Beer bread, bacon butter & Hagelswag

There’s something special to making your own bread. The smell. The crackling crust when you cut it. It’s almost magical. But it’s even better when you make it with your favourite beer. So here we go!

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and let your beer warm up to room temperature. Mix the flour – all-purpose flour is perfect for this recipe – the rapid rise wheat and the salt in a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Slowly add the beer until the dough gets a smooth structure. We choose a dark wheat based beer, but every kind of beer will do, so just pick your favourite! Put the mixer on a higher setting and let it mix until the dough wraps around the blade.

Put your dough on greaseproof paper in a baking mold or a pot with a lit. A cast iron pot or Dutch oven would be perfect for the job. Now give it some time and let it rest.

Cut your bacon into thin slices and put them in the oven. Put a tray underneath the bacon to catch the bacon grease. Remove the liquids every ten minutes or so and keep it aside, we’ll mix it with the butter later on. Bake the bacon really crispy. Not just crispy but damn crispy! It will probably take 20 to 30 minutes. Take out the super crispy bacon strips, remove the extra grease with a paper towel and let them chill.

Check on your dough. It should have risen to twice the size by now. Put the pot with the dough in the oven with the lid on. Remove the lid five minutes before it’s done to get a nice dark crust.

Mix the butter on room temperature with the bacon grease for the full bacon flavour. Put the super crispy bacon strips in a food processor and grind until there’s only powder left. Sprinkle the bacon powder onto the butter and put it in your fridge.

Let your bread cool down before slicing it up. Once you’ve sliced your bread, spread a thick layer of bacon butter on it and finish it off with some Hagelswag. Yep, there it is: breakfast heaven!

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