Recipe: Fog City Diner Steam Beer Bread (milk and eggs, makes 2 loaves)

STEAM BEER BREAD

"We use Anchor Steam Beer to make this bread; it's a local beer, produced here in San Francisco. If you have a local brewery, you may want to try their beer. Just be sure to use a good-tasting beer because it will make a difference in how the bread tastes.

This bread is really good for ham-and-cheese sandwiches or with roast pork. It is made by the sponge method, which involves three rises."

2 packages active dry yeast
4 tablespoons granulated or brown sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1 cup (3/4 bottle) beer, at room temperature
6 cups flour
1 tablespoon kosher or sea salt
Unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 eggs
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided use

In a large mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the milk, stir, and let sit for 10 minutes to dissolve.

Add the beer and 2 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and mix thoroughly to form a sponge. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let the sponge rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume, about 1 hour.

Put 3 cups of flour and the salt and butter in the bowl of a mixer, and using the paddle attachment, cut the butter in as you would for a pie dough.

Change to a dough hook, add the sponge and eggs, and mix thoroughly, stopping occasionally to remove dough from the hook. Knead in as much of the remaining flour as necessary to keep dough satiny. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured smooth surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, until satiny and slightly resilient to the touch.

Lightly brush a bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add the dough and rotate it to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume, about 1 hour. Lightly brush two 9x5-inch loaf pans with the remaining oil.

Punch the dough down. Roll the dough into loaves and place them in the pans. Cover loosely with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes to I hour, until the loaves have doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F about 30 minutes before baking.

Bake the loaves for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the bottom of the loaves sound hollow when tapped lightly.

VARIATION:
This recipe also makes great rolls; just shorten the baking time a little.

Makes 2 loaves
Source: Fog City Diner Cookbook by Cindy Pawlcyn