No-Knead Spent Grain Pizza Dough

My family always looks forward to homemade pizza night. It’s one of the ultimate comfort foods. There are many options available when choosing a dough to use for the pizza’s backbone. Many grocery stores and specialty markets stock frozen and fresh pizza dough as well as a myriad of gluten-free options. Making pizza dough at home is a great alternative to purchasing it. There’s not much that’s needed to make pizza dough beyond flour and yeast, and these ingredients are relatively inexpensive. I think the biggest barrier to entry is the kneading time, which for this recipe can be upwards of 10 minutes, whether performed by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. The long kneading time (this is the “mechanical action” step) is required to develop the proper consistency and elasticity that we’ve come to expect from pizza dough. I figured it would be more convenient to buy pre-made pizza dough until I stumbled across a wildly different and much faster way by employing a food processor to shorten total kneading time to about 2 minutes. 

At first, I was skeptical, but once I prepared this recipe for the first time I was hooked. This is the real deal! I like this dough a lot better than any other pizza dough I’ve bought from the store. I won’t get into the science at work here but there are definitely a few things that make this recipe work. After the first round in the food processor, the dough rests for 10 minutes. In that time the flour has ample time to hydrate and that’s important because water is the last key ingredient required for gluten-formation. The dough also proofs in the refrigerator — I recommend at least 24 hours and no more than 72. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to reach room temperature prior to shaping it — this allows the dough to “relax,” and it will then be easier to form. If you don’t use the dough after 72 hours of refrigeration, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze for use at another time. This dough can also be used to make killer focaccia too.

Ingredients

6.7 oz. (190 g) all-purpose flour
2.5 oz. (70 g) fresh spent grain (I recommend spent grain from a lighter beer)
2 tsp. canola oil
1 tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. active dry yeast
6 oz. (170 g) cold water
0.2 oz. (5 g) salt

Step by Step

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine flour, spent grain, oil, sugar, and yeast. Process these ingredients until combined, about 5–10 seconds. 

With the food processor running, slowly pour the water into the food processor through the feed tube. After the water has been added, continue to process the dough until everything is combined and there’s no dry flour remaining, about 45–60 seconds. Turn off the food processor and let the dough sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. 

After 10 minutes, sprinkle the salt on top of the dough and process for another 45–60 seconds or until the dough forms a satiny, sticky ball that no longer sticks to the sides of the food processor. 

Remove the dough and form it into a ball with your hands. Place the dough ball into a bowl that’s been lightly oiled. Make sure to very lightly coat the entire dough ball with oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Place bowl in the refrigerator for at minimum few hours, all the way up to three days.

To make the dough easier to shape, take the dough out of the fridge two hours prior to making pizza and allow it to warm to room temperature. 

After two hours, preheat oven to 500 °F (260 °C). Lightly flour your countertop and shape the dough to your liking. I prefer to form this dough on the thinner side to promote faster cooking time. Top your pizza as desired and cook about 10 minutes.

No-Bake Chocolate Protein Bars

As an active person with a reasonably fast metabolism, I find it hard to make it through the day without at least one snack between meals. I like the idea of protein bars, especially as a pre- or post-gym snack, but I’ve grown so tired of all the protein bars on the market that I can’t really bring myself to eat them. They either taste like chalk, are too hard or chewy, and contain more ingredients than they probably should, especially ones that I can’t pronounce. I started experimenting with homemade protein bars a few months ago and I can say that they are actually very easy to make as there’s no cooking involved, they require only one bowl, they don’t call for any fancy or obscure ingredients, and as a bonus, all of the ingredients are easy to pronounce and explain. 

The beauty of this recipe is its flexibility. For example, you could swap the chocolate protein powder for peanut butter protein powder, use peanut butter instead of almond butter, add in a ½ cup of sugar-free chocolate chips and omit the cocoa powder and you’ve got Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Protein Bars.

The recipe is also adaptable in that you can use whatever spent grain you have on hand or you can pair certain spent grain for certain protein bar combinations. For example, I like the spent grain from a darker brew in this recipe. If I was making the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Protein Bars, I might opt to use a lighter spent grain.

Ingredients

1¼ cup almond butter 
¾ cup fresh spent grain
¾ cup chocolate protein powder
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. Kosher salt

Step by Step

Place all ingredients into a large bowl and stir thoroughly to combine. Tip: If your almond butter is firm and not easy to stir, after portioning it out, place it in the microwave and heat it up in short bursts until it reaches a pourable consistency. This will make it much easier to mix everything together. With that said, the mixture will still be quite thick. 

Line an 8 x 8-inch (20 x 20-cm) Pyrex dish with parchment paper. Place the protein bar mixture into the lined Pyrex dish and evenly distribute it, packing it down as you work to ensure even thickness.

Freeze for 30 minutes until it solidifies, then take out and cut into 8-12 individual bars. 

These bars are best stored in the freezer and can be eaten right from the freezer too. 

Spent Grain Chocolate Brownies

This is my go-to recipe when I want a rich, chocolate, and immensely satisfying brownie. There is nothing fancy or revolutionary about this recipe save for the optional addition of ground espresso, which serves to intensify the chocolate flavor. I tend to prefer my brownies a bit on the gooey side so the 30-minute baking time in my oven is just enough time to yield slightly chewy edges without sacrificing a slightly molten brownie interior. Because of that, it is necessary to give the brownies ample cooling time to firm-up before slicing. The spent grain addition here works well, adding some texture and nuttiness to the finished brownies. Using spent grain from a darker brew, for example a stout or porter, will also turn up the roastiness and chocolate flavor in the brownies. 

Ingredients

½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup fresh spent grain
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. Kosher salt
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
2 tsp. ground espresso (optional)
¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar, divided 
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Step by Step

Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line a 9 x 9-inch (23 x 23-cm) baking dish with parchment paper and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, whisk to combine the all-purpose flour, spent grain, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, ground espresso (if using) and set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, oil, and 1/3 cup of sugar. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until butter is completely melted. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla and remaining 2/3 cup sugar. Whisk for 30 seconds until well combined 

Slowly pour the warm butter mixture into the egg mixture, adding it very gradually, whisking constantly until completely combined. 

Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips to this mixture, slowly stirring with a spatula until just combined. Stop stirring once last trace of dry ingredients are mixed in, as over-mixing will give you cakey brownies. 

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges are firm and the top is shiny and slightly cracked. If you prefer less-gooey and more-cooked brownies, add 5-7 minutes of baking time.

When done, place pan on a cooling rack. Allow brownies to cool completely before slicing. 

After slicing, the brownies can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature. They can also be frozen to be stored for longer periods. 

Honey Whole Wheat Spent Grain Bread

We eat a lot of sandwiches in our house, which means we purchase a lot of sandwich bread. Having such a steady supply of spent grain, I became curious about using it as an ingredient in homemade bread. Previously I had used flour milled from dried spent grain with good results so I shouldn’t have been surprised by the results of using fresh spent grain, which worked just as well in this recipe. Almost any variety of spent grain will work here — something amber or brown is perfectly suited to this recipe, but a darker brew’s spent grain works nicely, as does a lighter brew. 

The one noticeable difference when comparing this bread to a supermarket-sourced loaf is this recipe will stale much faster because it lacks the added enzymes and preservatives mass-produced breads contain. With this homemade loaf, I recommend slicing it when it is completely cool, then storing the slices in a sealable plastic bag at room temperature for a few days. Any bread left over after 3 days or so can be stored in the freezer so that it doesn’t stale any further.

Ingredients

2¼ tsp. active dry yeast 
1 cup warm water
1½ tsp. honey
2 cups fresh spent grain 
2½ cups whole wheat flour
1¼ cup bread flour
1¼ tsp. Kosher salt
2 Tbsp. melted butter, plus 1 Tbsp. butter for greasing the baking pan
2 Tbsp. honey
Non-stick cooking spray

Note

You may need to add some additional bread flour and/or water (more details below)

Step by Step

Add the yeast, warm water, and 1½ tsp. honey to the bowl of a stand mixer. Gently stir to combine the ingredients and allow mixture to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes or until it becomes frothy. If it doesn’t become frothy, then it is likely that the yeast used is too old and you will need to replace it with fresh yeast and start this step over again. 

