Adapted from the Amish White Bread recipe on AllRecipes.

This is actually a challenge recipe. I know our initial rules specify that recipes from the internet don’t count. However, this is both a recipe from the internet and one a friend had carefully selected to give to me for Christmas one year (back in 2008), in a recipe book. I love the book and I love MBBB and thus I’m delighted to share with you.

Of course, as it was a selection from MBBB, when I finally went to make this recipe (more than four years after this blog started), that I included spent grain flour was only fitting.

And man. As soon as I made it, I regretted not making it sooner. I’ve had it before (without spent grain flour). Made it years ago, before this blog was even an inkling. I’ve always loved it. It’s an amazing sandwich bread, it’s easy to make (especially with a stand mixer), and it’s just plain good.

But, and this shocks me, adding spent grain flour is taking it to a whole other level. I’m shocked, in part, because it hasn’t been a huge addition. That said, I’m more shocked because I generally have never liked “wheat” bread. “Whole grain” bread makes me sad¹. There’s no world in which I should like this MORE than the white bread it originated as.

But I do. Which, frankly, is astounding. And it should be convincing you to try it. I’ve made countless loaves of this stuff. Bill even commented that I seem obsessed with this recipe back when I was making my third loaf.

Maybe a little. But that’s because it’s so very tasty. And so very easy. And, well, because I’ve been reading about spent grain a lot. I have been experimenting! Make this recipe, and experiment yourself!

Ingredients

1 c warm water
1/3 c granulated sugar

3/4 tsp active dry yeast

3/4 tsp salt

2 oz (1/8 c) vegetable oil

2 2/3 c bread flour²

1/3 c spent grain flour

Instructions

I recommend you do this in a stand mixer. I have been.

Mix the sugar and water together in a (large or stand mixer) bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Mostly dissolved is fine too. Stir in the yeast, and set it aside to proof. It’ll get foamy, which is super neat to look at.

After the yeast has proofed, stir in the salt and the oil. Then mix in your spent grain flour and 2/3 c bread flour. Once that’s mixed in, stir in the other two cups of flour, one cup at a time. Once it’s fully incorporated, knead the bread. The directions from MBBB say, “until smooth.” Honestly, I usually just do about 5 minutes in the stand mixer.

Then oil a fairly large bowl and place the dough inside. Turn the dough around to coat it, so it doesn’t stick on the damp towel you should then cover it with. Put the dough in a warm area and allow to rise until it’s about doubled in size. For me, this is two hours. For MBBB, it appears to be about one.

Punch the dough down, then knead for about five minutes (I usually do this by hand, in the bowl or on the counter or in the air), shape into a loaf and place in a well-oiled loaf pan. Allow it to rise again for about 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350F, then bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes.

Cooking and Consumption notes

Cooking

This recipe is dead easy. It takes a lot of time, and elbow grease (especially if you do it all by hand), but it’s really just mix things together, wait, repeat. Even kneading is fairly akin to mixing things together. It’s just mixing a blob of dough with itself.

The color of your spent grain will determine the color of your loaf. This is a good thing to bear in mind if you judge bread’s done-ness by color. Darker beer does, in fact, mean darker bread.

Consumption

Though it doesn’t seem like a ton of sugar added, this bread is decidedly, albeit lightly, sweet. It’s delicious, but if you don’t like slightly sweet bread, consider dropping the sugar content until you’re happy with it.

This texture is perfect for toast and sandwiches and everything. It’s definitely not a “crusty” bread, but I like it for that reason. Bill makes amazing crusty breads. I needed a good sandwich and toast bread that wouldn’t lacerate gums.

Every time I make a loaf of this, we destroy it within a couple of days. It works with pasta, it works as sandwiches, it works for everything. Go make it.

¹ Stop judging me. ➥

² We actually use King Arthur Flour’s all-purpose flour. However, we’ve learned (from other books) that their AP flour tends to be about equal to bread flour from other brands. ➥