat beer
2 tablespoon 28g melted butter
6 strips of bacon cooked and chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F.
In a processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
Pulse to combine. Add the bacon fat (cold) or the cold butter, and sour cream, process until well combined.
Add the beer, process until just combined.
Add to a well-floured flat surface, pat into a rectangle. Using a cold rolling pin gently roll into a large rectangle, about 1 inch in thickness, using as few strokes as possible.
Sprinkle with chopped bacon.
Fold the dough into thirds as you would a letter about to go into an envelope. Roll lightly, once in each direction to about 1 inch thickness, sprinkle with bacon, fold in thirds again. Gently roll into about 1 1/2 inch thickness (this will give you flakey layers).
Using a biscuit cutter, cut out 6 biscuits. Place in a baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Brush biscuits with melted butter, sprinkle chopped bacon.
Bake at 425F for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

One Hour No Knead Artisan Hefeweizen Bread

16.02.2017 7 Comments

One Hour No Knead Artisan Hefeweizen Bread

Yeast bread is a lot like replacing a ceiling light. You have this mental block that screams at you, "you can’t do that, it’s not for you. That’s for other people who know things you don’t know."

Replacing light fixtures hardwired into the ceiling and baking bread are also things I do when I’m stressed out. As is repainting rooms before I remember that I hate painting.

For a long time I avoided both things, assuming I wasn’t capable and the knowledge needed to complete said tasks was acquired from such a lengthy learning process I wasn’t up to it. Turns out, both tasks are really simple, and just basically require a few simple "just follow the directions" steps.

Last week I finally removed the hideous 1980’s ceiling fan from my kitchen that I’d been avoiding. I just couldn’t take it anymore. The YouTube videos were so simple, it made me feel like a coward for never having attempted it. You literally just twist a few wires together. One video ended with the motivational sentence of, "Handymen aren’t exactly rocket scientist, if they can do it, you can do it." I CAN DO IT, TOO!

I was actually a little surprised when it worked, convinced that it couldn’t be that easy and that a flip of the light switch would prove that I wasn’t up to the task. In a very anticlimactic ending, it worked. It took about 20 minutes.

Yeast bread was the same progression for me. Yeast?! I can’t do that! Oh, wait, it’s just heating water to the right temperate and waiting? Ok, let’s try it. Well, look at that. It worked.

If history is any predictor you can logically assume that I’ll be continuing to replace light fixtures when I’m stressed out. Not as cheap as baking bread, but possibly just as therapeutic.

One Hour No Knead Artisan Hefeweizen Bread

Print Recipe

Total Time 1

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

4 ½ cups 540g all-purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoons 6g rapid rise yeast (one packet)
2 tablespoons 42g honey
2 tablespoons 24g olive oil (plus additional for glaze)
12 ounces wheat beer
1 teaspoon 6g kosher salt
½ teaspoon flaky

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F.
Add the flour, yeast, honey and olive oil to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Heat the beer to 125F.
While the mixer is running, slowly add the beer. Once all the dough has been moistened, sprinkle with kosher salt.
Turn the mixer to high, beating until the dough gathers around the blade, about 8 minutes.
Line a Dutch oven with parchment paper. Add the dough ball to the prepared Dutch oven. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, 20-30 minutes.
Make a shallow slit in the top of the dough with a shark knife, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with flakey salt.
Cover with the Dutch oven lid and bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Sour Ale Sourdough (Starter & Bread Recipe)

01.11.2016 31 Comments

If you close your eyes, and take a second, you can put the taste of sourdough bread side-by-side with a sour ale. The flavor is liquid sourdough, the notes are so similar, and there is a good reason for that: it’s the same process.

Sourdough bakers and sour ale makers are cultivating the same thing: a wild yeast strain, as well as a wild bacteria called lactobacilli. Sourdough bread tastes sour because of the same two things that make sour ale taste that way. When combined, those two microscopic beasts team up to leaven your bread, ferment your beer, while bringing you that beautiful tang (*Not all sour ales contain lactobacilli, but plenty do).

Because of this, making your sourdough starter with a liquid that a master brewer already spent weeks ensuring contained both a wild yeast strain AND lactobacilli puts you ahead of the game. Water is fine, but a sour ale is like water with superpowers.

Things to keep in mind:

The warmer the room, the quicker the starter will start. If you have a cold house, plan on the starter and the dough, taking much longer.
Avoid the temptation to clean the crock between feedings. Soap kills bacteria which is what you are trying to cultivate.
If you want a more sour starter, feed less often (once you get to twice a day feedings, just feed once a day for a few days).
Starting with a whole wheat or rye flour will give you a better likelihood of finding wild yeast as its less processed than all-purpose flour. Once you start, you can switch to all-purpose flour.
If your mature starter is looking weak, try a few feedings with a sour ale instead of water.
Adding a few tablespoons of starter to a regular bread recipe (along with all the rest of the ingredients including the commercial yeast), will help it rise higher and faster and give it a nice flavor.

I used Trinity Brewing, 7 Day Golden Sour

Sour Ale Sourdough Starter Recipe

Step one:

Combine 1 cup (120g) flour (whole wheat flour works best to start), and ½ cup (4oz) sour ale that has both lactobacilli and Brettanomyces (ask at your local bottle shop, a beer like this should be easy to find) in a glass, ceramic, or clay crock. Stir until all the flour has been moistened. Cover loosely with a lid or plastic wrap (not airtight, you want some air going into the crock) and allow to sit at room temperature for 24 hours. (Cover the remaining beer and allow to sit at room temperature for your next two steps).

Step two:

After 24 hours stir the mixture, remove all but ½ cup (4 oz) discarding the rest. Add 1 scant cup (110g) all-purpose flour and ½ cup (4 oz) room temperature beer. Stir the 1/2 cup starter, flour, and beer, until well combined, cover, and let sit at room temperate.

