Sourdough black beer bread

Stefan Hueber from Gasthof Hueber bakes his speciality bread using a sourdough as part of #CookWithUs.

Baking your own bread is the latest trend. Even if sourdough belongs to an elite level of breadmaking, the tips from the award-winning chef Stefan Hueber will ensure your bread is fit for a king.

Good things come to those who wait! If you would like to bake sourdough bread, you need to be patient. The results speak for themselves though as the sourdough produces bread that is particularly light and airy. The yeast and the milk acid bacteria it contains produce carbon dioxide which expands the dough. It is worth the effort and the tips from Stefan Hueber make it really easy.

Recipe:

Start by mixing the beer – lukewarm black beer – into the yeast until it has fully dissolved. Then add the rye and wheat flour. Always use the exact same amount of beer, rye and wheat flour. Then add the sourdough. It is important that you always leave a little bit of sourdough aside - it doesn't have to be a lot. This will be made into a new sourdough starter. Season the bread to your taste. Please note: Do not add salt at this point. Stefan adds malt. This is only added to give the bread a beautiful dark colour.

Mix the bread dough on the lowest setting on your mixer. Leave the dough in the basin of the mixer for the first hour or first proving period, then add salt for the first time. Stir briefly until the salt is properly mixed into the dough. Leave to rest for a second hour.

If the dough has already become elastic, you can shape the bread. Make sure that when you shape the piece of dough that it is seam upwards and can rise properly. Wait another hour. In the meantime, preheat the oven - it needs to be as hot as possible. Heat a tray or pizza stone at the same time. If the bread is in the oven, it needs humidity during the first baking period. If you don't have an oven with a steam function, place a fire-resistant dish filled with water at the bottom of the oven. The steam will create a wonderfully crisp crust. Bake at 230 °C for approx. 15 minutes. Then release the steam, ventilate the oven properly once, turn the heat down to 180 °C and bake for the remaining 35 to 40 minutes. The bread is ready when it makes a hollow sound when tapped on the base. Stefan has a final tip for us when it comes to cooling: The bread should always be cooled on an elevated surface, such as a cooling tray. This prevents moisture forming on the bottom of the loaf.

For the sourdough starter: There are two ways to use the remaining sourdough. Either add 10x amount of rye flour. This means it can then be kept in the fridge for roughly three weeks or if you properly mix in 100x amount of rye flour, the mix can be kept in an airtight container forever. The next time you bake bread, feed the dry sourdough with lukewarm water, mix and prove overnight in a warm place. One kilo of sourdough starter requires approx. 300 g to 400 g of lukewarm water.

Happy baking!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of dry sourdough mix (approx. 250 g)
• 300 g organic rye flour
• 300 g organic wheat flour
• Black beer/dark beer
• 15 g yeast
• Salt, pepper, caraway seeds, fennel, anise, coriander, olive oil