Once the yeast is frothy, add the spent grain, whole wheat flour, bread flour, salt, melted butter, and 2 tablespoons honey to the bowl with the yeast mixture. Using a spatula, mix all the ingredients together until a very rough dough begins to form. Once the dough becomes difficult to mix further by hand, attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and knead the dough on slow speed until the dough forms
a ball. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium and let the mixer knead the dough for about 15 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. A few things to note here:  

The dough will be wet and sticky at the beginning of this process but will become smoother and drier as it kneads. 

If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl after a few minutes of kneading at medium speed, add a little more whole wheat flour to dry it out.

If the dough can be removed from the bowl without leaving any residue behind, then it is too dry and a little bit of water should be added.

Throughout the kneading process, you may need to stop the mixer and scrape the dough off the dough hook to encourage the dough to stay in the shape of a ball. 

Once the dough is smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky to the touch, take the dough ball out and fold it over itself to smooth it out further. Spray the mixing bowl lightly with non-stick cooking spray, return the dough ball to the bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave someplace relatively warm to allow it to proof for an hour. During this process the dough should roughly double in size.

While the dough is proofing, liberally butter a 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13-cm) baking pan and set aside for later.

Once the dough has doubled in size, lightly dust your workspace with flour and turn the proofed dough onto the floured surface. Lightly dust a rolling pin with flour and roll the dough out into a rectangular shape, trying to press out as much air from the dough as you can. The shorter side of the dough should be about 8 inches (20 cm).

Tightly roll the dough up following the short side (to keep the dough 8 inches/20 cm wide). Press the edges of the dough as you roll, keeping in mind that you want to try to remove air pockets, which will leave holes in the final product if left behind.

Once rolled, pinch the seams to seal the dough and then tuck the two sides of the loaf into the seam at the bottom. Place the loaf into the loaf pan seam-side down and press the dough into the pan so that it covers the entire bottom of the pan, ensuring that it is of even height.

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let it proof until the dough doubles in size. This should take 45–60 minutes. At the 30-minute mark, preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). 

As a further check if the dough has proofed enough, gently press the top of the dough with your finger to leave an indentation that is a little less than ¼-inch (0.5-cm) deep. If proofed properly, this indentation should remain, or only bounce back slightly. If it bounces back almost completely, then it’s under-proofed.

As soon as the dough has completed proofing, bake 40–45 minutes. If you have an instant-read digital thermometer, the internal temperature of the bread will read around 185-190 °F (85–88 °C) when done. Alternatively, if the bread sounds hollow when tapped on, it is done baking. 

Remove the pan from the oven and set it on top of a wire rack. After 10 minutes of cooling, remove the bread from the pan and set it down on a rack to cool further. Give it at least 30 minutes of cooling outside of the pan before slicing. 

Once completely cooled, the bread can be stored in the loaf pan at room temperature covered with plastic wrap. It can also be sliced and stored frozen to be used as needed – this is best practice for longer-term storage. 

Banana Nut Muffins

In my opinion, muffins are criminally underrated. I find them to be just indulgent enough to make me feel like I’m eating a dessert, but without the excess baggage that comes along with a decadent sugar-laden post-dinner treat. They also make great additions to any breakfast and can even be subbed in as an occasional snack. Muffins are also very easy to make and highly adaptable — one can put just about anything into a muffin and be almost guaranteed that it will be a hit — hello zucchini muffins!  

The only specialty equipment needed for this recipe is a 12-count muffin tin and 12 muffin cups. A muffin is more like a quick bread than a standard bread that requires yeast, kneading, and proofing, so the recipe can be made quickly. A muffin also doesn’t require a lot of gluten (we rarely think of muffins as being chewy); thus, it’s possible to replace more of the all-purpose flour in this recipe with spent grain. Fresh spent grain can be mixed into the muffin batter as is, without further processing. 

The biggest tip when making the muffin batter is to not overmix it. It’s OK if it’s lumpy and chunky. So long as there aren’t any visible traces of unincorporated dry ingredients, the batter is ready to portion out into cups and bake. Fresh, ripe (almost to the point of over-ripe) bananas work well in this recipe. Previously frozen and thawed bananas are also great. Just about any spent grain variety will work in this recipe – I try to match the color of the spent grain to the intended color of the finished muffins. My ideal spent grain choice is any spent grain used to produce an amber-colored beer. 

Completely cooled muffins will keep for a few days at room temperature if stored in a sealable container or plastic bag. Any longer than that and they can be stored in the freezer for up to three months. 

Given certain allergic sensitivities, the nuts can be omitted. 

Ingredients

¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup fresh spent grain 
1 tsp. baking powder
1  tsp. baking soda
1  tsp. ground cinnamon
½  tsp. salt
¼  tsp. ground nutmeg
3 ripe, medium-sized bananas
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1  tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. milk
1 cup chopped walnuts (or any nut of choice – pecans also work great here)

Step by Step

Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.

Whisk together the flour, spent grain, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. These are the dry ingredients. 

Mash the bananas in a separate large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, if using).

Add the melted butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk to the mashed bananas and mix well to combine. These are your wet ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until everything is just combined and there’s no more visible dry ingredients. Add the nuts and mix them in until they are just combined. Do not overmix here as this will adversely affect the texture of the muffins. 

Spoon the muffin batter into the 12 muffin tins and place immediately into the preheated oven.

Bake for 21-24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. 

Let the muffins cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Allow muffins to cool completely before packaging them away. They’ll stay fresh at room temperature for a few days so long as they are in a sealable container. For storage longer than a few days, place the muffins into a sealable container or freezer-proof-sealable-bag, and freeze. 

Cheese Curds

This is a hard cheese that needs no aging. It uses mesophilic culture. 

Ingredients

1 gallon (3.8 L) whole milk
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ tsp. calcium chloride
½ tablet rennet (available from cheesemaking retailers online)
Distilled water
1 Tbsp. non-iodized salt 

Step by Step

Sanitize all tools and equipment by boiling them in the upper kettle of your double boiler. Remove all tools and carefully pour the boiling water into the lower kettle. Place the upper kettle inside (or atop) the lower kettle and gently pour the milk into the sanitized upper kettle. Use the boiling water in the lower kettle of the double boiler to heat the milk to the
desired temperature. 

If you are using a sous vide precision cooker, use the sanitized kettle in the sous vide water bath to heat the milk to the desired temperature. 

Slowly heat milk to 90 °F (32 °C). If you are using a sous vide to heat the water bath, you may need to raise the temperature of the water a degree or two above the target temperature to heat the milk through the kettle. Always measure and monitor the temperature of the milk or curds. 

Add ¼ cup of buttermilk mixed in a cup of the milk and stir in an up-and-down motion for one or two minutes to incorporate the cultures into the milk. Allow the milk to ripen (acidify) for 45 minutes.

Dissolve the calcium chloride in ¼ cup of distilled water and stir into the milk in an up-and-down motion to fully incorporate this into the milk. Crush the half tablet of rennet, and dissolve in ¼ cup of distilled water. Stir the rennet into the milk, again in an up-and-down manner but for no more than 1 minute, as the rennet begins to work very quickly and stirring will prevent the milk from co-agulating properly. 

Allow the rennet to coagulate the milk for 45 minutes then check for what is called a “clean break.” A clean break happens when you insert a knife into what looks like the solid mass of milk that is beginning to move away from the sides of the pot. Turn the knife at right angles; if the space created by this cut holds its shape and does not fill up with milk, it’s a clean break. If the space begins to fill, wait another 10 minutes and check again. 

Cut the curds horizontally (as best you can) into ½-inch (1.3-cm) slices, then cut vertically so that the entire mass is now in ½-inch (1.3-cm) cubes. Allow the curds to heal for five minutes. The act of cutting the curds leaves them with “raw” surfaces. Letting the curds stand untouched for those minutes enables the proteins to bond together and to expel the whey in a more controlled manner. 

Over the next 30 minutes, raise the temperature from 90 °F (32 °C) to 102 °F (39 °C) as you gently stir the curds (you will be raising the temperature of the curds 1 °F in just over every two minutes, or 1 °C per four minutes). The increase in temperature and the stirring helps release more of the whey and the curds will noticeably shrink in size. 

Continue to cook the curds at 102 °F (39 °C) for another 30 minutes. 

