What to do with Spent Beer Grain: Great Recipes on Tap!

If I might say so myself, our household is of a use the whole buffalo mentality (no pun intended).  We don’t like to waste things, and whenever possible we like to make things ourselves.  So after Courtney brewed his first batch of all grain brew a few weeks back, I quickly began researching what we would do with the spent grain.

I started by freezing it… one batch of beer produces a lot of spent grain.  Luckily, there seems to be no shortage of ideas on how to utilize it.   First off, I went with this spent beer grain pizza dough, because really, what goes better together than beer and pizza?   Especially when both are made from scratch!

For the first batch, I stuck with traditional marinara with soppressata and mozzarella so that I could really taste the dough.  And oh, how we loved the dough.  The beer grain gave it a really nice texture, an extra heartiness, and you can still taste a hint of the malt.  It is also much easier to roll out and work with than typical pizza dough.  An excellent first attempt at cooking with spent grain, that made me want to weep just a bit for all the grains we’ve discarded in the past.  But no worries, I have plenty of grain and plenty more recipes on tap! (Pun intended).

Spent Beer Grain Pizza Dough

Inspired by The Mash

Ingredients:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup spent grain (wet)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Olive oil
• Toppings of choice

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer, dissolve yeast in water; let sit for five-10 minutes until creamy and starting to bubble.
2. Add grains, wheat and salt and mix using a bread hook for 8-10 minutes.  If you don’t have a standing mixer, you can also mix in a bowl and kneed by hand. Form into a ball.
3. Lightly oil a medium sized bowl and place ball of dough in bowl.  Cover with a towel and let sit in a warm spot to rise.  I let it rise for a little over an hour, but you can certainly let it rise longer.
4. Heat oven to 475. Roll out your dough on a prepared baking sheet or pizza stone.  Cook the dough by itself for 5-10 minutes.  Add toppings and return to oven for another 10-15 minutes until crust is golden brown.
5. Enjoy with a nice cold beer, preferably a home brew!