Bethesdabakers' Beer Bread

I did this a couple of years back on Dan's forum but it's a good one for special occasions. The idea is to create a unique loaf by making a starter from the dregs of a bottle of live beer (bottle conditioned), using the same beer as liquid in the dough, and presenting a bottle of the beer with the loaf to the person whose birthday it is.

In this case it was my new neighbour Ben's 30th birthday (don't you just love it when people get anxious about turning 30 I can't even remember my 30th).

I cut it a bit fine; his birthday was Sunday and I didn't mix the starter 'til Thursday morning. By Saturday morning it looked so inactive that I was prepared to cheat and I made a second starter using part beer and part regular starter but, come Sunday morning, they both looked identical so I stuck with the beer.

Take a bottle of bottle conditioned beer, in this case it was St Austell Brewery Clouded Yellow wheat beer. Gently decant most of it except for the cloudy bit at the bottom. Mix these dregs with a little flour to form a paste. I keep my starters at 100% hydration and I mixed it to roughly that consistency. When you can see evidence of fermentation treat it like a normal starter and refresh it morning and night until you are happy it is well active.

In the beer that was decanted off (+ as much additional water as is necessary) simmer 250g of grain. I used barley until tender. Refrigerate until you make the dough but bring back to room temperature before using. The evening before you make the dough, take another bottle of the same beer, bring to the boil and allow to cool. I'm using 500ml bottles here.