Until the 18th century bakers went to the next brewery to get some yeast for baking. Even the name of the yeast we use for baking shows that it was originally used for making beer: Saccharomyces cervicae. But when the new bottom fermenting yeast strain Saccharomyces carlsbergensis used by more and more breweries getting yeast for baking was not possible anymore because this yeast stays on the bottom of fermenting vessel (instead on floating on top like S. cervicae.) And so the first commercial produced yeast for bakers appeared on the market in 1780.

When my love and me brew beer it always breaks my heart to throw away the yeast which remains after bottling. And because I search ancient recipes for this month BBD, I decided to bake rolls using the beer yeast instead of the “normal” bakers yeast (which is the same species, anyway).

Because I could not estimate how active the yeast was I decided to prepare a preferment first and to let it rise in the fridge for 24 hours. During this time span the dough nearly tripled and so I mixed the dough the next night and let it ferment at room temperature until the next morning. Putting the rolls in the oven was then the most exiting part and I spent the first 10 min of the baking progress sitting in front of the oven and observing the great ovenspring.

And when I pull the rolls from the oven I was very happy with the result. They have soft crumb and crisp crust and their taste is niecly complex due to the long fermentation. The old method is still working greatly 🙂

Knots (baked with brewers yeast)

yields 10 rolls

Preferment

• 100g flour Typ 550
• 100g Water
• 10g sedimented brewers yeast, left in the fermenting vessel after bottling (or 3g fresh yeast)

Dough

• preferment
• 400g flour Type 550
• 15g Malt
• 20g soft Butter
• 10g Salt
• 200g Water

For the preferment mix all ingredients and let it rise for 24 hours in the fridge.

The next evening knead all ingredients for the dough by hand for 8-10 min.

Ferment overnight at roomtemperature (about 10 –12 hours).

The next morning preheat the bread baking stone in the oven to 250°C.

In the meantime divide the dough into pieces of 80g each. Roll each piece to a strand with a length of 30 cm Make a knot of the strand, then put on free end in the middle and tuck the other under the roll.

Proof for 40 min.

Bake for about 20 min at 250°C with steam.

I sent this entry to Yeastspotting, Susans weekly showcase of yeast baked good.