At the end of the cooking time, gently transfer the curds into a cloth-lined colander and allow them to drain for 15–20 minutes. This can be done by gathering up the corners of the cloth and loosely tying them together using the fourth corner to tighten the bag that you have formed. Better draining can be achieved by tying the bag to a hook or handle so that the bag is suspended. The liquid being drained is called whey, and can be used for numerous things, including making whey wine (see the “Last Call” column on page 58 to learn more about this process).

After they have drained, break up the mass of curds into walnut-sized pieces and mix in a scant tablespoon of salt so that the salt is thoroughly mixed throughout. This salt will add flavor to the curds, further expel whey, and act as a preservative. 

Place the bag in your cheese press between the two boards, fill the gallon (3.8 L) milk container with water and place it atop the press, allowing the cheese to sit for three hours under this weight. After each hour, remove the cloth from around the cheese, gently turn the cheese so that the top is now the bottom, then rewrap the cloth around the cheese and continue to press the cheese under the weight of the water. 

After three hours, remove the cheese that should have formed a single block and cut it into 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes. 

If you weigh the cheese, you should find that you have made about 1–1.25 lbs. (0.45–0.57 kg) of cheese from a gallon (3.8 L) of milk and you will have produced about 7 pints of whey. 

Refrigerate the curds and you can enjoy this cheese the next day. 

Asiago Cheese

This Italian cheese benefits from being aged about four weeks for a milder cheese and several months for a stronger flavored and more firm cheese. Again, my recipes all use a single gallon of milk, so the amount of cheese I make from each batch is about one pound (0.45 kg). 

Ingredients

1 gallon (3.8 L) whole milk
¼ cup thermophilic culture (yogurt)
¼ tsp. calcium chloride
½ rennet tablet
18% brine solution

Step by Step

For this cheese you will need a mold to shape and hold the cheese. You can buy a mold online, but basically, what you need is a container with small holes on the sides and bottom to allow whey to exit from the cheese. You could make a reasonable mold from two large yogurt containers. Cover the first with small holes you pierced with an awl. The second container will act as a follower upon which you press to exert pressure on the cheese in the mold. I use an unopened can of vegetables that I place inside the follower so that any pressure acts on the can rather than the plastic container. 

Sanitize all tools and equipment. Heat the milk in the double boiler or sous vide water bath to 92 °F (33 °C). 

Whisk ¼ cup of live yogurt culture into a cup of this heated milk, and with an up-and-down motion, stir the culture into the cup so that it is thoroughly mixed. 

Pour this cup of milk and yogurt into the gallon (3.8 L) of milk and stir in an up-and-down motion for one to two minutes to thoroughly incorporate the yogurt culture into the milk. Allow the cultures to acidify the milk for 45 minutes. 

Dissolve ¼ tsp. of calcium chloride in ¼ cup of distilled water and using this same up-and-down motion, stir the calcium chloride into the milk.

Dissolve the ½ tablet of rennet in ¼ cup of distilled water and thoroughly mix the rennet into the milk, taking no more than a minute to stir the milk. Allow the rennet to set for 45 minutes and check for a clean break. If the break seems very loose, wait ten minutes and check again. 

As with the previous recipe, cut the curds horizontally and vertically into ½-inch (1.3-cm) cubes. Allow the curds to heal for five minutes. 

Stir gently and almost continuously over the next 20 minutes as you raise the temperature to 104 °F (40 °C). It is always important that any increase in temperature is done slowly. If you raise the temperature too quickly, the outside of the curds become more firm than the insides, which will tend to seal the curds and prevent any further expulsion of whey. 

At 104 °F (40 °C), stir every 4–5 minutes for the next 20 minutes to ensure that the curds do not mat together. While doing this, increase the temperature from 104 °F (40 °C) to 118 °F (48 °C). 

Carefully remove the whey above the curds and then gently pour the curds into a cloth-lined colander. Allow to drain for about 15 minutes. 

Gently fill the mold with the curds wrapped in the cloth, making certain that the cloth containing the cheese has as few wrinkles as possible. Cover the top of the mold with some of the cheesecloth before you place the follower over the cloth. 

Place the cheese-filled mold in the press, and place 12 lbs. (5.4 kg) of weight to the top board and press for an hour. After an hour, remove the cheese, undress it and upturn it, so the bottom is now the top. Re-dress the cheese with the cloth and press again for an hour, this time using 24 lbs. (10.9 kg). 

Remove the cheese, again undress it and turn the cheese upside down (this action ensures that the cheese is pressed equally on all sides). Return the dressed cheese to the mold before adding 48 lbs. (21.8 kg) of weight for 12 hours (or overnight). 

Remove the cheese from the press, remove the cheesecloth, and place it in the 18% brine solution for 8 hours, turning after 4 hours. If the top of the cheese is not below the surface of the brine, sprinkle enough non-iodized salt on the top surface of the cheese to ensure that it is covered in salt the entire time. 

After 8 hours of brining, remove the cheese and allow it to air dry at room temperature for 2–3 days until it feels as if it is almost dry. A good technique is to place the cheese on a sushi or bamboo mat seated on a baking rack. 

Turn the cheese two or three times a day to allow every surface to be exposed to the air. This cheese should be aged for three or four weeks in a cheese fridge. For humidity, you can simply seal the cheese in an airtight container, which you turn upside down daily to ensure that any whey that is expelled is being expelled from both the top and bottom and not just from the bottom. 

When aging a cheese, we need to watch that no unwanted molds grow on the rind, so when you turn this cheese check to see that the rind is mold-free. If you see mold, simply soak a paper towel in white vinegar or the brine solution and wipe the rind to remove the mold. Note, any wrinkles in the cloth while pressing will have created indentations in the rind, and those indentations will harbor mold, so the smoother the surface of the cheese, the less the likelihood of mold growth. 

One effective way to inhibit mold growth is to wax the cheese after it has air dried. Before waxing, be sure that the cheese is mold-free, so best practice is to wash every surface with vinegar or brine. 

Cheese wax is usually beeswax and not paraffin wax, so it is not inexpensive, but the wax can be reused numerous times. When melting wax, it is always advisable to use a double boiler to prevent overheating the wax, which is flammable. You can apply the melted wax using a brush or by simply dipping the cheese into the wax and allowing the wax to harden before turning the cheese and re-dipping. 

Most cheesemakers tend to apply three layers of wax to be certain that the entire wheel of cheese is completely covered with wax. As with everything in life, there is no free lunch, and the downside of waxing a cheese is that the cheese will not form a natural rind. That is a cost I will happily bear to avoid the presence of molds on a rind that may mean a cheese I had been aging for months might be more fit for the compost pile rather than the table. 

Caerphilly 

This is a kind of Cheddar popularized by Welsh coal miners in the 19th and 20th centuries. Cheddaring refers to the use of the curds themselves as the weight used to expel whey. In true cheddaring, the slabs of curd are kept warm. The weight and heat of the slabs of curds force the whey to be expelled. 

Ingredients

1 gallon (3.8 L) whole milk
¼ tsp. calcium chloride
¼ cup buttermilk
½ tablet rennet
3 Tbsp. salt

Step by Step

Heat the milk to 90 °F (32 °C) and thoroughly mix in buttermilk using an up-and-down motion to ensure the culture is fully inoculating the milk. Allow the milk to acidify for 30 minutes. 

Dissolve ¼ tsp. calcium chloride in ¼ cup distilled water and mix thoroughly into the milk for a minute or two. Dissolve ½ tablet of rennet in ¼ cup distilled water and mix thoroughly into the milk stirring for no more than 1 minute. Allow rennet to set for 40 minutes. 

Check for a clean break. If the curds seem too soft, wait another 10 minutes and check again. When there is a clean break, cut curds both horizontally and vertically into ½-inch (1.3-cm) cubes. Allow these cubes to heal for
10 minutes. 

Increase the temperature very slowly over 40 minutes to 95 °F (35 °C) — 1 °F every eight minutes/1 °C every 14 minutes), while stirring continuously. Allow the curds to settle for five minutes.

Carefully and gently pour curds and whey into a cloth-lined colander. Allow the curds to drain for 5 minutes into a kettle kept at 95 °F (35 °C). The curds will form a slab. 

Cut this slab into two pieces and place one piece atop the other in the cloth-lined colander. Place a clean towel over the colander to help preserve the heat and allow the slabs to cheddar for 30 minutes, restacking and replacing the top slab with the bottom one every 10 minutes. 

Break up the curds into thumbnail-sized pieces (this is called milling the cheese) and mix in 1 Tbsp. of non-iodized salt. 

