Bread from spent grains

[fury_tea]

Here's my recipe for bread made using spent grain. I found a few online but none really seemed to work out or required too much work i.e. dehydrating the grains for over 8 hours and blending them in batches etc.
This recipe uses wet spent grain with no extra processing and is adapted from a 'no knead' recipe so it's dead simple and it makes a really nice loaf. Because it uses the full grains you do end up with a few husks in your teeth, but I don't really mind that. I'm not a baker and this is the only loaf I make. You can play with adding more grains if you like, but I found the more you put in the denser the loaf gets. Lighter malts are best for this, but if your mash has caramel malts etc, these are fine and add a different flavour to your bread.

Ingredients:
100g spent grain
350g bread flour
6g sugar
6g salt
1.5g bread yeast
250ml room temperature water (ish)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and add the spent grain, then mix it together using the handle of a wooden spoon. Slowly add the water (20ml at a time), until a ball forms and it starts to pick up the flour from the side of the bowl (you can add a few drops of water to any dry flour on the side). Keep going until the bowl is clean and you have a ball of dough, it will take around 5 minutes. You're not looking for a wet dough, just enough to stick to itself. You might not need all the water depending on the moisture content of your grain (sometimes, well under 200ml is all it takes).

Now cover the bowl with cling film or with a lid and put it somewhere warm (20-25c) for 12-24 hours.

It will double/triple in size and it'll be full of air bubbles once ready. Flour a work surface and empty/scrape it out. Knock the air out of it (you don't want to overwork it, just pat it down) shape it and place either in a 2lb bread tin brushed with olive oil or onto a metal tray brushed with olive oil and cover with a clean floured tea towel, and leave to proof for 2 hours.

Turn your oven to full power and boil a kettle, put a tray on the shelf below the one you want to bake your bread on and put an inch of boiling water in. Spray the surface of the loaf with water (in a pinch you could flick it on from your fingers) and place into the oven. Leave on full for 15 -30 minutes (once you see it turning golden), then spray again and top up the tray with hot water if needed (watch for steam as you open the oven - hot steam in the eyes is not fun), and turn the oven down to around 200c. After another 20-30 minutes your loaf will turn a deep brown on top and it'll be ready.

Turn out onto a wire rack, test the bottom of the loaf. If it feels too moist or too soft for your liking you can put it back in the oven upside down for another 10-20 minutes to dry out a little, but it will dry out a bit on its own when left. Cover with a clean tea towel and let it rest for at least an hour before you cut into it to preserve the crumb structure.

You can now eat the bread.

It's become a staple loaf in our household and on brew day I portion out the grains into 100g batches and freeze them. Get them out a couple of hours before you plan to make the loaf.

It goes great with cheese or eggs, and it makes the best toast, and obviously washed down with a pint of your finesthomebrew is just exquisite.

Let me know if you do decide to make it!

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm very interested in having a go at this. Thanks for the tip. Is the 100g of spent grains wet or dry equivalent. Blimey. I just realised that with a 5 Kg mash I'm going to have to make 50 loaves at a time!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I am sure @Dutto has posted about making bread from spent grains in the past.

.

 

[Dutto]

Here's one for using the yeast from a brew. It worked a treat ...

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/using-beer-yeast-in-bread-making.63829/

 

[An Ankoù]

I am sure @Dutto has posted about making bread from spent grains in the past.

.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least. I'm going to give it a go nevertheless. Will report back in due course.

 

[fury_tea]

I'm very interested in having a go at this. Thanks for the tip. Is the 100g of spent grains wet or dry equivalent. Blimey. I just realised that with a 5 Kg mash I'm going to have to make 50 loaves at a time!

It's the wet grain yeah. I usually portion out about 10 batches out of my grains, and try to make 2 or 3 loaves a week. Seeing it written down, it looks like a lot to do but honestly it's about 20 minutes of work all in all, the rest is just waiting around for things to be ready. It's quite a forgiving recipe. I've left it for the first rise in the airing cupboard for over 24 hours, the top goes a bit dry but it still makes a good loaf, or I've been in a rush and had to do it after only 8 hours and it's a bit more dense but still pretty good.

I think I'd like to try a sourdough soon.
Also had the idea of adding the grains to a bought cake mix for an easy dessert. I'll report back.

 

[Dutto]

Here's one about grinding unmashed grain to flour to make your own Malt Bread ...

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/eating-whole-grain-is-good-yay.68649/

Note:
I advise that you pass the finished article through a fairly fine sieve to remove any large husks that may have got through the milling process. I've had a few catch in my throat over the last couple of years and like swallowing a fingernail it's not much fun!

Ditto for using spent grain. Husks that are near the surface of the loaf can dry out and develop needle like qualities!

 

[Dutto]

Finally, here's one ...

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/used-grain-and-malt.68297/

... after which I minced my grains to reduce the water impact and to cut down on the "husk problem". It worked!

 

[fury_tea]

Finally, here's one ...

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/used-grain-and-malt.68297/

... after which I minced my grains to reduce the water impact and to cut down on the "husk problem". It worked!

Thanks for these!

 

[foxy]

I wonder if the spent grain bread would be better health wise if the mashing process has removed the lectin from the grain?

 

[An Ankoù]

Here's my recipe for bread made using spent grain. I found a few online but none really seemed to work out or required too much work i.e. dehydrating the grains for over 8 hours and blending them in batches etc.
This recipe uses wet spent grain with no extra processing and is adapted from a 'no knead' recipe so it's dead simple and it makes a really nice loaf. Because it uses the full grains you do end up with a few husks in your teeth, but I don't really mind that. I'm not a baker and this is the only loaf I make. You can play with adding more grains if you like, but I found the more you put in the denser the loaf gets. Lighter malts are best for this, but if your mash has caramel malts etc, these are fine and add a different flavour to your bread.

Ingredients:
100g spent grain
350g bread flour
6g sugar
6g salt
1.5g bread yeast
250ml room temperature water (ish)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and add the spent grain, then mix it together using the handle of a wooden spoon. Slowly add the water (20ml at a time), until a ball forms and it starts to pick up the flour from the side of the bowl (you can add a few drops of water to any dry flour on the side). Keep going until the bowl is clean and you have a ball of dough, it will take around 5 minutes. You're not looking for a wet dough, just enough to stick to itself. You might not need all the water depending on the moisture content of your grain (sometimes, well under 200ml is all it takes).

Now cover the bowl with cling film or with a lid and put it somewhere warm (20-25c) for 12-24 hours.

It will double/triple in size and it'll be full of air bubbles once ready. Flour a work surface and empty/scrape it out. Knock the air out of it (you don't want to overwork it, just pat it down) shape it and place either in a 2lb bread tin brushed with olive oil or onto a metal tray brushed with olive oil and cover with a clean floured tea towel, and leave to proof for 2 hours.

Turn your oven to full power and boil a kettle, put a tray on the shelf below the one you want to bake your bread on and put an inch of boiling water in. Spray the surface of the loaf with water (in a pinch you could flick it on from your fingers) and place into the oven. Leave on full for 15 -30 minutes (once you see it turning golden), then spray again and top up the tray with hot water if needed (watch for steam as you open the oven - hot steam in the eyes is not fun), and turn the oven down to around 200c. After another 20-30 minutes your loaf will turn a deep brown on top and it'll be ready.

Turn out onto a wire rack, test the bottom of the loaf. If it feels too moist or too soft for your liking you can put it back in the oven upside down for another 10-20 minutes to dry out a little, but it will dry out a bit on its own when left. Cover with a clean tea towel and let it rest for at least an hour before you cut into it to preserve the crumb structure.

You can now eat the bread.

It's become a staple loaf in our household and on brew day I portion out the grains into 100g batches and freeze them. Get them out a couple of hours before you plan to make the loaf.

It goes great with cheese or eggs, and it makes the best toast, and obviously washed down with a pint of your finesthomebrew is just exquisite.

Let me know if you do decide to make it!

In the cold light of day, it's clear that I'm going to have to bring brew day forward so I can have a go at this. I normally give the spent grains to the good lady next door for her chickens, but as it's been a good couple of months since she's come up with any eggs, I reckon she's feeding it to her old man!
I think I remember through last night's haze that somebody said spent gain can be given to the dog???
In any case I'll report back towards the end of the week.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

I reckon that with some spent grain you could produce some 'Hobnob' type biscuits, some Golden syrup and a press etc, think I could eat them.

What is 'bread flour'? Plain, self raising or strong flour??

 

[An Ankoù]

I reckon that with some spent grain you could produce some 'Hobnob' type biscuits, some Golden syrup and a press etc, think I could eat them.

What is 'bread flour'? Plain, self raising or strong flour??

It's Strong flour.
Type 55 in France
Type 0 in Italy

 

[fury_tea]

I reckon that with some spent grain you could produce some 'Hobnob' type biscuits, some Golden syrup and a press etc, think I could eat them.

What is 'bread flour'? Plain, self raising or strong flour??

"Bread Flour:
The main difference between bread flour and all-purpose flour is a matter of protein. Bread flour, which comes in white and whole wheat varieties, has a higher protein content than all-purpose, usually 11-13%. It’s called “bread flour” because most bread requires higher amounts of protein to produce lots of gluten. Gluten is the stringy strands that give bread dough its stretch and elasticity, and baked bread its characteristic chew."

You can find it in the supermarket, the no knead recipe I based my recipe on used bread flour so I went with that, it worked really well the first time so I've never tried any other types. It's just over £1 for a kilo and that makes 3 loaves. You could try other flours, but I just use the white bread flour.

it's clear that I'm going to have to bring brew day forward

Once when our spent grain supplies were running out my wife asked me if I could brew any sooner!
I was doing 1 gallon batches in the past but now I have started doing 5 gallon batches the problem is finding the freezer space for it all.

 

[terrym]

The best bread flour in the UK is Canadian Very Strong Bread Flour (most supermarkets sell it under own brand). It has enough gluten to ensure the dough rises . Cheaper strong flour and even some of the well known brands like Allinsons do not perform as well in my view.
If you want roughage in your bread buy wholemeal and blend it with white. Thats what we do.
All my spent grain and trub goes into the composter. Best place for it. Gives the red worms a treat.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

Brilliant! thanks for all that, learn something new every day.

 

[Cwrw666]

I sometimes skim the hot break off the top of the wort just before it starts boiling - tried adding this to a bread recipe as it tasted quite nice. It turned out a bit stodgy but otherwise edible if not exactly more-ish.

 

[fury_tea]

So... I made up a cake mix with the spent grains. I used half the mix (250g) plus 100g of grains, 30ml oil, added an extra egg and used 100ml of milk instead of water...

It's not bad, but because the cake is very fluffy (probably from the egg), the grains kind of stick out a bit. I don't mind that really, and maybe once the cake cools completely it'll be a bit more solid.

Next time I'll try without the egg and see how it comes out.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

I'm drooling over that cake, bet your beers are great too!

 

[fury_tea]

I'm drooling over that cake, bet your beers are great too!

Haha thanks. I am tempted to invest in a mincer like @Dutto said to grind the grains a a bit smaller.