Step three:

Continue feeding once a day as directed in step two for three days. Once 12 ounces of beer has been used, switch to warm water (filtered water works best). On the fourth day begin feeding twice a day, as directed in step two. One feeding first thing in the morning, second feeding at night.

Step four:

Once your starter doubles in size in less than 2 hours, it’s ready to use. This could take as little as one week and as many as three weeks. Colder environments will take longer, warmer temperatures will be quicker. Once you’re ready to use the starter measure out what you need for your recipe, feed your starter, and place it in the fridge.

Step five:

Feed your starter once a week. It can live indefinitely, starters have been known to live for decades, and in some communities are passed down through generations. When you want to use your starter, take it out of the fridge, feed it, and allow to come to room temperature before using (about 6 hours, overnight if the room is cold). Feed it again and then put away.

Check out my recipe for:

Overnight Sourdough Beer Waffles

Sourdough Fried Chicken

Sour Ale Sourdough Bread

Print Recipe

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

Step one:

¼ cup 2oz sour ale starter (recipe listed above)
½ cup 60g flour
½ cup 110mL water

Step two:

2 cup 240g flour
½ cup 110mL room temperature beer (sour ale or wheat beer),
1 teaspoon 6g sugar
1 teaspoon 6g kosher salt
1 teaspoon 6g coarse salt

Instructions

Add ¼ cup room temperature starter, ½ cup flour, and ½ warm water to a small bowl. Stir to combine. Cover loosely and leave on the counter for 6 hours or up to overnight.
Add the remaining flour, ½ cup room temperature beer, and 1 teaspoon sugar to the bowl. Stir until combined.
Add the dough to a well floured surface, kneading until the dough is no longer sticky and very elastic, about 20 minutes (this can be done in phases). Towards the end of kneading, add in the kosher salt (salt is very important for flavor but can impede the yeast so it’s best to add it last).
Oil the inside of a large bowl. Add the ball of dough to the bowl, loosely cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 4-6 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425F.
Once the dough has risen, it will probably also have spread. Gently tuck the sides under the dough to make a smaller, but higher, ball of dough, transfer to a lightly oiled Dutch oven. Using a sharp knife, slice the top of the bread in an X, sprinkle with coarse salt. Add the lid tightly onto the pot.
Bake for 50 minutes or until the dough has a hard crust and is dark brown.
Slice, serve warm.

Blueberry Muffin Beer Loaf Cake

10.08.2016 12 Comments

Blueberry Muffin Beer Loaf Cake

I’ve always been curious.

Probably a bit too curious for my own good, but I’ll take it over safe, and timid. Lately, It’s been gluten-free beer that’s had me wondering (wait, don’t go! Let’s talk about gluten-free beer just for a second!).

It’s not so much the "gluten" part that I’m curious about, as far as me (and my guts) are concerned, gluten is awesome. It’s more of a curiosity about a growing segment of the market that is focused on brewing with different grains. Barley is the only ingredient in beer that has gluten, and brewers are experimental and curious by nature, so what does beer taste like if you brew it with millet instead of barley? What about brown rice? It’s not so much the gluten part that has me interested, it’s the beer being brewed in a different way. It’s one grain being swapped for another. What does that do? The brewing process is the same, what does the end result look like?

To satisfy my curiosity I’ve teamed up with Heather Christo and Allrecipes and we’ve decided to do a LIVE Facebook taste test. This means I have never sampled any gluten-free beer and I will do so live, for the first time, on camera. Also, it bears mentioning that I have a complete inability to hide my feelings. So if a beer isn’t good, you’ll be able to tell right away.

So join me on the Allrecipces Facebook page on Thursday, August 11th at 2PM PDT to watch me sample all the gluten-free beer I can get my hands on. It should be fun. Then, maybe, we can eat this gluten-filled cake to celebrate?

Update:

The video is live here: Gluten Free Beer Taste Test with The Beeroness & Heather Christo

And in case you were wondering, this post has nothing to do with this delicious, gluten-laden blueberry cake.

Blueberry Muffin Beer Loaf Cake

Print Recipe

Servings 1 loaf cake (8 servings)

Ingredients

¾ cup 195g granulated sugar
½ cup 113g unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon 2g vanilla extract
¼ cup 55g buttermilk
2/3 cup 166mL wheat beer
2 cups 256g cake flour
1 teaspoon 4g baking powder
1 teaspoon 6g baking soda
1 teaspoon 6g salt
1 cup 150g fresh blueberries (for frozen, see note)
1 cup 125g powdered sugar
2 tablespoons 16g lemon juice (or beer for a larger beer flavor)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Add the sugar and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high until light, fluffy and well combined.
Add the egg and vanilla, beat until well combined.
Stir in the buttermilk and beer.
Stop the mixer, sprinkle with flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir until combined.
Stir in the blueberries.
Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake until top springs back when lightly touched, about 55 minutes. Allow to cool completely before icing.
Stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice (or beer). Pour over the cake, slice and serve.

Notes

For frozen blueberries, rinse well until the water runs clear. Add to paper towels to dry, do not stir into batter. Layer loaf pan with 1/4 of the batter, sprinkle with berries, top with more batter, then blueberries, repeat until all the berries and batter have been used. This will avoid smashed berries and a purple cake.

Grilled Garlic Beer Flatbread

18.03.2016 5 Comments

Grilled Garlic Beer Flatbread

It’s stopped raining for two days. So, obviously, the grill needs to come to life. There is something beautifully primal about cooking over open flames, even if those open flames are produced by propane our ancestors didn’t have access to. The fire, smoke, heat much higher than your oven is able to compete with, grilling isn’t just another way to cook food, it’s often a better way to cook food. That glorious char is worth braving the possibilities of spiders under the grill cover.