Line a cheese mold with cheesecloth and fill mold with the milled curds. Press for 10 minutes under 10 lbs. (4.5 kg) of weight. 

Undress the cheese and gently rub non-iodized salt on the top, bottom, and around the sides. This may take 1 Tbsp. or more of salt. 

Turn the cheese upside down on the cloth and reinsert it in the mold, applying the same 10 lbs. (4.5 kg) of weight for another 10 minutes. 

Undress cheese and resalt a second time. Upturn the cheese on the cloth, replace it in the mold and press it for 20 minutes under 22 lbs. (10 kg) of weight. 

Undress, salt a third time, upturn, redress, and press beneath 22 lbs. (10 kg) overnight. 

In the morning, remove the cheese from the press and immerse in 18% brine solution for an hour, turning after 30 minutes. If the cheese floats so high in the brine that the top is not submerged, gently cover the top with a thin layer of non-iodized salt.  

Remove the cheese from the brine and allow to air dry for two or three days on a bamboo mat placed on top of a baking rack, turning the cheese two or three times a day to ensure every surface is exposed to the air

Place in a cheese cave (55 °F/13 °C) at about 85 percent relative humidity for three weeks, upturning the cheese once a day. Humidity controllers are more complex, but as I suggested earlier, you can seal the cheese in a plastic or glass food-safe unit and because of the whey the cheese is expelling, the cheese will create a suitably humid environment. 

Alternatively, you can wax the cheese, removing the need to monitor humidity as the cheese is for all intents and purposes sealed in an anaerobic environment. 

Caerphilly can be enjoyed after 3–4 weeks of aging, or longer if you prefer a stronger tasting cheese. 

Extract-Only Recipe

Ingredients

• 6 oz. (175 mL) vodka
• 3 oz. (85 g) cacao nibs (roasted or raw) 

Step-by-Step

1. Mix the vodka and cacao nibs in a tight sealing jar like a jelly jar or mason jar. Shake every day, several times, for 4 days. 
2. Strain the nibs out of the dark extract. Discard.
3. Place the extract in the freezer overnight.
4. In the morning, carefully scrape out the fat cap of cocoa butter and discard. Remove any remaining bits and then store the extract for up to a year.

Cranberry Orange Ginger Shandy

Makes ~8 cocktails

Let’s kick off this loose holiday-themed menu with a beer cocktail. Hopefully you aren’t all cranberried-out after Thanksgiving because we’re going to use them to make a slightly tart, vibrant simple syrup that will give this cocktail a healthy dose of seasonal cheer. The cranberry/orange/ginger combination plays perfectly with a hefeweizen/wheat beer, especially one that swings more towards the fruity, as opposed to the banana/clove side, though that will work as well. 

Ingredients

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1⁄4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
Peel of one orange (no pith)
Pinch of salt
16 oz. (475 mL) ginger beer
(6) 12-oz. (355-mL) hefeweizen or wheat beers
Ice cubes

Syrup-making directions (pre-make this)

The bulk of the prep here is in making the cranberry orange simple syrup, which can easily be made a day in advance. Combine all ingredients (except for the ginger beer, hefeweizen, and ice cubes) in a medium saucepan. Stir ingredients well, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Place a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the cooked mixture through it. Discard the solids and transfer the syrup to an airtight container. Cool the mixture for at least three hours, or even overnight, before use.

Final drink assembly

Ensure all components (both beers and the cranberry orange syrup) are cold. Fill a pint glass with ice and add 2 oz. (60 mL) ginger beer and 2 tablespoons cranberry orange syrup to the glass. Fill the remainder of the glass with your hefeweizen or other wheat beer. Stir everything well to combine.

When the bubbles subside, fill to the top with additional wheat beer and enjoy.

Note

This recipe will yield about a cup’s worth of simple syrup. If stored in an airtight container and kept refrigerated, it will keep for a few weeks and can be used as a flavoring for other cocktails and mocktails, and is also great served over vanilla ice cream or pancakes. 

Kentucky Beer Cheese

Makes 2 cups

If you’re anything like me, you’ll want something to munch on while indulging in pre-dinner festivities and I’ve got something that’ll go perfectly with the Cranberry Orange Ginger Shandys — Kentucky Beer Cheese. It’s reminiscent of a Pimento cheese spread, just with a slightly different ingredient list and one key addition — beer! Beer cheese, which as the name suggests was popularized in Kentucky, is salty and savory, great for dipping crunchy things like pretzel sticks, hearty crackers, veggie slices, or even thick-cut salami pieces; however, I must warn you, it’s quite addictive. Like the cranberry orange simple syrup, it’s got a relatively short list of ingredients and can also be made a day or two in advance. I recommend using a food processor here to do the dirty work. In lieu of that, a blender will suffice. 

Ingredients

8 oz. (225 g) extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cut into roughly 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes, at room temperature
2 oz. (56 g) cream cheese (full-fat), at room temperature
1 oz. (28 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1⁄4 cup white or yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1⁄8 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
4 oz. (118 mL) of a “full-flavored” beer (think brown ale, porter, etc.) at room temperature
Salt, to taste

Directions

Put the cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and butter into a food processor or blender and mix until combined — about 60 to 90 seconds. Add onion, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and cayenne pepper to the cheese and butter mix. Process until combined, about another 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl if needed. Omit the cayenne pepper if a little heat is not your thing. While the food processor is running, slowly add the beer and process until the mixture is completely smooth and there’s no visible beer remaining. This should take 30 to 60 seconds. Season with salt.

This can be served immediately or prepared a day or two in advance. Prior to serving, let the dip come up to room temperature to bring out its flavor and make it easier to spread. Serve in a bowl alongside your favorite accompaniments, such as pretzel sticks, crackers, assorted veggies, and hard salami.

Short Ribs

Makes 4 servings

To me, there are few things more satisfying on a cold and dark winter’s evening than short ribs. Hearty and full of flavor, short ribs are a cut that require a long and slow cooking time to fully cook and tenderize the meat. This is best done using a heavy Dutch oven (with a lid) placed in an oven at a relatively low temperature. I prefer to use bone-in short ribs here as I believe that adds some extra flavor to the finished dish. Don’t skip the step of browning the short ribs either as that will also add a real depth of flavor to the dish. The finished dish will be reminiscent of beef stew but so much more luxurious. 

Ingredients

4 lbs. (1.8 kg) bone-in short ribs (boneless will also work if preferred)
2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 medium onions, diced finely
4 carrots, diced finely
4 celery ribs, diced finely
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 cups beef stock, low- or no-sodium
12–16 oz. (350–475 mL) beer (Anything dark or malty and not super hoppy works well here. I’m particularly fond of a Mexican dark lager in this dish.)
4 whole bay leaves
Kosher salt, to taste

Directions

Season the short ribs liberally with Kosher salt on all sides. Heat up a Dutch oven or heavy-bottom pot over medium-low heat. Add the oil to pan and then slowly brown the short ribs on all sides. Keep a close eye on your stove as you want the meat to brown evenly without burning. You also may need to do this over a few batches to not crowd the short ribs in the pan as that will impede browning. Once the meat has finished browning, set it aside for later.

Pour off a little of the excess fat and oil, then add the onions to the pot. Stir well, making sure to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook about 10 minutes until the onions start to appear translucent and take on a slight brown color. Add the carrots and celery to the onions and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the crushed garlic, stir, and cook 3 minutes.

At this point, preheat your oven to 250 °F (121 °C). 

Add the tomato paste to the vegetables and stir thoroughly to combine. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently so the tomato paste doesn’t burn. Add the beef stock and stir to combine, once again scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Add the beer and bay leaves and stir to combine. Then place the short ribs and any meat juice that has collected into the pot. Bring the contents of the pot up to a simmer, then cover with a piece of aluminum foil, pressing it down onto the surface of the meat and liquid. 

Cover the pot with a lid and place it into the preheated oven. Cook the short ribs covered in the oven until they are tender — about 4 hours or so. 

Remove the short ribs from the pot and place them into a container or bowl and cover. Place the pot onto a burner set to medium-high. Reduce the liquid volume in the pot by about a third to thicken and concentrate its flavor, then remove the bay leaves. 

Once reduced to a volume you are happy with, season with salt to taste. Set the heat to low and place the short ribs back into the pot, turning them to cover them with sauce. Cover and keep warm until you’re ready to serve. 

