Solar-baked beer bread take two

Solar-baked beer bread take two
Originally uploaded by wbajzek

The recipe is similar to the previous, except the flour is all-purpose, the beer is Oatmeal Stout, and instead of containing seeds and such, it has chopped, fresh sage and mint. I also put in some nutritional yeast which, now that I think about it, I may have put in the last one as well. 

This was cooked in a black aluminum roasting pan rather than the cast-iron dutch oven like the last time I made beer bread. Something I had not posted about yet is that we had attempted to bake a focaccia roll several days ago and it was set on aluminum foil directly on the bottom of the pan. The top was well done and the bottom was not cooked at all. This time, the loaf was cooked in a pyrex dish again, which I set atop "stilts" (a pair of ramekins) to make sure the hot air circulated below.

As you can see, it has a substantial crust on the top, and none to speak of where it was in contact with the pyrex. I suspect the temperature got hotter more quickly, creating the crust and sealing in the moisture below, because the bottom has a VERY moist, almost cake-like consistency to it. When I saw it, I was sure it was going to be a failure, but in fact, it's not.

Taking a tip from someone's blog post (sorry, it was a long time ago and I forgot who), I have been keeping a jar of olive oil in the fridge, which has congealed into a somewhat spreadable glop. A little bit of that on this bread was a lovely combination.

Solar-baked beer bread

Solar-baked beer bread
Originally uploaded by wbajzek

Our oven broke a while back and rather than replacing it, since we're pretty sure our landlord wants to tear this whole place down, anyway, we decided to try out a "green" replacement for it.

I baked this beer bread in our (very) shiny new CooKit!

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup garbanzo flour
3tsp baking powder
1tsp salt

fennel, cumin, thyme, and marjoram
12oz Gordon Biersch WinterBock (leftover from party)

stuck it inside the cast iron dutch oven, sealed it in a plastic oven bag, and put it in the Solar CooKit at 9am, angled optimally for midday (since I'd be out all day). It spent 9 hours in there, probably longer than necessary, but it came out moist with a nice crust on top.