A few tips for grillin' like a pro:

Preheat. You want the grates hot enough to sear on contact and the space under the grill hood to be hot as well.
Marinate your meat. There is a lot of heat in there and it’s easy to overcook meat, especially poultry. Marinating meat, like these chicken skewers, gives you a little wiggle room and allows even over-cooked meat to stay juicy.
Oil for flavor not for sticking. Contrary to popular belief, your meat and veggies will release from the grill when the char marks appear. No need to oil so the meat won’t stick. But it can add a little extra flavor, especially olive oil. But you’re better off oiling the food in most cases.
Thermometer. If you want to get the perfect level of doneness, don’t leave it to chance. Get an inexpensive thermometer and take your meat off the grill when it’s 5 degrees below the temp you want, it will continue to cook even after you remove it from the grill.
Grill. It. All. Not just burgers and dogs, vegetables, fruit, dessert and bread are all awesome with a little love from the grill. Pizza is one of my favorite grilled foods and a great way to feed picky eaters and people who don’t like meat.
Skewers + Water. If you won’t have metal skewers and want to make a few meat or veggie sticks, soak bamboo skewers for at least 30 minutes to prevent them from scorching or catching on fire. Put them on a baking sheet or in a baking dish, fill with water and place a heavy plate on top keep them submerged.
Session beer. Ok, this isn’t a grilling tip but more of a reminder. If you’re going to spend the day drinking and hanging with friends (friends who may need to drive later), skip the high ABV beers and fill your beer tub with tasty, lower alcohol craft beers. Here are some of my favorite session beers for spring and summer.

Grilled Garlic Beer Flatbread

Print Recipe

Servings 8 pieces

Ingredients

For the bread:

2 ¼ cups 300g bread flour
1 envelope 2 ¼ tsp or 7g rapid rise yeast
1/2 tsp 2g garlic powder
3/4 cup 226g beer
3 tbs 40g olive oil
1 tsp 6g salt

For the butter

2 tbs unsalted butter melted (olive or for vegan)
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, add the flour, yeast and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. Mix until combined.
In a microwave safe bowl add the beer. Microwave on high for 20 seconds, test temperature with a cooking thermometer and repeat until temperature reaches between 120 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add the beer to the stand mixer and mix on medium speed. Once most of the dough has been moistened, add olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt while the mixer is still running.
Turn speed to high and beat until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, tightly wrap with plastic wrap. Allow to sit in a warm room until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.
Remove from bowl and add to a lightly floured surface. Knead several times, cut into 8 equal sized pieces.
One at a time form the dough into 6 inch circles.
Preheat a grill to medium high. Combine the melted butter, remaining garlic powder and salt.
Place circles on the grill until the dough releases and the underside has grill marks, about 2 minutes. Brush with the top with the melted butter. Grill until dough is cooked through, about 2 additional minutes.
Remove from grill, serve warm.

Pale Ale Crumb Cake + Loving Craft Beer People

03.02.2016 16 Comments

Pale Ale Crumb Cake

Walking in the bay doors, they all seem to look the same. There are always the mingling smells of hops, malt and fickle high-maintenance yeast hard at work. There’s a brewer in rubber boots nearby, working out a problem behind a furrowed brow. There is inevitably a tank being cleaned, water from a thick hose being sprayer to cleanse the vessel to ready it for the next batch.

Music played from unseen speakers. Drums and bass melting into the sounds of the equipment, mostly being ignored. I’m always greeted warmly, always welcomed in and offered a beer. In the past year most of my visits to breweries have been to write a story, or take photos. You can make the argument that there are more beautiful subjects than fermenters and bright tanks. You can tell me how shitty the yellow fluorescent light is in a brewery. You could, but I’d tell you how much I want to show you the beauty in what is there.

Have you seen fresh hops right from the bine? Have you seen the look on a brewers face when sampling wort? Have you seen how gorgeous the color of beer can be? Maybe I’m starry-eyed over the craft beer community, maybe I focus more on what’s right than what’s wrong, but I won’t stop. Maybe it was the years of teaching anger management to gang members in South Central Los Angeles but I’ve learned that people tend to repeat the behavior you focus on. Let the others tear down people, behaviors, and semantics, I’m here as much for the people as I am for the beer. Of course there are changes that can and need to be made, we are, after all, a bunch of humans who drink too much. But let’s do it together. And let’s talk more about what we’re doing right. Because, craft beer, I love you. Flaws and all.

Have some cake, drink a beer, and let’s talk this out. I won’t stop loving craft beer, and I won’t stop focusing on how much I love the people here and what they are doing right.

Pale Ale Crumb Cake

Print Recipe

Servings 9 squares

Ingredients

For the Crumb Topping:

1/3 cup 73g sugar
1/3 cup 73g brown sugar
1 tsp 3g ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp 3g salt
8 tbs 113g unsalted butter melted
1 ½ 180g cups flour
2 tbs 20g cornstarch

For the Cake:

1 cups 120g all purpose flour
2 tbs 20g cornstarch
½ cup 117g sugar
½ tsp 2g baking soda
½ 3g teaspoon table salt
6 tbs 83g unsalted butter, cut in cubes, softened
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
1/3 74g cup pale ale
2 tbs 26g olive oil
1 tsp 4g vanilla extract
powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

In a small bowl stir together the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter. Add the flour and cornstarch, stir to make a soft dough, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking soda and salt. While the mixer is running add the butter mixing until the butter is cut in and the mixture resembles coarse meal with no uncombined lumps of butter.
Add the eggs, yolk, beer, olive oil and vanilla, beat until light and fluffy and well combined.
Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper with the paper hanging over the sides. Pour batter into prepared pan in an even layer.
Crumble the topping and gently sprinkle it over the batter in an even layer. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool for ten minutes, remove from pan using the parchment overhang. Cut into squares, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

One Bowl Cinnamon Sugar Beer Muffins

13.01.2016 9 Comments

One Bowl Cinnamon Sugar Beer Muffins

There is a feeling in the depths of winter that the quiet will swallow you whole if you don’t keep moving. As if you’d just be that misplaced bracelet that never gets found, disappearing behind furniture and then just ceasing to exist.