These pair well with mashed or roasted potatoes, grits, wild rice, or polenta. 

Roasted Beer and Bacon

Makes 4 servings

Brussels sprouts used to have a bad reputation. I think that’s before people realized that rather than boiling the heck out of them and serving them when they are all bland and mushy, that they can be roasted until brown and crispy in an oven. The beer will add a slight amount of bitterness and brightness to the Brussels sprouts, which I find helps to round out their flavor nicely. 

Ingredients

8 oz. (235 mL) beer (pale ale or IPA works well here)
1⁄4 cup beef or chicken stock
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 lbs. (0.9 kg) Brussels sprouts, root-end trimmed, quartered or halved depending on size
2 shallots, peeled, halved, and sliced thinly
4 slices of bacon, preferably thick-cut
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Add the beer, stock, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt to a small saucepan. Stir well and cook over medium heat until the mixture reduces to about 3 Tbsp. in volume. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. 

At this point, preheat the oven to 425 °F (218 °C). 

Line a baking sheet or cookie pan with aluminum foil and set aside.

Trim off the bottom of the Brussels sprouts. Depending on the size of your Brussels sprouts, you’ll either want to halve or quarter them. Place the cut Brussels sprouts into a large bowl.

Cook the bacon in a sauté pan over medium-low heat until rendered and crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan, roughly chop it into bits, then add it to the bowl with the Brussels sprouts. Pour the rendered bacon fat over the Brussels sprouts. 

Peel, halve, and thinly slice the shallots. Add them to the bowl with the Brussels sprouts along with the olive oil and reduced beer mixture, and toss well to combine. Pour out onto the prepared baking sheet and spread into an even layer.

Bake 25–30 minutes, until the Brussels sprouts are tender and brown in color. Increase the heat to 450 °F (232 °C) and further cook the Brussels sprouts until crispy. This will happen quickly so keep a close eye on the sprouts. 

Once browned to your liking, remove the Brussels sprouts from the oven and serve immediately.

Stout Gingerbread Cookies

Makes ~28 cookies

Gingerbread cookies are not only seasonally appropriate, they’re also quite a tasty dessert to cap off this meal. I’ve got a way that you can really level up the flavor of these holiday stalwarts — naturally, by adding beer to the dough! But not just any beer — you’re going to want to break out the heavy hitter here by grabbing one of your favorite full-bodied stouts. Any stout. A flavor-packed pastry stout, a nice dry Irish stout, a huge Russian imperial stout. Any of these will nicely complement the molasses and spices and will help provide these cookies with another flavor dimension that will make you ask why you haven’t been adding beer to your cookies all along. To further intensify the beer flavor, I like to reduce the beer before using it in the cookie dough. 

Ingredients

6 oz. (175 mL) stout beer
275 g (13⁄4 cups) all-purpose flour
155 grams (1 cup) whole wheat flour
11⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1⁄4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1⁄4 tsp. salt
1⁄8 tsp. ground cloves
1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 large egg, room temperature
1⁄3 cup molasses

Directions

The first step here is to reduce the beer by about 2⁄3 of its volume. You’ll want to do this an hour or so in advance to allow the beer time to cool before adding it to the cookie dough mixture. Pour the beer into a small pot, turn the heat up to medium-high and cook until it has reduced to about 1⁄4 cup (2 oz./60 mL). Once it has reached that volume, turn off the heat and set aside for later.

In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flours, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. Set this aside for later.

Add butter, brown sugar, and a 1⁄4 cup of granulated sugar to a stand-mixer bowl and beat on high speed with the paddle attachment for about 60 seconds until the mixture is light brown in color and has a smooth texture. In lieu of a stand-mixer, you can use a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer. 

Reduce mixer speed to medium, add the egg, and mix for about 30 seconds until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Repeat this same procedure with the molasses, then the reduced and cooled stout beer. 

Add the mixed dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix at low speed just until everything is combined and there are no streaks of flour remaining. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.

After 60 minutes, pre-heat oven to 325 °F (163 °C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Take the 1⁄4 cup of granulated sugar and pour it into a small bowl. Using your hands, form dough roughly into the size and shape of a golf-ball. Once formed, roll each cookie dough ball into the sugar, then place onto the prepared baking sheet. Press the dough balls gently with the palm of your hand — this will help to ensure even cooking. Don’t crowd the cookies onto the pan as they will spread out some while cooking — keep about 2 inches (5 cm) of space between each cookie dough ball.

Bake at 325 °F (163 °C) for roughly 12 minutes, rotating and switching the pans halfway through.

Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer the cookies to a wire rack to allow them to cool. Repeat with remaining dough, sugar, and prepared pans.

Let cool at least 10 minutes before eating. Any extra cookies, once they’ve completely cooled, can be placed into a plastic freezer bag and stored in your freezer to be enjoyed at a later date. 

Spent Grain Granola

This was the very first recipe I made using spent grain. I make this one frequently and because this recipe is quite flexible, I sometimes vary the ingredients based on what I have on hand in my pantry. The variety of nuts and dried fruit can change from batch-to-batch. You can also add in a ½ cup of whatever seeds (pumpkin or sunflower work well) you have on hand but this is totally optional. I like my granola loose as opposed to packed-tightly into bars or clusters but you could certainly apply some pressure to the granola mix while it’s on the sheet tray before baking to promote the formation of clusters. The spent grain used for this recipe doesn’t even need to be milled, you can use it whole.

Ingredients

1 1⁄2 cups spent grain, dried and un-milled (I recommend using spent grain from a lighter beer that doesn’t contain roasted malt)
1 1⁄2 cups rolled oats
1 cup roughly chopped unroasted nuts (I use almonds, pecans, and walnuts)
1 cup coconut flakes, preferably unsweetened
1⁄2 cup roughly chopped dried fruit (I use dried cranberries)
1⁄2 cup olive oil
2⁄3 cup maple syrup
1⁄3 cup brown sugar
1⁄2 tsp. Kosher salt
1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon
1⁄4 tsp. ground cloves
1⁄4 tsp. garam masala (optional) 
Pinch of ground nutmeg

Step by step

Preheat oven to 300 °F (150 °C). In a large bowl, using a large spoon, spatula, or your hands, thoroughly combine all of the above ingredients.

Spread the mixture evenly on a half-sheet tray or similar sized sheet. I recommend using something with a lip or edge. 

Bake for roughly 50 minutes until the nuts and coconut turn golden-brown in color. Be sure to stir the mixture every 5–10 minutes. Let cool and package in an airtight container or plastic food-storage bag.

Spent Grain Pancakes

Homemade pancakes are so easy to make you’ll never buy another pre-packaged mix again. This is another recipe, like Spent Grain Granola, where I find that a lighter spent grain mix works best. With a third of its grain bill being flaked maize, I like using the spent grain from my Mexican lager for pancakes. You can even replace the flour entirely in this recipe, swapping it out with 1 cup of cornmeal to make Johnny cakes. The great thing with this recipe is that it offers lots of flexibility to suit your taste. You can use 1 cup of all-purpose flour and add in a ½ cup of mini chocolate chips. Use 1 cup of whole wheat flour and add in a ½ cup chopped walnuts and a ½ cup mashed bananas to make super-flavorful banana nut pancakes. Fruit additions also work nicely here as well. 

Ingredients

1 cup spent grain, dried and milled finely (I recommend using spent grain from a lighter beer that doesn’t contain roasted malt)
1 cup all-purpose flour, or 1 cup of whole wheat flour, or a 50/50 mix of each 
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt 
2 eggs
2 cups milk (you may need up to an additional 1⁄2 cup depending on how thick your batter is)
2 Tbsp. melted butter plus additional butter for cooking
2 Tbsp. honey

Optional add-ins

1⁄2 cup of chopped walnuts, or 1⁄2  cup mini chocolate chips, or 1⁄2  cup fruit (blueberries, strawberries or mashed bananas)

Step by step

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (spent grain, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt).  

In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (eggs, milk, melted butter, and honey).

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix to combine. It’s fine if there are some lumps in the batter. If the batter seems to be too thick, add a little more milk and stir it in. You want the batter to have the consistency of marinara or tomato sauce — not too runny so that the pancakes spread too thin when the batter hits the pan but not too thick that the batter is hard to pour. 

