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baking Want to add alcohol to a bread recipe

D

dragon49

I have tons of fun with my bread machine.  I want to substitute some rye whiskey for water in a recipe.  I thought it would be cool to make a rye bread this way.  I tried it once, but the alcohol interfered with the proofing and I produced a bread that was unevenly risen and hard in some parts.
 
Is there some way to get this to work?
 
 
 
Cook a shot glass into the mix. When done hollow to the glass, add booze, serve. When the bread is cut make sure you get the right piece. Remove bread cork,take a nip, take a bite, take a nip, take a bite. WIN WIN
 
i've made rye bread plenty of times but i don't know what this whacky method you're stabbing at lol.  Alcohol denatures proteins, proteins, aka gluten, are what gives bread structure. Go buy some  caraway seeds.
 
I think your best bet is to wait and make a bread pudding with the whiskey. Unfortunately, I don't know what a bread pudding actually is. It is something they make on those cooking shows and it starts with some bread. They add other ingredients to it.
 
bread pudding is milk, cream, eggs, sugar. Again, alcohol denatures proteins and would curdle your milk. However, if you want an alcoholic bread-y dessert, you can add in the liquor at the end and let it soak in. I make a bomb bourbon pecan praline chocolate cake. You poke holes in it at the end and pour. But to make rye bread, you definitely don't use rye whiskey haha
 
Booze probably would kill off bread yeast.
If you want the whiskey taste,maybe cook off the alcohol first.
I home brew.
Different yeasts die at different alcohol proofs or?
For my Dopple bock and barley wine, the yeast has a higher survival rate in a higher alcohol %.
Cook off the alcohol first might be the answer...
 
you could always try adding twice as much yeast.

I use beer all the time to make bread. Maybe try using a rye ipa instead of whiskey.
 
why go through all that trouble? I don't understand, if you want rye bread, whiskey or beer doesn't make me think you'd get that classic rye taste. That comes from the caraway seeds.
 
I don't see how it's much trouble to substitute water for another liquid?  It's good to try new things, variety is the spice of life. Some people including myself love to experiment with their cooking. For me doing everything the same over and over get's boring.   :cheers:
 
Would it be crazy to use chicken broth instead of water in a recipe for bread? And maybe a few ingredients like oregano, parsley, garlic, and onion, and anything else that would be used to enhance a chicken broth?
 
smokemaster said:
Booze probably would kill off bread yeast.
If you want the whiskey taste,maybe cook off the alcohol first.
 
Click to expand...
 
That's your answer.
 
Even if the alcohol didn't harm the yeast, it would evaporate when you bake the bread, so you don't need the alcohol component(painful to say such a thing).
 
Heat the whiskey first to evaporate the alchohol. That will leave the water and flavor behind.  You'll need more booze than your recipe calls for as you'll lose volume as the alcohol evaporates.  80 proof, you'll lose about 40%.
 
How do you know when you've evaporated the alcohol?  It will boil off at a lower temp(173 degrees) than water(212), so(for all pracitcal purposes) the alcohol will be completely gone before the water starts to boil.  I you have a thermometer you can use, bring the heat up in the whiskey slowly.  You'll see it boil at 173.  When it stops boiling and the temp starts to climb again you are done.  (If you keep the heat on it will rise to 212 and begin to boil again as the water boils off.)
 
For the small amount of whiskey I assume you'll use it would be difficult to monitor with a thermometer.  If you can get a test tube, put the whiskey in that and suspend it in a water bath and heat the water.  Watch for the whiskey to boil (it will happed before the water starts to boil) and take out the test tube when the first boil ends.
 
Oh, hell...that's a lot of bother.  Just send me the whiskey and I'll do it for you.  If you need a 1/2 cup or so, just send me a fifth(I'll need to practice a bit to get it just right) - Bushmills 16 would be an excellent choice.
 
FreeportBum said:
I don't see how it's much trouble to substitute water for another liquid?  It's good to try new things, variety is the spice of life. Some people including myself love to experiment with their cooking. For me doing everything the same over and over get's boring.   :cheers:
Click to expand...
I've made bread, substituting dark beer for the water.  The consistency was a little off, but the low alcohol content of the beer didn't mess with the proofing too much.
smokemaster said:
Booze probably would kill off bread yeast.
If you want the whiskey taste,maybe cook off the alcohol first.
I home brew.
Different yeasts die at different alcohol proofs or?
For my Dopple bock and barley wine, the yeast has a higher survival rate in a higher alcohol %.
Cook off the alcohol first might be the answer...
Click to expand...
Thanks,
 
I'll try this.
cone9 said:
 
That's your answer.
 
Even if the alcohol didn't harm the yeast, it would evaporate when you bake the bread, so you don't need the alcohol component(painful to say such a thing).
 
Heat the whiskey first to evaporate the alchohol. That will leave the water and flavor behind.  You'll need more booze than your recipe calls for as you'll lose volume as the alcohol evaporates.  80 proof, you'll lose about 40%.
 
How do you know when you've evaporated the alcohol?  It will boil off at a lower temp(173 degrees) than water(212), so(for all pracitcal purposes) the alcohol will be completely gone before the water starts to boil.  I you have a thermometer you can use, bring the heat up in the whiskey slowly.  You'll see it boil at 173.  When it stops boiling and the temp starts to climb again you are done.  (If you keep the heat on it will rise to 212 and begin to boil again as the water boils off.)
 
For the small amount of whiskey I assume you'll use it would be difficult to monitor with a thermometer.  If you can get a test tube, put the whiskey in that and suspend it in a water bath and heat the water.  Watch for the whiskey to boil (it will happed before the water starts to boil) and take out the test tube when the first boil ends.
 
Oh, hell...that's a lot of bother.  Just send me the whiskey and I'll do it for you.  If you need a 1/2 cup or so, just send me a fifth(I'll need to practice a bit to get it just right) - Bushmills 16 would be an excellent choice.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the specific boiling advice.  
 
I appreciate all the replies and advice.  I'll let everybody know how it works.  I'm probably going to make a batch next week.  I'll post the result in this thread.
 
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