Cooking With Beer, by Jim Curtis

I have always loved to cook. I remember being in the kitchen with my grandmother when I was young and begging to do anything I could to help make dinner. I purchased an Italian restaurant in Three Rivers, Michigan in 1999 in hopes of getting the opportunity to bring in some my own recipes. However, the restaurant was so popular before I purchased it, that I was afraid of making any great changes to the menu. We basically continued using the previous owners recipes. So I will express my cooking creativity here on the internet, where there is no danger of going out of business.

I have also always loved beer. So this section of my website is sort of like having your two best friends get together. I hope you enjoy these recipes. Some of them are mine, and some were emailed to me by friends. All comments on these recipes, good or bad, are appreciated.

If you came directly to this page as a result of a search, be sure to visit the main part of this site for more great information on beer. Go to www.beer100.com

Many of you people that visit this site are homebrewers. If you are like me you have always hated to throw away all of that grain when you are finished. Here is a bread recipe that was sent in by the FOAM Brewing Club's Joe Thompson that uses some of the spent grain. I'm going to make up a batch next time I brew, but if you get to it first, let me know how you liked it. As soon as I get some more spent grain recipes, I will put it in it's own category.

Spent Grain Bread
By Joe Thompson

1 cup warm water
4 Tbsp sugar
2 cups spent grain
1 pkg dry bakers yeast
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 to 3 1/2 cups bread flour

Combine sugar and yeast with warm water. Add salt, oil, spent grain, and 1 cup of the flour. Mix well. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff dough.

Knead well, cover, and let rise for several hours (until doubled). Punch down and shape into two loaves. Place on a greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise until doubled.

Bake at 425 degrees F. for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F. and bake for 10 more minutes or until nicely browned.