Add 2 tsp. of butter to the pre-heated skillet and let it melt, swirling the pan to cover it with the butter. I like to make small sized pancakes that require about 3 tablespoons of batter. I find I need about 2–3 minutes per side to get them nice and brown but not too dark. Keep an eye on your pan too and turn down the heat if the pancakes are cooking too quickly. Everyone’s stovetop heats differently so you might need to cook a few test pancakes before you determine your timing.

Serve immediately or hold in a 200 °F (95 °C) oven for up to 10–15 minutes. Cooked and cooled pancakes freeze well and can easily be thawed in a microwave.

Spent Grain Banana Bread

Banana bread is a classic example of a quick bread — a bread that uses baking soda and/or baking powder as leavening agents instead of yeast. Quick breads are generally easy to prepare in that they don’t require kneading or resting. Sometimes you can even prepare all of your ingredients in one bowl. I think they make good candidates for swapping out flour with spent grain because the finished product doesn’t have the same type of structure and elasticity that you’d find in a more traditional yeast-leavened bread, like a baguette or French bread. The quick bread just needs enough structure so that it can hold itself together and not collapse and it won’t matter if you replace some of the flour with something containing less gluten. For this recipe, I think you can get away with using spent grain from just about any type of beer you brew, with the darker the beer grains used, the more flavor that the spent grain will lend to your finished banana bread.  

Ingredients

2 very ripe bananas, mashed 
1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3⁄4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of ground allspice
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1⁄4 teaspoon Kosher salt
3⁄4 cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour
3⁄4 cup spent grain, dried and milled finely (almost any variety of spent grain will work here)

Step by step

Preheat your oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Using butter or non-stick cooking spray, grease a 9- by 5-inch (23- x 13-cm) loaf pan and set aside. 

In a large bowl, mash the bananas until they start to form a smooth paste. Add in all the other ingredients except the flour and spent grain and mix to combine. Add the flour and milled spent grains and combine until you see no unmixed flour. Pour this batter into your greased loaf pan and put in the oven.

Bake for 40–50 minutes until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the banana bread comes out clean. Cool on a rack and remove from the pan prior to slicing.

Spent Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It produces cookies that are loaded with chocolate chips and are more chewy and chunky rather than flat and crispy, especially when you let the cookie dough chill in the refrigerator before baking. The spent grain addition here works well, adding some texture and nuttiness to the finished cookies. Using spent grain from a darker brew, for example a stout or porter, will really amp up the roastiness in the cookies and would even work well for a chocolate chocolate chip variation.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup spent grain, dried and milled finely (almost any variety of spent grain will work here)
1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1⁄2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 cup (8 oz.) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
12 oz. chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet but any variety will work)

Step by step

If you plan to bake the cookies immediately, preheat your oven to 325 °F (163 °C). I prefer to let the cookie dough chill for 2–3 hours before baking as this helps prevent the cookies from spreading out too much when they bake. (See my note later on dough-chilling.)

Line a cookie sheet or sheet tray with parchment paper or grease with butter or non-stick cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, whisk to combine the all-purpose flour, spent grain flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside

In another large bowl, add the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar and beat/mix until smooth (about three minutes if using a stand mixer set to medium speed). Beat/mix in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla for another 2–3 minutes until the mixture is a light sand color and is very smooth and creamy. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until everything is just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. 

If baking immediately, you can place the cookie dough right onto the prepared sheet trays for baking. Size is up to you — use about 2 Tbsp. of dough for smaller cookies, or up to 1⁄3 of a cup for larger cookies.

Baking time will also depend on cookie size. Smaller cookies will take roughly 10 minutes to cook while larger cookies will take 12–14 minutes to cook. Halfway through cooking, rotate your cookie tray in the oven.

You’ll see the edges of the cookies start to turn brown — that’s a good indication of cookie doneness. When the cookies are done, pull the sheet tray out of the oven and let the cookies rest on it before transferring to a wire rack or a cool sheet tray to cool. 

Optional

Dough chilling is not mandatory but I find that when I skip this step, the cookies spread out too much for my taste during baking. To prevent that, this newly formed cookie dough should chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours prior to baking. After adding in the chocolate chips, I take the dough out of the bowl and form it into logs roughly a foot (32 cm) long and about the diameter of a beer bottle. Wrap the cookie dough logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready to use. When it comes time to bake the cookies, I cut off sections of cookie dough roughly 1–1 1⁄2 inches (2.5–4 cm) thick.

Spent Grain Soda Bread

Like the Spent Grain Banana Bread, this is another type of quick bread however this one is a bit more reminiscent of a traditional bread. Like the banana bread recipe, it doesn’t rely on yeast for leavening, rather, the acid in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda, which enables the bread to rise while it bakes. This recipe can mostly be prepared in a single bowl up to a certain point, then you’ll need to get your hands a bit dirty as you knead the dough to help it come together. Make sure that you’ve got a clean surface to work on before that step. You can bake the formed dough on a baking pan or sheet tray that’s been lined with parchment paper, or directly in a cast-iron skillet in the oven, which is my method of choice. The finished bread will develop a nice sturdy crust while baking and will be quite dense but the inside will be soft like other quick breads.

Ingredients

2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour, plus a little extra for your countertop
2 1⁄4 cups spent grain, dried and milled finely (almost any variety of spent grain will work here but I like to use something from a darker brew, like an oatmeal stout)
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. baking soda
6 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into 1⁄2-inch (1-cm) cubes
1 3⁄4 cups buttermilk*
1 egg

* If you don’t have buttermilk, you can quickly make your own using any kind of dairy milk and white vinegar. Simply add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar for every 1 cup of milk. Mix together and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Stir again and it’s ready to be used in place of buttermilk.

Step by step

Preheat oven to 400 °F (205 °C). Place a sheet of parchment paper onto a baking pan or tray (if using that). If using a cast iron skillet, make sure it’s well-seasoned/lightly oiled.

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the all-purpose and spent grain flours, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

Add the butter to the dry ingredients and using your hands, work the butter into the flour mix until it is the size of very tiny pebbles. Think of a green pea, but half that size. 

In a separate small bowl, mix together the buttermilk and egg, then add to the dry ingredients.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients as best as you can — I find it best to use a wooden spoon here — until the mixture becomes too hard to stir. The dough will be very sticky and tacky and will appear to not be fully mixed. Pour it out onto a floured countertop and knead with your hands until you can form it into the rough shape of a ball. You might need to add a little more flour while kneading to get the dough to come together without it being too tacky to the touch. 

Transfer the dough ball to the prepared baking pan or cast-iron skillet. Using a sharp knife, score the top with a “X” shape about a 1⁄2-inch (1-cm) deep. Bake for about 45 minutes until the surface becomes very crusty. The best way to determine doneness is to use an insta-read thermometer – insert it right into the center of the “X” and when it reads 185 °F (85 °C), the bread is done baking. 

Remove the bread from the pan/skillet and let it cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing into it.

Sauerkraut

Ingredients

1 medium cabbage (about 21⁄2 lbs./1.1 kg)
1.5–2 tsp. salt per lb. (0.45 kg) of cabbage

Step by step

As with any ferment, the better the ingredients, the better the end result will be. Sauerkraut, however, is a little more forgiving than some others. Sauerkraut (and other similar cabbage ferments), are one of the most common fermented foods on the planet for a variety of reasons. Cabbage is cheap, ubiquitous, and hardy. Sauerkraut is versatile and can be adapted to utilize a variety of ingredients that you may have on hand and wish to use up. It’s also more forgiving, since even winter cabbage from the grocery store can still be transformed into a respectable sauerkraut. Just about any variety of cabbage can make for a good kraut — red cabbage kraut is especially tasty. Small amounts of other veggies, like carrots or jalapeños, make for a nice twist, as do spices like caraway or rosemary.

While kraut is more forgiving once fermentation is underway, the preparation stage demands a bit more grunt work than other ferments. Like other veggie ferments, sauerkraut needs an anaerobic environment. But kraut is generally made without adding brine, as cabbage itself already contains plenty of water. During the preparation stage you’ll have to get rough with it. A good kraut requires aggression, and you’ll need to really work to pack it all into the jar. The harder you pack, the more liquid will be released, and you’ll have to compel the cabbage to release enough of its water to form a brine that covers the top of the veggies.

