Crusty Sourdough Rye Baguette Made With Beer

Since the beginning of this year, I have had slightly more time. I decided to start making sourdough bread at home. I found a tutorial online on making sourdough bread. Making the sourdough starter was surprisingly easy, but I was overwhelmed by the amount of time and method put into making sourdough loaves. My first loaf was came out flat, and dense, but since then I have improved my technique of making sourdough loaves. After I started to understand the process more, my sourdough loaves started to look better. Recently I have been making sourdough baguettes because I love the texture and shape of them! Lately I have been experimenting with some different variations of ingredients in my sourdough baguettes. I tried beetroot bread, yogurt bread and beer bread. In this instructable I will show you my favourite variation so far.It is bread made from a combination of wholegrain rye flour and normal wholegrain flour with beer.

200g wholemeal flour

50g wholgrain rye flour

75ml beer

50g active sourdough starter

a teaspoon of salt

Start by putting the wholemeal and rye flour into a bowl. Pour in the beer and bring the ingredients to form a rough dough with a wooden spoon. After you have formed a rough dough, add the sourdough starter and salt to the mixture. You can use the wooden spoon to combine the ingredients until they are a little less sticky, but I suggest kneading the dough for a few minutes, so you can ensure that the salt is mixed in evenly. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it to sit overnight.

The next day, take your dough out of the bowl and knead it until it forms a smoother dough. Since you are using wholegrain flour you can expect the dough to be a little more dense than if you where using white flour. press the dough together, forming a long sausage like shape. press the sides in slightly with your hands.

Preheat your oven to Gas mark 7/425F. Place your shaped bread on to a lined oven tray. For extra flavour you can add sesame and poppy seeds to your bread. When proving my bread I like to leave it in the oven on top of my bottom oven, since the heat from the bottom oven warms up the top oven. Alternatively you can leave your bread in a warm place for 30 minutes to an hour.

The dough has now proved, meaning it is ready for baking, But it wouldn't be a baguette without it having those score lines! Using a sharp knife, carefully make several diagonal slits into the dough. Then gently press open the incisions with your fingers. Finally bake the baguette for 30 minutes.

One of my favourite things about making sourdough breads is the sound of the crust when you cut it open! Interestingly I found out that using beer did not seem to effect the flavour, but it changed the texture of the bread similarly to when making milk or yogurt bread by making it slightly denser without the added sweetness.