“Do not open doors or leave in a draught, but treat the dough as if it were human. Bread is the staff of life.” (Alison Uttley from Recipes from an Old Farmhouse (1966).

White beer bread is both soft and substantial. It contains but five ingredients, four of which have less processed options: Flour, Salt, Olive Oil and Beer.

Equipment

• a Digital Scale
• a Standing Mixer with a Paddle Attachment or a Large Bowl and Spoon to mix and knead the dough by hand
• a Large Bowl, lightly buttered to hold the dough during the first rise
• a Pastry Board
• a Bakiing Sheet lined with Parchment
• a Lame or Sharp Knife to cut the surface of the loaf

Ingredients

• 275 g of Organic Unenriched All-Purpose Hard Wheat White Flour (aka Bread Flour): thefoodlessprocessed has not made this bread with soft wheat flour. Hard wheat flour is the standard American variety.
• 5 g of Sea Salt
• 170 g of an inexpensive Imported German Pilsener or Dutch-made Lager Beer
• 5 g of Exra-Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 g of SAF Instant Yeast

Mixing the Dough and the First Rise

• Place the beer, oil and salt in the bowl of the mixer (or a large bowl if kneading by hand.
• Gradually mix in the flour and yeast.
• Knead the dough to a smooth, pliable consistency. Place it in a large bowl, cover it with plastic or an inverted bowl and set it aside to double in volume. After the first rise, the dough will have a pillowy appearance and will be springy to the touch.

Forming the Loaf and the Second Rise

This loaf is formed in the style of a traditional French “boule”, which means rounding the dough into a tight ball, creating surface tension across the top. Here is a YouTube video that thefoodlessprocessed has found useful on how to create surface tension from the site Bake with Jack.

• On the pastry board, shape the dough into a tight boule.
• Transfer it to the parchment-lined baking sheet and slash it with a lame or sharp knife.
• Cover the boule with a cotton dishtowel or a large inverted bowl and leave it to rise until about double in size. (See the photo above at the beginning of this post.)

Baking the loaf

Gas or Convection Oven:  thefoodlessprocessed uses a gas oven. The conversions from Fahrenheit to Celsi/s do not attempt to adjust for differences between baking in a gas or convection oven. I have no experience using a convection oven, and leave adjustments to the better judgement of you who do have.

• Preheat the oven to 400 F/200 C.
• Bake the loaf on the middle rack for 20 minutes.
• At the end of 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 375 F/190 C and bake the loaf for 10 more minutes.
• Cool on a rack.