I’m not used to this. Born and grown in California, the winter was hardly different from the summer other than a lower flow of tourist, grabbing a sweater for Cinespia, and the absence of Vin Scully’s voice. You’d have to stop and think, just for a second, when you wanted to reference what season you were in. Like being on a vacation where the actual days of the week lose meaning and you have to stop to figure out if it’s Tuesday or Wednesday. Winter just meant a different set of activities, not an entirely different wardrobe and lifestyle.

Winters up North are different. There is a beauty in those clear crisp days when it feels like your voice and the sound of your footsteps on wet pavement will travel forever. The perpetually dewy trees, the misty morning fog, the light and unobtrusive snow fall, even the rain. It’s all majestic in a way that feels intensely calming. What they don’t tell you, when you plan to move a thousand miles North, is that it’s dark. Really dark. The cloud cover mid-day that blocks the sunlight from ever hitting the grass out front, and the sun finally calling it quits around 4PM.

Baking has become a winter activity. It fits in the culture of this newly acquired season in a way that makes me appreciate it so much more than the sun filled, warm day baking I used to do. Just the smell and the warmth from the oven seems like a missing piece of furniture finally being put back into place . Spring is on it’s way, and I’ve a few trips planned between now and then, but for the next few months I’ll be warming the days with baked goods.

One Bowl Cinnamon Sugar Beer Muffins

Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the muffins:

2 cups 248g all-purpose flour
1 tsp 4g baking powder
1 tsp 4g baking soda
3/4 cup 150g granulated sugar
½ tsp 3g salt
½ tsp 2g cinnamon
1 tsp 4g vanilla extract
2/3 cup 150g wheat beer
1/3 cup 75g whole milk
2 large eggs

For the topping:

2 tbs 15g cinnamon
¼ cup 50g granulated sugar
3 tbs 42g butter, melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and cinnamon.
Make a well in the center, add the vanilla, wheat beer, milk, and eggs. Stir until just combined.
Line muffin tin with muffin papers, spray lightly with cooking spray.
Place the muffins in the oven, lower temperature to 325. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool.
Stir together the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
Dip the muffin tops in melted butter, then roll gently in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bacon Beer Cheese Stromboli + Our Real Issue with Buyouts

08.01.2016 15 Comments

Bacon Beer Cheese Stromboli, just 30 minutes to make the best football food ever.

I’m sitting in my kitchen on a phone interview with a reporter from Bloomberg answering questions about the buyouts. You know the ones, the ABI, Miller-Coors, Constellation, Big Bad Macro Beer comin' in and buying up OUR beer. The ones that ignite twitter with angry, witty, outraged messages that amount to a digital foot stomping tantrum.

I’m trying to put my finger on what it is, why this sets off a shockwave of indignation. Because the truth is, other than the normal issues that come with scaling up a recipe (which happens with or without buyouts), the recipes don’t change. The beer is, as far as our experience with the bottles that come across our bottle shops, the same as it always was. Even if we had an absolute guarantee that the beer would never, ever, ever change, we would still take issue with the buyouts.

But it threatens the smaller beer brands! Maybe, but what if it didn’t? What if it actually increased demand for the small guys, we’d still take issue with it. So that isn’t it either.

What is it? We are afraid beer will lose its soul. We drink craft beer for the flavor but we are in love with it for the people. For the soul of it. I saw the same thing when I ran around LA with rock stars. I was very well acquainted with the analog recording console from Sound City music studio, the one Dave Grohl was so attached to that he not only bought this machine that recorded music onto dat tapes he made a documentary about it and recorded an album on it. Could you tell by listening to it that it sounded different? Probably not. Maybe that wasn’t the point. As the music world shifted from analog to digital, there were holdouts that feared music would lose its soul. That was what we felt when the mixing boards were replaced with lap tops, auto tune and pro tools. Of course older music sounds different, but not because of the tapes. But because Led Zeppelin decided to record it all in one take, errors and all, in a grain silo. The issues was never really the sound, which is arguably better with digital methods. We were all afraid music would lose its soul. Arguments can be made for or against that actually being the case, but the reality is that more people are able to make music. Due in part to the digital revolution A&R guys no longer hold the keys to the kingdom and more small independent musicians can make a living off their art, sans recording contract.

Beer is in the same metamorphosis. We can’t stop buyouts any more than the drummer from Nirvana could stop music from being recorded digitally and we are scared of what that will mean. We are afraid the people will be removed in favor of shiny new machines and the heart and guts of the industry we love will change. The photos of bearded men in old brewery shirts mashing in, picking hops, cleaning fermenters, will be replaced by an industrial process that takes no more than a switch flip to initiate. We don’t want a brightly lit cafeteria of a taproom. We want a brewery that’s a little bit dingy, with miss matched brew kettles and slightly dented bay doors. We don’t want uniforms and sterility and soulless masses. That’s the real fear.

So what now? As craft beer lovers and consumers we don’t get to make the decisions about the who has what stake and how much in our favorite breweries. We aren’t the ones trying to make ends meet with a high grain bill and a low profit margin. We aren’t the ones with a billion dollar check in our faces. The truth is that we can’t stop it, the buyouts will continue, more in 2016 than ever before and it will become increasing more accepted, thats how these things always go. What can we do? We are the soul. We can keep that. We can make it known that even with the paperwork shuffle and the distribution deals and the administrative headaches that go one outside our reach, we want our beer to stay our beer. This is what we are attached to, and we can make it known that we have our eye on you, newly acquired brewery, do well by us. We brought you here, and we don’t want to walk away now.

This is not a defense of buyouts in any way. It’s just to say that our issues with big beer buying craft beer isn’t as much about small breweries as we’d like to think. Even if we had a guarantee that it’s actually GOOD for small beer, we’d still hate it. We’d hate it because we don’t want corporate beer. Sterile, emotionless beer. We want the community that we’ve build and we don’t want that taken away from us. We want to be punk rock, not boy bands. That’s also how we will survive this. Big beer has distribution and dollars, but that can’t replace the community and the soul we’ve built. That’s ours, that won’t change.

