Spent Grain Breads Won Ribbons at York Fair
Winning awards for baking at the York Fair is no easy feat. Ezzie found that out 8 years ago. While she has more than 50 ribbons, including many first place awards, for her canned goods, in Alaska and Washington, she hadn't tried entering her breads until she moved to Pennsylvania in 2001.
The first time she entered a baking competition was in 2002. "You really have to step up your game in this area! I was shocked at how serious all the bakers are here! Looking back on it I'm even more delighted that I won that first try! "
But she didn't take for granted that she would win with her spent grain breads. "Many folks are used to whole wheat, but I've had to educate alot of bakers about spent grains and barley tea. I thought I would be facing an uphill battle with a Spent Grain bread in the regular bread competition. But I figured it would be a good way to get the word out further about the wonderful taste and texture of the breads I make with the spent grains from my beer making."
Ezzie was delighted to win 2 second place awards. One was for her Italian Herb Parmesan cheese bread with spent grains, the other was entered in the whole grain bread category. Her Cinnamon Stout bread with spent grains included all purpose flour and white whole wheat, and a 12 ounces of her precious Vanilla bean milk stout beer. Both of these are recipes she teaches in her breadmaking classes here at Mr. Steve's home brew supply store.
"I've made all kinds of breads and used all different breadmaking techniques throughout the years. But my favorite is the super easy no-knead bread techique that I teach. It's easy, requires a minumum amount of time and is the most versatile of any techniques I've used" she told us.
With the one breadmaking kit you can make cinnamon rolls, pizza, or dinner rolls, breadsticks, even hotdog rolls. With the addition of nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc, you can make some very healthy alternatives to cookies that the kids will love. The adventurous can use bear fat, and some homemade salami to make a wonderful bread to go with a hearty soup for cold winter nights.
She loves sharing her knowledge and fully believes in passing on traditions with modern methods. But is this no-knead method really "modern"? It's easy to imagine this technique being used by the farm wives, or early villagers hundreds of years ago. Plus with the cost of foods rising higher and higher, it's a great way to save money in those already tight budgets.
Surprisingly enought a major portion of her students are not home-brewers. People of all ages, men and women, come to the class to learn and to taste. Ezzie has taught children as young as 9 how to make the no-knead breads.
"I always bake lots of goodies for people to taste after the class. I even include some of my homemade salami, mustard, and even cheeses to go with the variety of breads. To learn how to be self-sufficient is one of the greatest gifts I can give people. But they have to be enthusiastic. Tasting what they could make themselves is one of the best ways to become enthusiastic," Ezzie says. "Spent grains can even be used for some great doggie cookies. My dog, Scupper, can attest to their wonderful flavor!" she says with a chuckle. The doggie cookie recipe is included in the recipes in the breadmaking kits, and is passed out during the class.
The breadmaking kits would make great holiday gifts!
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