Consumers with Alcoholic Nature: Wholemeal Beer Bread with Roasted Seeds

Pure, addicted state of mind, alcoholism… this is the nice kind though: being in love with alcohol-fermented bread. Beer bread is simply made based on the idea that beer and bread have a common creation process: yeast turns sugar into alcohol, which, in the case of bread, then evaporates during the process of baking. When it comes to minimum effort and maximum result in baking, beer bread has it all. Literally minutes of work reward the crafty baker with a heavenly aroma filling the whole house and an exemplary, healthy loaf in under an hour. Beer bread is delicious warm or at room temperature and goes well with just about anything.

Ingredients

400 g wholemeal flour, 100 g brown flour, 2 tsp salt, 20 g fresh yeast, 350 ml beer at room temperature, 1 tbsp warm water, 3 tbsp roasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Method

Stir together yeast and warm water in a well made into the middle of the flour in a large bowl. Cover and let sit in a warm spot for about 30 minutes. Stir beer and salt into the bowl. Mix until all is incorporated and forms a thick sticky dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 2 hours, until doubled in size.

Scrape all the dough from the bowl with a rubber spatula, and place on a well-floured surface. Generously flour the top of the dough and form into a loaf shape. Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal. Transfer loaf to the baking sheet and sprinkle the top with flour. Cover loosely with a towel and let rise for 30-40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C. Place a small loaf pan of warm water on a lower rack to humidify the oven. Slash a long slit in the top of the loaf with a sharp knife or razor. Place the baking sheet on the rack above the pan of warm water in the oven. Bake for 35 minutes, until the loaf is golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before slicing and serving.