Bacon Beer Cheese Stromboli

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

8 wt oz cream cheese
1 ½ cups 168g mozzarella
½ cup 56g parmesan
1 tbs cornstarch
½ cup 115g pale ale
½ tsp 2g garlic powder
1 tsp 3g salt
1 lbs pizza dough raw
10 strips 155g bacon, cooked and chopped
1 tbs melted butter

Instructions

Add the cream cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, cornstarch, beer, garlic powder, and salt to a blender, blend until smooth.
Roll the pizza dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a rectangle.
Place dough onto a sheet of parchment paper about the size of a baking sheet.
Add the beer cheese to the center of the dough, sprinkle with chopped bacon, reserving about 2 tablespoons of bacon.
Fold both long sides in towards the center to form a tight log, fold the short side over about two inches towards the center.
Roll the log over so the seam sides are down, transfer the parchment paper onto a baking sheet.
Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with remaining bacon.
Bake at 425 for 14-18 minutes or until golden brown.

For homemade pizza dough, try this pale ale pizza dough recipe.

No Yeast Vanilla Brown Sugar Beer Cinnamon Rolls

04.12.2015 10 Comments

No Yeast Vanilla Brown Sugar Beer Cinnamon Rolls

Every Christmas I make cinnamon rolls. Yeasty, gorgeous, giant rolls with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. A recipe that took years to prefect into the soft, tender, sweet and cinnamony treat with the thick ribbon of sugary butter center and tangy frosting. I make it the night before allowing the second rise to take place overnight in the fridge. It’s the first recipe in my first cookbook, The Craft Beer Cookbook (affiliate link).

But I also understand that taking two days to make breakfast might not be ideal for most people. And there may even be some of you that found your way to this post because yeast terrifies and baffles you the way some people think it takes a wizard to make velvety cheese sauce that doesn’t separate. I’m afraid of mall Santas, we all have our thing.

These rolls were awesome. Soft, tender, a bit more on the cakey side than the yeast rolls I’m so in love with, but still a fantastic way to throw together a dessert or a holiday breakfast. The yeast in the yogurt and the beer reacts with the leavening powers of the baking powder and basking soda to do a fabulous job of mimicking yeast dough. The way I try to do a fabulous job of mimicking a normal person when I see a middle aged man in a red suit and fake beard lurking near a Hollister.

No Yeast Vanilla Brown Sugar Beer Cinnamon Rolls

Print Recipe

Servings 8 -10 rolls

Ingredients

Dough:

3 cups 360g all purpose flour
1 tsp 4g baking soda
½ tsp 3g baking powder
pinch of salt
½ cup 107g brown sugar
2 tbs 18 olive oil
2 tsp 8g vanilla extract
½ cup 150g vanilla Greek yogurt (not non-fat)
¾ cup 190g wheat beer, room temperate

Filling:

½ cup 113g unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup 142g brown sugar
2 tsp 4g cinnamon
¼ tsp 0.5g nutmeg
pinch salt

Frosting:

8 wt oz cream cheese softened
1 cup 113g powdered sugar
½ cup 119g heavy cream
1 tsp 4g vanilla extract
Pinch salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350.
In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and brown sugar making sure to break up any brown sugar lumps.
Make a well in the center, add the oil, vanilla extract, yogurt and beer, stir until combined.
Add to a lightly floured surface, knead lightly until the dough comes together and is much less sticky (it will still be slightly sticky). Cover loosely and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes
Roll into a large rectangle about ¼ inch thick.
In a small bowl stir together the softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Spread the filling evenly over the dough. Starting at the long edge, roll the dough into a long log.
Slice into 2 inch rings, place in a baking dish with the swirl side up.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Using a hand mixer beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla and salt until well combined, light and fluffy.
Spread the cinnamon rolls with the frosting before serving.

20-Minute Garlic Cheddar Beer Biscuit Rolls

04.11.2015 4 Comments

20-Minute Garlic Cheddar Beer Biscuit Rolls

This is an early warning sign.

Some people have a nicotine itch when the stress starts to climb up their insides, some people get aggressive and angry, but I make bread. It’s a strange feeling, "I just want to make some bread," being my pressure release valve. Biscuits are the yellow light before it turns red and I break out the yeast packets and KitchenAid.

It’s also one of my favorite ways to use beer. The biscuits give you flakey, almost creamy layers when you give them a bit of beer. Even if you abusively roll them into a large rectangle, smear them with butter and cheese, roll them up and cut them, they still stay light and fluffy. Which is good because with an open bottle of beer and a plate full of cheese carbs around, the last thing you need is more stress.

20-Minute Garlic Cheddar Beer Biscuit Rolls

Print Recipe

Servings 8 -10 rolls

Ingredients

3 ½ 420gcup all-purpose flour
2 tsp 8g baking powder
1 ½ tsp 8g baking soda
1 tsp 6g salt
1 tsp 5g sugar
10 tbs 146g unsalted cold butter, cut into cubes
¾ cup 190g pale ale or wheat beer
1/3 cup 76g buttermilk
8 tbs 110g softened butter
1 large clove garlic grated with a microplane
½ tsp 1g garlic powder
pinch 1g salt
2 cups 226g grated cheddar cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400.
In a food processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
Pulse to combine. Add the cold butter, process until well combined. Add to a large bowl.
Add the buttermilk and beer. Mix with a fork until just combined.
Add to a well-floured flat surface, pat into a rectangle. Using a cold rolling pin gently roll into a large rectangle, about 3/4 inch in thickness, using as few strokes as possible.
In a small bowl stir together the softened butter, garlic, garlic powder and pinch of salt.
Spread the dough with the butter mixture (reserving 2 tablespoons), sprinkle with grated cheese.
Starting at the long end, roll into a tight log. Cut 2-inch rounds, place in a baking dish.
Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons garlic butter, brush the top of the rolls with the melted butter.
Bake at 400 for 14 to 16 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Serve warm.

Hefeweizen Mozzarella Bombs

16.10.2015 9 Comments

Hefeweizen Mozzarella Bombs

You should do an experiment.

