Last Monday myself and Phil Garvey of the mighty micro pub the Cap and Collar hosted a very special evening of food and beer pairings, #SaltaireSupper. It was the pilot for what we hope will become a regular pop up in the Saltaire food and drink calendar and we were greatly encouraged by the wonderful guests and their glowing feedback from this first outing.

The menu was based heavily on the season of Autumn and was a showcase of some of the fantastic local suppliers I use frequently in and around the village. Each course was paired with a 1/3 pint of fantastic beer. Each one, in my opinion, was a fantastic pairing choice and I was happy to be able to use some of them in the recipes we served on the night.

The full menu can be seen here.  In my next few Katherine St Kitchen posts I’m going to share some of the recipes in the hope that if you weren’t able to join us, you can sample some of what we served from home. This first one was a cover or table course as our guests arrived. A granary loaf made with a fresh, spicy Augustiner Helles lager, spread thickly with malty, tangy beer butter and plated alongside some ‘quick’ pickled vegetables.

BEER BREAD

(makes one small loaf, approx 8 slices)

Ingredients

• 145ml helles lager
• 190g good strong white bread flour
• 60 g good quality granary bread flour
• 2tsp dry active yeast
• 8g sea salt
• 10g extra virgin olive oil

BEER BREAD

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a food mixer with a dough hook and beat for 30 seconds to mix thoroughly.
2. On a slow setting, add the oil then gradually add the beer until the mix comes together as a soft dough. Add the beer carefully. You might need a little more or less depending on your flours.
3. Knead on a low setting for 10 minutes.
4. Scoop the mixture out into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic or clingfilm, allowing space for the dough to double in size in a warm part of the kitchen (about 60 minutes).
5. Once doubled in size, scoop back into the food mixer and knead for a further 5 minutes.
6. Scoop out onto a well floured surface and fold the edges of the dough inwards on itself. Using cupped hands, spin the ball of dough round in circles, all the time drawing downwards with your thumbs and working the surface of the dough downward.
7. Dust with a little flour, cover again and return to a warm place for a second prove.
8. Pre heat the oven to 220°c. When the bread has doubled in size, slide it into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the underside sounds hollow when tapped.
9. Leave to cool completely before slicing.

Serve spread thickly with beer butter. This recipe for butter is an old post of mine using Orval Trappist Ale but works really well with Augustiner Helles to match the bread.

QUICK PICKLES

(serves 8 as a garnish for the bread above)

• a mixture of medium carrots, baby turnips, large celery and radishes all topped, tailed and chopped chunky  (carrots peeled).
• 150ml rice wine vinegar
• 75g caster sugar
• sea salt
• extra virgin olive oil

I recognize that my idea of medium and large vegetables might not quite be the same as yours so these measurements are really a guide. The ratio of vinegar to sugar is the important thing here and can be multiplied to scale up the recipe to suit your needs. You need to make enough to just cover the chunky veg in whatever container you’re going to use.

1. Heat the vinegar and sugar together over a medium heat, whisking until simmering and the sugar is disolved.
2. Poor over the mixed vegetables and leave to pickle for 2 hours.
3. Strain through a colander and chill. When ready to serve season liberally with sea salt and toss in extra virgin olive oil.