"Spent" Grains

I brewed a Lambic yesterday, and while I was slaving my way through the turbid mash schedule I was trying to decide where I was going to dump these grains. My Grain discard bin is full and green waste doesn't get picked up for another week. What was I to do? Call these grains "spent" and send them on their way down the road to the middle of an empty field? Absolutely not, Lets make some treats for our 4 legged friends, Why not a few loaves of bread while we're at it?

For the dog treats, I have found recipes for friends in the past, so this time around I just found a few different ones and made my own based off of the information I was able to find.

Spent Grain Dog Treats

4 Cups Spent grains (wet)
2 Cups UnBleached All Purpose Flour
2 Eggs
1 Cup All Natural Peanut Butter, My local Supermarket has a little Peanut Butter press in the bulk Section So I got mine there. 100% Peanut Butter

First Step was to mix all the ingredients into a basic dough. Then smush, for lack of a better term, the dough onto the surface of a lightly oiled cookie sheet, you want the layer to be thin, but not so thin it burns right away.
 

 

Next step is to Scour the Dough, You can do shapes, Use a Cookie Cutter, whatever works.

 

I used simple rectangles so that I could simply crack the pieces apart when the time came. Now bake at 350F for 30 mins to harden up the treats before the next step. Once this 30 mins is up, you can go ahead and crack along your scouring lines to seperate the treats. Be careful though. HOT

Lower the heat on your oven to 225F and continue cooking for about 3-4 hours, or until you are confident there is little to no moisture left in the treats. You want them as dry as possible so they will last a long time. Every dog I have given these to LOVES them. Hopefully your pup does as well.

 

Spent Grain Bread

 

2.5 Cups UnBleached All Purpose Flour

1.5 Cups All Natural Wheat Flour

2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Yeast

3 Cups of Spent Grain (wet)

1/4 Cup Orange Blossom Honey

1/4 EVOO

1 Egg - Beaten before added into the mixture

3/4 Cup of Milk - Maybe up to a cup depending on how wet your grain is

Oats or Flaked Barley (optional)

 

I dried my grains out a bit in the sun just because they had a bit of excess water and such.

 

 

 

First step is to once again make a Dough. Kneading should take about 10 mins by hand, 5 mins if using a Kitchen Aid or something similar. Once your dough is formed, add 2 tsp. of Bakers yeast, I forgot which brand I used but pretty much any Bread yeast should do. Knead for an additional 3 mins or so, then set your dough somewhere nice and warm to Rise. I took mine upstairs and let it hang out for about 90 mins.

 

 

 

After 90 mins you can go ahead and punch down your doughball and seperate your loaves. I had enough to bake a Loaf today, and throw a ball of dough in the freezer for another day. Once you have your loaf spread out in your bread pan, scour the top and you can go ahead and bake it from there, or you can sprinkle some old fashioned oats (or Flaked Barley) over the top for extra flavor and appearence. Other options would be poppy seeds, peppercorns, sunflower seeds, whatever your in the mood for.

 

 

350F for 40 mins.

 

Let cool for 30 mins before slicing

There you have it, a nice rustic looking loaf of Artisan bread :) Hope this post helps somebody out. Thank you for taking the time! Cheers!