Before you become so dismissive of the impact of beer in baking (or, as a marinade for chicken), do a side by side. Sometime we beer-cook because of the flavor, but not always. Do you taste the baking soda in your cake? Of course not. But if it’s missing you can tell right away. If you marinate chicken in beer and then grill it, it stays juicy. If you don’t, it will dry out on your grill. If you can’t taste the beer, but the chicken is still juicy, congratulate the beer because it did it’s job.

Bread is the same way. I spent the summer making these beer doughnuts for just about every backyard soirée I was invited too (it was too much, honestly, but I couldn’t stop). One of those excessive doughnut making adventures came at a time when I was short on beer, so I used something else and the doughnuts suffered. Same recipe, same amount of liquid, but the doughnuts tasted flat, a little more dense and little tougher. This is how beer shines in baking. It’s amazing baking-super-concoction of yeast, grains and carbonation gives you an amazing texture.

So, maybe you can’t taste the beer every time. And maybe you aren’t supposed to. But maybe it tastes better because of the beer, and you should give thanks to the beer that did all the work and got none of the credit. Some of us can relate to that.

Hefeweizen Mozzarella Bombs

Print Recipe

Servings 16 Mozzarella Bombs

Ingredients

3 cups 360g all-purpose flour
1 envelope 7g rapid rise yeast
2 tbs sugar
3/4 cup 186g wheat beer
½ cup 113g unsalted butter, softened
1 6g tsp salt
16 ciliegine sized Mozzarealla balls
topping:
1 tbs melted butter
1 tsp coarse or flakey salt I used smoked Maldon
1 tsp garlic powder

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, add the flour, yeast, and sugar. Mix until combined.
In a microwave safe bowl add the beer. Microwave on high for 20 seconds, test temperature with a cooking thermometer and repeat until temperature reaches between 120 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add the beer to the stand mixer and mix on medium speed. Once most of the dough has been moistened, sprinkle with the salt and add softened butter.
Turn speed to medium-high and beat until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, tightly wrap with plastic wrap. Allow to sit in a warm room until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.
Add to a lightly flowered surface, knead for about 3 minutes. Cut dough into 16 pieces.
One at a time press the dough into a small circle, add the mozzarealla ball to the center and form the dough tightly around the cheese. Make sure the dough isn’t too thin in any place, and the mozzarella is completely covered.
Add to a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with garlic powder and salt.
Allow to rest for 15minutes while the oven heats.
Preheat the oven to 400.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a light golden brown.

Chocolate Belgian Ale Pull-Apart Breakfast Loaf

19.08.2015 15 Comments

I made you something.

It took me a year.

Right after I made the big move from Los Angeles to Seattle, I spent the better part of last year holed up in my tiny wooden house writing my second cookbook,The Craft Beer Bites Cookbook. It’s the follow-up to my first book, The Craft Beer Cookbook (affiliate link),

This new cookbook is a book dedicated to the community that craft beer creates.

Craft Beer Bites is 100 recipes for appetizers and party food all made with craft beer. It’s a book made for gatherings, for sharing great food and hard to find bottles. For bringing people together and reminding us what made us all a community in the first place.

Craft beer is built in community, in pubs and bottle shops, small packs of people just as excited to be together as they are to explore the beer at the center of the table. We need food for these get-togethers. And that’s what this book is about.

I hope you love it as much as I do.

Chocolate Belgian Ale Pull-Apart Breakfast Loaf

A delicious breakfast loaf that can be made ahead, and the perfect dish for brunch get togethers.

Print Recipe

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

2 ½ cups 320g all purpose flour
¼ cup plus 1 tbs granulated sugar divided
1 packet rapid rise yeast 2 ¼ tsp
¾ cup wheat beer
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 large egg yolk room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream room temperature
1 tsp salt
3 tbs softened butter
3.5 wt oz chocolate chopped
Powdered sugar optional

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook add the flour, ¼ cup granulated sugar and yeast.
Add the beer to a microwave safe bowl, microwave on high for 20 seconds, test temperate and repeat until beer reaches between 120F and 130F degrees.
Add the beer to the stand mixer, mix until most of the flour has been moistened.
Add the vanilla then the yolks, one at a time. Add the cream and salt.
Building up speed, beat on high until the dough comes together and gathers around the blade. The dough will be very soft.
Add dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Add dough to a lightly floured surface, roll into an 18 x 24 inch rectangle.
In a small bowl stir together the softened butter and the remaining 1 tablespoons sugar.
Spread the dough with the butter.
Cut the dough into strips about 3 inches wide. Cut each of the strips into 4 to 5 rectangles, each should be about the size of a deck of cards. You should have between 12 and 15 pieces. Sprinkle the pieces with the chopped chocolate, then stack up each one on top of another in a tower. Lay the stack into a loaf pan, like placing books on a shelf.
If making the loaf the night before, cover and allow to rise in the fridge for 12 hours. Reheat the oven to 350F, allow the loaf to come to room temperate while the oven is pre-heating. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.
If making the day of, preheat oven to 350F, allow to sit at room temperate until doubled in size, about 20 minutes .Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from loaf pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar prior to serving.

No-Yeast 20-Minute Beer Flatbread

08.07.2015 13 Comments

No Yeast 20-minute Beer Flatbread

I was trapped in the back of a rug factory in Morocco when I realized how relative things are.

I was sitting on a stool made out of a block of wood, walls made of thick adobe all around me, the large wooden door had been slammed shut and locked with a steel bar. Mid-day sunlight fell through the window at the very top of the wall behind me. Two men threw rugs on the ground in front of me and my sister, yelling obscene prices at us in strong ascents. "Only seven thousand! This one, good deal, it’s only three thousand five hundred. This one, it’s for you, just six thousand!"

I’m in shock. It took me six months to save for the trip, there was no way I could afford a rug that cost about a third the retail value of my car. They stop the rapid rug toss to pressure me about buying one.