First, remove the outer leaves of your cabbage as well as any that are damaged. Cut the cabbage into quarters and remove the solid core. Rinse the cabbage well with cold water, allowing the water to flow between the cabbage leaves. This will remove any dirt and bugs that may be along for the ride, but will not affect the microbes that you’ll need for fermentation. Set one broad, thicker outer leaf to the side. Shred the remaining cabbage with a knife or food processor. The chopped bits have to be fine enough that the whole jar of kraut can be packed down relatively densely, but before you transfer to a jar, place the cabbage in a large bowl. Sprinkle the calculated amount of salt over the cabbage, then toss well. Allow the cabbage and salt mixture to rest about 15–30 minutes so the salt can be absorbed.

After about half an hour, the cabbage should have released a good bit of its moisture. After this, pack the cabbage into a clean glass quart jar. Pour any liquid left in the bowl into the jar — although this likely won’t be enough to cover the cabbage just yet. Keep packing the cabbage down until enough juice has been released to submerge the vegetables almost all the way. You should be able to get close, though some may struggle to get all the way to complete submersion. If needed, top off with a 2% solution of salt water (1 teaspoon salt per cup of water). If using a weight system to keep the veggies under the brine, take the reserved cabbage leaf and cut or fold it so that it covers the rest of the cabbage at the top of the jar. This extra leaf can be held under a weight to create an additional buffer between the veggies and any attacking mold. Allow the sauerkraut to ferment for 1–4 weeks until it reaches the sourness you desire, and then store cold.

Fermented Hot Sauce 

Ingredients

3.2 oz. (90 g) chili peppers 
1⁄2 Tbsp. sea salt
1⁄2 Tbsp. honey
Splash of apple cider vinegar

Step by step

While most hot sauces sitting on grocery store shelves these days are vinegar-based, fermented hot sauces are actually a lot more common than you may think. Fermented condiments in general have been around for a very long time, probably as long as any fermented food. Even today, a few popular brands like Tabasco and styles like sriracha are still made using fermentation, rather than vinegar. While vinegar hot sauces can be bright and punchy, fermented hot sauces unsurprisingly tend to play up the funk and complexity.

Fermented hot sauce may be my favorite ferment to make at home, simply because of how versatile and forgiving it is. Both managing fermentation and winging a recipe on the fly are simple tasks, and the resulting flavors can be unlike anything you’ll find in the average store. Even better, fermented hot sauce lasts a long, long time — I’ve had half-empty bottles that stayed vibrant and flavorful for years. 

The recipe given here is bare bones, because as with most fermented foods, you can modify the recipe to push it in just about any direction you want. For a first attempt, however, I recommend a mix of habanero and serrano peppers. Not only are these readily available in almost all grocery stores, they’re easy to find fresh at farmers markets, and make for a hot sauce with good flavor and a moderate but manageable heat level. With any hot sauce, the heat can always be dialed down by blending in a bit of bell pepper (use whatever type of bell pepper best matches the color of the rest of your peppers). Peppers, like hops, are a lot of fun to mix and match, and testing out an obscure rare pepper variety on its own in a hot sauce can be every bit as satisfying as a single-hop IPA. 

As for the process, I like to keep things simple. Blend the peppers, salt, and honey until they are the consistency of salsa, then pour into your fermentation vessel. Top off with a splash of apple cider vinegar so that the liquid level is above the solid veggies. Allow two weeks to ferment, then blend again, to create a finer, more sauce-like consistency. Additional vinegar or salt brine can be added if the hot sauce is still too thick. A dash of extra salt can also ensure that the hot sauce keeps for a long time. At this point, you can pour the sauce back into the same vessel, or you can even transfer to hot sauce bottles at this stage. While the hot sauce should now be ready to consume, I usually prefer to age my hot sauces at room temperature for several months before I begin to use them. The flavor will continue to develop, and the heat mellows and integrates with the flavor of the sauce over time. For the first month of aging, however, be sure not to tighten the lid of the jar or bottles all the way. More CO₂ will be released as the ferment continues to condition. 

Fermented French Fries

Ingredients

2 medium / large potatoes
Salt (2% brine)

Step by step

While fermenting potatoes and then later cooking them as French fries might seem like a slightly paradoxical way to enjoy a fermented food, I’ve always enjoyed the concept of this recipe as much for what it conveys as well as for how it tastes. Fermentation is useful for preservation, of course. But less frequently discussed is the fact that fermentation also breaks down complex sugars and starches and generally makes foods easier for our bodies to process. Probiotics get all the mainstream buzz, but fermentation also makes foods healthier by unlocking nutrients that our own bodies wouldn’t have access to on their own. Many such foods, like beans and starchy vegetables, don’t require a full fermentation. Usually a day or two of brining is sufficient to begin the breakdown.

French fries made from fermented potatoes are not only easier to digest, but more flavorful as well. Fermentation adds a tangy dimension that really complements the saltiness of French fries, creating a flavor dynamic similar to salt and vinegar chips. The longer you ferment the funkier the fries will be, of course, but I usually prefer to toss these in the oven after two or three days of fermentation.

The process is quite simple: Wash the potatoes with cold water to remove any dirt, then cut them up into French fry style wedges. How thick you cut the wedges is entirely up to you. Pack the potato wedges into a jar and fill with a 2% salt water brine (1 teaspoon salt per cup of water). Allow to ferment for two or three days, then remove the potatoes from the brine and give them an hour or so to air dry. After this, you can bake or fry them as you would any other French fry, though they may need less time cooking than normal fries. Keep in mind that fermented French fries have already been salted, so you will likely want to hold off on adding any more salt until after you’ve cooked and tasted them. Additional spices can be added either during the fermentation process, or upon serving. 

And, as pictured above, this same recipe works great for sweet potato fries as well! 

Recipe

Ingredients

2 medium / large potatoes
Salt (2% brine)

Step by Step

While fermenting potatoes and then later cooking them as French fries might seem like a slightly paradoxical way to enjoy a fermented food, I’ve always enjoyed the concept of this recipe as much for what it conveys as well as for how it tastes. Fermentation is useful for preservation, of course. But less frequently discussed is the fact that fermentation also breaks down complex sugars and starches and generally makes foods easier for our bodies to process. Probiotics get all the mainstream buzz, but fermentation also makes foods healthier by unlocking nutrients that our own bodies wouldn’t have access to on their own. Many such foods, like beans and starchy vegetables, don’t require a full fermentation. Usually a day or two of brining is sufficient to begin the breakdown.

French fries made from fermented potatoes are not only easier to digest, but more flavorful as well. Fermentation adds a tangy dimension that really complements the saltiness of French fries, creating a flavor dynamic similar to salt and vinegar chips. The longer you ferment the funkier the fries will be, of course, but I usually prefer to toss these in the oven after two or three days of fermentation.

The process is quite simple: Wash the potatoes with cold water to remove any dirt, then cut them up into French fry style wedges. How thick you cut the wedges is entirely up to you. Pack the potato wedges into a jar and fill with a 2% salt water brine (1 teaspoon salt per cup of water). Allow to ferment for two or three days, then remove the potatoes from the brine and give them an hour or so to air dry. After this, you can bake or fry them as you would any other French fry, though they may need less time cooking than normal fries. Keep in mind that fermented French fries have already been salted, so you will likely want to hold off on adding any more salt until after you’ve cooked and tasted them. Additional spices can be added either during the fermentation process, or upon serving. 

And, as pictured above, this same recipe works great for sweet potato fries as well! 

Recipe

Ingredients

3.2 oz. (90 g) chili peppers 
1⁄2 Tbsp. sea salt
1⁄2 Tbsp. honey
Splash of apple cider vinegar

Step by Step

While most hot sauces sitting on grocery store shelves these days are vinegar-based, fermented hot sauces are actually a lot more common than you may think. Fermented condiments in general have been around for a very long time, probably as long as any fermented food. Even today, a few popular brands like Tabasco and styles like sriracha are still made using fermentation, rather than vinegar. While vinegar hot sauces can be bright and punchy, fermented hot sauces unsurprisingly tend to play up the funk and complexity.

Fermented hot sauce may be my favorite ferment to make at home, simply because of how versatile and forgiving it is. Both managing fermentation and winging a recipe on the fly are simple tasks, and the resulting flavors can be unlike anything you’ll find in the average store. Even better, fermented hot sauce lasts a long, long time — I’ve had half-empty bottles that stayed vibrant and flavorful for years. 

