Can someone explain how beer works as a rising agent in breadmaking?!
I have been enthusiastically using the recipe for "almost-no-knead" bread that appeared in Cook's Illustrated in the Jan./Feb. issue. It's a keeper--it works brilliantly, and if you love freshly-baked bread but don't enjoy kneading, you really should check it out.
BUT... each batch calls for a small amount of cheap, relatively-flavorless lager. Since that's not the kind of beer we normally drink, we've been buying the cheap stuff, using about 1/3 cup per batch of bread, and pouring the rest down the sink.
Can I just save the rest of the can of beer, let it go flat, and still use it for the next batch? Or are the bubbles themselves important to the fermentation process?
If you actually know the answer...I'd be really grateful!
Answers: The main thing I need to know is: is it the carbonation that works as a leavener, or some other ingredient(s) in the beer?
I have been enthusiastically using the recipe for "almost-no-knead" bread that appeared in Cook's Illustrated in the Jan./Feb. issue. It's a keeper--it works brilliantly, and if you love freshly-baked bread but don't enjoy kneading, you really should check it out.
BUT... each batch calls for a small amount of cheap, relatively-flavorless lager. Since that's not the kind of beer we normally drink, we've been buying the cheap stuff, using about 1/3 cup per batch of bread, and pouring the rest down the sink.
Can I just save the rest of the can of beer, let it go flat, and still use it for the next batch? Or are the bubbles themselves important to the fermentation process?
If you actually know the answer...I'd be really grateful!
beer has yeast, natural forming yeast not the kind you buy at the grocery so if you let the beer go flat so will the rising factor of the natural yeast...if it's cheap, anyway what's the worry your not talking "top of the shelf" beer...right and why pour it down the drain....drink it
P.S. would you please post that recipe in the source area of your question....I'd like to try it
It is the bubbles that aerate the mix, just like making beer batter for fish.
Beer contains yeast.
Yeast in one form or another is needed for breads that need to rise.
Flat breads do not need yeast.
When bread rises its caused by the yeast eating the sugar and producing bubbles as it well FARTS if you will. Beer is the same concept the bubbles in the beer expand the dough from inside out and also reacts with the yeast because beer has sugar in it.
yeast and hops-- leavening agents