"Listen, I can’t afford this. I just started paying off my student loans, I have rent, car payment, I don’t have the money to spend seven grand on a rug. Plus shipping."

They laugh. "You’re saying you’re poor? You’re American! You are RICH," they pick up an empty leather pouf, "You buy this, stuff it with dollar bills!"

I was as scared as I was offended. There were two men and a steel bar between me and freedom. "I’m not rich! Do you know how much rent is in the US? Groceries? Gas? I’m not rich,"

They laugh even harder, "You have a place to live? Yes? With more than one room and a bathroom, too? You have a car? And you have a refrigerator full of food? You buy new clothes every month, and you have lots of shoes? Am I correct? Look at me," He pauses for dramatic effect, "Little girl, you are rich. Walk out that door, look around, and then you tell me you are not rich." He was right.

I was still scared but no longer offended. I realized how relative everything is, one person’s broke is another person’s rich. I ended the day in a beautiful restaurant, a thing only the richest people in the Medina of Fez, Morocco have ever done. There was chicken in a creamy red sauce, saffron rice, vegetables, small metal bowls of sauces, and soft, homemade bread. There was a beautiful comfort in warm homemade bread. This recipe only takes about 20 minutes, perfect for the next time you need a little gluten comfort.

No Yeast 20-Minute Beer Flatbread

Print Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 5

Servings 8 flatbreads

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbs olive oil
¾ cup plain Greek yogurt not non-fat
¾ cup wheat beer room temperate

Instructions

In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Make a well in the center, add the oil, yogurt and beer.
Stir until the dough comes together. Transfer to a lightly floured surface, knead for about 6 minutes.
Cut into 8 sections, form into balls. Cover and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Lightly oil a cast iron skillet, heat to medium high.
Press the balls into 6 inch disks.
Cook the disks in the skillet until lightly browned on each side and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.
Serve warm.

Beer Focaccia Bread

03.07.2015 7 Comments

Think for a second about how long we’ve been doing this.

How long people have stood in kitchens, mixed yeast with flour, warm liquid, sugar, salt. Watched it rise, smelled it as it baked. Even before anyone knew what yeast was, bakers had figured out how to use it. Centuries of bread baking and little has changed, this is proof of how perfect the process really is. How magical the end result, and accomplished we feel when it all comes together.

The first few times I tried making bread I failed. The bread didn’t fail, I did. I failed to respect the process. To understand that "rapid rise" yeast wasn’t the same as regular dry active yeast, that temperatures matter, that a rise might take two hours on a cold day instead of one, that the time spent with the bread is rather minimal in comparison to what you’re given.

Then I started adding beer. The yeast already in the beer, the grains it was made with, it’s like water on steroids when making bread. It’s like Super Water when baking. I like a wheat beer, it just seems to make sense. I like a bottle conditioned beer that still has some rowdy yeast running around. I like a beer with a low hop profile. But most of all I love the moment when I check the dough and see the soft pillow rising in the bowl, and I know it’s a small win for the day. These days, we could all use a few small wins. And serve it with a cold beer.

Beer Focaccia Bread

Print Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs fresh rosemary chopped
1 package rapid rise yeast
1 1/2 cups beer pale ale, pilsner, wheat beer
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
for the top:
1 tbs coarse salt
1 tbs fresh rosemary chopped
2 tbs olive oil

Instructions

In a bowl of a stand mixer fitter with a dough hook, add 2 cups flour, sugar, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and yeast.
Heat the beer to 120 to 125 degrees F.
Add the beer to the stand mixer, turn the mixer to medium, mix until combined.
Add the remaining flour, ¼ cup olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt.
Turn the mixer to medium high, beat for 5 to 6 minutes.
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm room until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Lightly oil a 9x13 pan. Transfer the dough to the pan, pulling to cover the entire pan. Press your fingers into the dough making holes across the entire loaf.
Cover and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425.
Brush with remaining oil, sprinkle with remaining rosemary and salt.
Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Beer Bread Grilled Beer Cheese Sandwich with Bacon

22.06.2015 7 Comments

Grilled Cheese & Gratitude

I was standing in the kitchen of a group home, talking to a 15-year-old foster kid when I learned what gratitude really was. (Before I became a full-time food and beer writer, I worked with foster and probation kids in South Central LA, you can read more about that here and here)

He was skinny, his Hanes t-shirt nearly swallowing him up as it hung down past his waist over his dark sweat pants that pooled around the China Town slippers on his feet. "How lucky are we?!" He peels a few slices off the block of government issue cheese, a long, unnaturally orange-colored rectangle housed in a cardboard tube. I was as amused as I was confused.

He could tell I wanted more, "Well, the last place I lived we didn’t ever really have bread. It was always moldy. And the place before that, we NEVER had cheese, that was like, a luxurious thing and all, and then before that the stove aint never worked…" He smeared both sides of the bread with the contents of an oversized tub of margarine, filled the two slices of bread with at least five pieces of cheese, and gently set it in a hot pan that screamed a victorious sizzle in response. "See!" the sound thrilled him, "We got, like…MAD cheese up in here, they don’t even care when I use like a grip of slices. And look at all this butter! This thing HUGE! and we got bread for days!" he claps his hands, thrilled at the bounty that the group home kitchen provided.

I’d read his file at the office before I headed over to meet him. Absent biological father, mother was abusive and her whereabouts are now unknown. He was placed in a state run group home after several reports of abuse by his previous foster parents. I look at him, a genuine smile on his face, and I think about the night before. I’d been in Hollywood, chasing a sullen fashion model around The Grafton, trying to keep her out of trouble. She was the girlfriend of a musician friend of mine, and I was trying to avoid press nightmare if she’d been able to follow through with the crazy that her anger was begging her to perform. I’d pushed her into a alcove by the ice machine and commanded her to talk to me about why she was so upset. Tears streaming down her gorgeous face, onto her three thousand dollar dress, "I can’t go to London with him because I have this stupid print ad to shoot tomorrow. My condo is being renovated so I have to stay at a hotel…And I forgot my Prada jacket! I hate everything…."