The recipe given here is bare bones, because as with most fermented foods, you can modify the recipe to push it in just about any direction you want. For a first attempt, however, I recommend a mix of habanero and serrano peppers. Not only are these readily available in almost all grocery stores, they’re easy to find fresh at farmers markets, and make for a hot sauce with good flavor and a moderate but manageable heat level. With any hot sauce, the heat can always be dialed down by blending in a bit of bell pepper (use whatever type of bell pepper best matches the color of the rest of your peppers). Peppers, like hops, are a lot of fun to mix and match, and testing out an obscure rare pepper variety on its own in a hot sauce can be every bit as satisfying as a single-hop IPA. 

As for the process, I like to keep things simple. Blend the peppers, salt, and honey until they are the consistency of salsa, then pour into your fermentation vessel. Top off with a splash of apple cider vinegar so that the liquid level is above the solid veggies. Allow two weeks to ferment, then blend again, to create a finer, more sauce-like consistency. Additional vinegar or salt brine can be added if the hot sauce is still too thick. A dash of extra salt can also ensure that the hot sauce keeps for a long time. At this point, you can pour the sauce back into the same vessel, or you can even transfer to hot sauce bottles at this stage. While the hot sauce should now be ready to consume, I usually prefer to age my hot sauces at room temperature for several months before I begin to use them. The flavor will continue to develop, and the heat mellows and integrates with the flavor of the sauce over time. For the first month of aging, however, be sure not to tighten the lid of the jar or bottles all the way. More CO₂ will be released as the ferment continues to condition. 

Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium cabbage (about 21⁄2 lbs./1.1 kg)
1.5–2 tsp. salt per lb. (0.45 kg) of cabbage

Step by Step

As with any ferment, the better the ingredients, the better the end result will be. Sauerkraut, however, is a little more forgiving than some others. Sauerkraut (and other similar cabbage ferments), are one of the most common fermented foods on the planet for a variety of reasons. Cabbage is cheap, ubiquitous, and hardy. Sauerkraut is versatile and can be adapted to utilize a variety of ingredients that you may have on hand and wish to use up. It’s also more forgiving, since even winter cabbage from the grocery store can still be transformed into a respectable sauerkraut. Just about any variety of cabbage can make for a good kraut — red cabbage kraut is especially tasty. Small amounts of other veggies, like carrots or jalapeños, make for a nice twist, as do spices like caraway or rosemary.

While kraut is more forgiving once fermentation is underway, the preparation stage demands a bit more grunt work than other ferments. Like other veggie ferments, sauerkraut needs an anaerobic environment. But kraut is generally made without adding brine, as cabbage itself already contains plenty of water. During the preparation stage you’ll have to get rough with it. A good kraut requires aggression, and you’ll need to really work to pack it all into the jar. The harder you pack, the more liquid will be released, and you’ll have to compel the cabbage to release enough of its water to form a brine that covers the top of the veggies.

First, remove the outer leaves of your cabbage as well as any that are damaged. Cut the cabbage into quarters and remove the solid core. Rinse the cabbage well with cold water, allowing the water to flow between the cabbage leaves. This will remove any dirt and bugs that may be along for the ride, but will not affect the microbes that you’ll need for fermentation. Set one broad, thicker outer leaf to the side. Shred the remaining cabbage with a knife or food processor. The chopped bits have to be fine enough that the whole jar of kraut can be packed down relatively densely, but before you transfer to a jar, place the cabbage in a large bowl. Sprinkle the calculated amount of salt over the cabbage, then toss well. Allow the cabbage and salt mixture to rest about 15–30 minutes so the salt can be absorbed.

After about half an hour, the cabbage should have released a good bit of its moisture. After this, pack the cabbage into a clean glass quart jar. Pour any liquid left in the bowl into the jar — although this likely won’t be enough to cover the cabbage just yet. Keep packing the cabbage down until enough juice has been released to submerge the vegetables almost all the way. You should be able to get close, though some may struggle to get all the way to complete submersion. If needed, top off with a 2% solution of salt water (1 teaspoon salt per cup of water). If using a weight system to keep the veggies under the brine, take the reserved cabbage leaf and cut or fold it so that it covers the rest of the cabbage at the top of the jar. This extra leaf can be held under a weight to create an additional buffer between the veggies and any attacking mold. 

Bob’s Smoked Beer Brats

Ingredients

Meat

3 lbs. (1.35 kg) boneless pork butt (shoulder)
2 lbs. (0.9 kg) boneless beef chuck
1 lb. (0.45 kg) pork fatback

First addition

1½ tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. sage
6 g pink salt (Prague powder #1) (May omit if not cool-smoking)
1 Tbsp. crushed garlic

Second addition

40 g kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup beer (I used homebrewed Baltic porter)

Other

Hog casings packed in salt
Applewood chips

Step by Step

Clean and sanitize surfaces. Cube fat and put in freezer. Cube pork and beef. Toss with spices and chill.

Chill grinder parts. Soak about 4 hog casings 30–60 minutes in tepid water. Rinse with cool water, including running a plug of water through each. Keep in a fresh bowl of cool water.

Toss fat with meat. Grind on medium into a bowl set in ice. Beat together eggs, beer, and salt and mix into ground meat. Fry a test patty and taste. Adjust seasoning to fit your taste if needed.

Start filling a casing, squeeze out air, and tie off with kitchen twine. Stuff to desired link sizes, twisting opposite directions each time. Coil on a rack and tie off end. Air-dry on racks in the refrigerator about 1 hour. Preheat smoker to 140 °F (60 °C) for 30 minutes. Hang sausages on smoker racks and smoke for 90 minutes over applewood chips at 140 °F (60 °C).

Cut apart links and grill or fry over low-medium heat for 10–12 minutes to cook through (smoking at 140 °F/60 °C does not fully cook the pork). 

Notes

The added pork fat makes for a very juicy, succulent sausage. The medium grind produces a rustic bratwurst. For a smoother texture, you can grind as described but using the coarse die, then chill again, and grind a second time on fine.

Meaty and smoky aromas and flavors are most prominent. The use of Baltic porter homebrew and the nutmeg seasoning introduce secondary aromas and flavors suggestive of sweet baking spices. Both beef and pork are present in the flavor profile. 

For pairing, a malty beer like this Baltic porter works nicely in parallel with the sweet applewood smoke and nutmeg spicing. A contrasting combination also works well, with a crisp Pilsner or hoppy pale ale cleansing the palate between bites of sausage.

Mild Italian Sausage

Ingredients

Meat

4 lbs. (1.8 kg) boneless pork butt (shoulder)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) pork fatback

First addition

1½ tsp. black pepper
4 tsp. toasted fennel seeds (toss in a nonstick pan over medium heat to toast)
1 tsp. paprika
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped
(Optional: 1–2 tsp. cayenne powder to make hot Italian sausage)

Second addition

8 tsp. kosher salt
7 tsp. sugar

Third addition

¾ cup red wine
¼ cup red wine vinegar

Other

Hog casings packed in salt

Step by Step

Clean and sanitize surfaces. Cube fat and put in freezer. Cube pork. Toss pork cubes and frozen fat cubes with spices. Add the salt and sugar and mix again. Chill.

Mix vinegar with wine and chill. Chill grinder parts. 

Soak about four hog casings 30–60 minutes in tepid water. Rinse with cool water, including running a plug of water through each. Keep in a fresh bowl of cool water. (If you just want bulk Italian sausage without the casings, you can skip this part.)

Set up the grinder and get out the chilled sausage mixture. Grind on medium into a bowl set in ice. Add wine and vinegar and mix into ground meat. Fry a test patty and taste. Adjust seasoning as needed to fit your taste.

Start filling a casing, squeeze out air, and tie off with kitchen twine. Stuff to desired link sizes, twisting opposite directions each time. Coil on sheet pans lined with wax paper. Refrigerate or freeze, then cut apart the links. Use within a couple of days or store frozen sausages in zipper bags. Grill or fry thawed sausages until just cooked through to maintain juiciness.

Notes: 
This sausage recipe uses a medium grind, producing the typical somewhat rustic character of most Italian sausage.

Aromas and flavors are savory meat and toasted fennel seed. The sausage is juicy but tender and has a very typically Italian flavor profile. The hints
of vinegar and wine brighten the overall palate. 

This Italian sausage pairs very nicely with a dry, crisp Pilsner beer or with a fruity red wine.