Guinness Sourdough Bread with Whole Grain Flour

Guinness is such a fantastic beer. It’s dark and rich and it’s the perfect addition to a bread recipe. But wait! Even if you find Guinness not of your tastes when cracking open a cold beer, you will be pleasantly surprised by how well it complements this bread. Because it’s a dark beer, it gives the bread a golden color and a unique aroma that, even if you’re not a Guinness drinker, you’re going to love.

Plus, the thin crust makes it perfect to use for sandwiches! Here’s how to make it!

Day 1:

60g Sourdough Starter

100g Water

100g Bread Flour

Combine these 3 ingredients, then mix until there are no more clumps. Cover it up and let it ferment for 8 to 12 hours. Drink a Guinness, or any beer of your preference too, just for fun!

Day 2:

260g Sourdough

100g Guinness Beer

200g Water

60g Whole Grain Wheat Flour

440g Bread Flour

12g salt

Knead everything together for 10 minutes using hands or your machine and let relax for 20 minutes so the gluten development can begin. Dough will be more elastic and easier to work with when you give it time for autolyse. The texture, flavor and rise will also improve when autolyse is allowed for.

For the next 2 hours, stretch and fold the dough gently every 30 minutes. Try not to add any more flour during that process, though you can dust lightly if needed.

After the stretch and fold period you should see that the dough is holding its shape much better because you have built up the tension on the outer side of the dough ball. If it does not keep its shape yet, you can perform more stretch-and-fold procedures until it holds its shape better.

Shape the loaf and let it proof in your proofing basket for 3 hours at room temperature. You can also let it ferment overnight in the fridge if you prefer.

After 3 hours of proofing at room temp.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 500 F including a pizza stone or a cast iron pot with lid (better known as a Dutch oven) for at least 30 minutes.

If you are using a pizza stone, be sure to include a steaming pan on the bottom of the oven.

Shoot the bread in the oven and drop the temperature to 460 F. Bake it for 25 minutes with steam or with the lid if using the Dutch oven.

After 25 minutes, drop the temperature to 430 F. Remove the lid if using a Dutch oven and bake for another 20 minutes.