I think about this, about the conversation I’d had the night before as I watch him finish up his grilled cheese. I realize that gratitude and happiness have nothing to do with circumstances. You can decide to focus on every great thing in your life, no matter how small, or you can decide to focus on what’s broken. It’s your choice.

Choose wisely.

I used Fort George Omegatex in the filling, and to wash it all down with.

Beer Bread Grilled Beer Cheese Sandwich with Bacon

Print Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ cup sugar
12 ounces beer summer ale, wheat beer, saison, pilsner
¼ cup melted butter
8 wt oz cream cheese
1 cup 2.5 wt oz shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup IPA beer
½ tsp sriracha
1 tbs cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup softened butter
4 strips bacon cooked

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar. Add the beer, stir until just combined.
Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour that batter into the pan in an even layer. Pour the melted butter over the loaf.
Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven, allow to cool completely before slicing, chill if necessary.
In a food processor add the cream cheese, cheddar, IPA, sriracha, cornstarch and salt, blend until smooth.
Slice the bread into 8 slices.
Butter one side of each slice.
Heat a non-stick pan over medium high heat.
Working in batches, place one slice of bread, buttered side down in the pan. Spread with about ¼ cup of the cheese mixture, then a slice of bacon, then another slice of bread, buttered side up.
Cook until the bottom bread is slightly browned, then gently flip. Cook on the other side until the bread is golden brown. Serve warm.

Homemade Beer Hot Dog Buns

06.05.2015 3 Comments

Homemade Beer Hot Dog Buns

Somewhere between the tenth and fifteenth IPA I sampled this weekend, I realized something.

Trying my best to taste the beer I was in charge of judging through a hop wrecked palate I realized that I love citrus. I love the bright, fresh flavors of citra hops, grapefruit peels, orange zest, and I love how beautifully they play with the flavors of hops.

I’d bravely accepted the challenge of judging a stadium full of IPAs this past weekend at a beer festival, and along with a co-judge, picking one standout winner. We had different palates, him and I. I fell hard and fast for the citrus spiked beers, he favored the IPA’s with a strong malt backbone. It took us a while to come to an agreement on a favorite. Left only in my hands, I’d have given out ten awards, all to grapefruit and orange tainted beers. But I was in no shape for large scale decision making after sampling 31 beers.

If you also like a little bit of a citrus molested beer, here are a few to seek out:

Hop Valley // Citrus Mistress

Balast Point // Grapefruit Sculpin

Snoqualime Falls // Sunny Si IPA

Terrapin // Hopzilla

Green Flash // Soul Style IPA

Homemade Beer Hot Dog Buns

Print Recipe

Servings 8 hot dog buns

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbs sugar
1 packet RAPID RISE yeast
1 tsp salt
½ cup wheat beer
¾ cups whole milk
1 tbs olive oil
Egg wash 1 egg, 1 tbs water, beaten
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sesame seeds.

Instructions

Add the flour, sugar, yeast and salt to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix to combine.
In a microwave safe bowl add the beer and milk. Microwave on high until the liquid reaches 125 degrees, about 60 seconds.
Add the liquid and the oil to the stand mixer, mix on high until dough gathers around the hook and is no longer sticky, about 8 minutes.
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to sit in a warm room until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350.
Knead on a lightly floured surface for about a minute. Divide into 8 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into a log about 5 inches long. Place buns on a baking sheet. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with salt, pepper and sesame seeds.
Bake until golden brown, about 18 minutes.

Awesome Vegan Whole Wheat Stout Loaf

03.04.2015 6 Comments

Awesome Vegan Whole Wheat Stout Loaf

This started three years ago as a personal challenge. I’d been looking up a recipe for 100% whole wheat bread and was told that it was really difficult to make really great tasting bread without at least some white flour, or copious amounts of butter.

Challenge excepted.

It took several tries, dozens of recipes, different flours and experimenting with plant fats but I did it. I’ll save you several thousand hours of research and give you the quick and dirty rules that I’ve learned on my endeavor. First, flour matters. A lot. I tried several brands and so far King Arthur Premium Whole Wheat Flour was vastly superior to others I tried. Soft, flavorful, not at all grainy or dry. Second was the issue of fat. Bread needs fat. I love making brioche, the yolks and butter and incredible in the final results, but I wanted to make it all plant based, mostly because I love to torture myself with endless kitchen trials and internet research. I tried different oils, but in the end, the fat from coconut milk was incredible. It gave the bread a dairy like texture and flavor, and a softness that I couldn’t get with anything else.

And then there was the beer! We’ve already talked about how sometimes beer isn’t vegan, or ever vegetarian for that matter, but pick the right beer and the results are perfect. My first choice for a bread baking liquid is usually a bottle conditioned wheat beer, the active yeast is fabulous. I tried that, a pale ale, and even a saison. In the end, the roasty flavors of a stout complimented the whole wheat perfectly.

So there you have it. A loaf of 100% whole wheat bread, made with just plants and beer. And it’s amazing.

Awesome Vegan Whole Wheat Stout Loaf

Print Recipe

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar for vegan see note
1 packet rapid rise yeast
1 can full fat coconut milk unshaken
1 cup stout beer
2 tbs olive oil
½ tsp almond extract

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook add the flour, brown sugar, and yeast, mix to combine.
Open the can of coconut milk, scrap out ½ cup of the coconut fat layer from the top, save the rest for an alternate use.
In a microwave safe bowl add the beer and coconut fat. Heat to between 120F and 130F degrees.
Add the beer mixture, oil and almond extract to the flour, beat on high until dough gathers around the hook and is no longer sticky, about 6 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 3 minutes.
Form into a ball, place on a baking sheet.
Allow to rise for about 20 minutes.
Bake until dark brown, about 22-26 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

*Beer and sugar are both inherently vegan. However, processing can often use animal products. If you are worried about it, read Is Beer Vegan?, and Vegan Sugar Brands.