Winter Warmer Spent Grain Biscotti

Beer Details

• Beer Style: Winter Warmer
• 7.6
• 55
• Brewery: Winter Warmer Spent Grain Biscotti

Spent Grains by Cloudburst

I am excited by all the video content that I am filming currently to make up for stagnant communication on this platform. I hope that these video recipes will really push me to produce better written communication

Recently I had the privilege to receive some spent grains from Cloudburst brewing in Seattle, Washington. Head brewer Steve Luke is a veteran of brewing as his tour at Elysian brought forth beers like Space Dust. He is a fan of IPAs and pizza and his Market Fresh Saison is always a treat. I interviewed Steve and hope to release that out to the masses soon. For now we bake. The grains provided by Cloudburst are from an IPA and the beer being used is their Definitely Your Father’s Winter Warmer.

Now as mentioned before, I am filming content using Cloudburst spent grains. Initially, I wanted to create a yeast bread to pair along side a simple beer bread for a tutorial. I was hesitant but proceeded anyways and to my demise. The bread ended up being too hydrated and sticky. When I punched down and split the dough in two, it was too heavy and didn’t get that puff that I wanted. When I baked the bread, I was left with a baked round disk. Not an appetizing bread for what should be an easy tutorial. The bread was scrapped and I ended up going with a simpler solution for the video.

Spent Grain Biscotti As a Pivot

The flat bread was fine. It just didn’t look pretty. It didn’t rise. It wasn’t necessarily denser than usual so it was still edible. This certainly was not a bread I desired to waste. I am relatively neutral on my feelings towards biscottis. It isn’t something I would purchase at a coffee shop. But I do know that the etymology of biscotti derives from Latin meaning twice-baked.

It is a bread that has been cooked multiple times, removing as much moisture as possible. This creates a hard cookie texture. What a learning lesson. And certainly an excuse to use my disaster bread and pivot the baked good into a win.

Dry and Wet Spent Grain Biscotti

Not only is the winter warmer being used in this recipe, but also spent grain flour and wet grains from Cloudburst are being utilized. To balance out the lack of the natural sugars that would normally be provided by the flour, we must add some sugar. However, a little bit of chocolate chips never hurts.

With spent grain flour, you are getting a coarser grain (depending on your mill I suppose), so expect a coarser texture. The winter warmer brings a lot of life back into the grains

If you are a home brewer and are brewing a winter ale, märzen, or anything really that provides warmth, then this is a great recipe to utilize those spent grains. Regrain with something delicious and chocolatey.

Print

Winter Warmer Spent Grain Biscotti ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of spent grain flour
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 3 teaspoons of yeast
• 11/2 cups of wet grains (straight from the mash)
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of Cloudburst Definitely Your Father’s Winter Warmer
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Print

Winter Warmer Spent Grain Biscotti Directions

• Mix together the egg, milk, beer, and wet grains and set aside.
• In a another medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until dough sticks to the side of the bowl. Add chocolate chips and mix. Sprinkle more all purpose flour if necessary and begin the kneading. You can use a standing mixer as well. Knead for 10 minutes.
• Form the dough into a ball. Place into a bowl covered with a cloth and let rise for 90 minutes. Punch down the dough and form into two balls. Place onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Let rise for an additional hour.
• Bake at 350º F for 40 minutes. Be sure to rotate the breads halfway through. Let bread cool.
• Thinly slice the bread int he small strips. Place slices onto a baking sheet and bake again for another 40 minutes. Halfway through, turn over the bread slices. Let bread cool before eating.

Brewery:

Beer: