Barm Bread

[Scotch and Rye]

I have been pondering why bakers, around 1800 according to the first page of this thread, stopped just using yeast from the brewery and switched to barms.

Everything I have read on the subject of barms suggests that hop bitterness was considered a necessary evil by bakers at the time. They didn't like it, but the hops were needed to stop the barm spoiling.

I had in my mind that there must have been some significant change in the way beer was brewed that forced bakers to switch.

I don't know whether there was a sudden shift to using more hops around that time, which would have increased the bitterness.

The only other idea is that at that time porter was the dominant brewing style, in London at least. Porter had already been popular for decades prior to 1800, but it was made with brown malt. The much more highly roasted black patent malt was invented in 1817, and the porter brewed using this might have given the yeast a burnt, toasty flavour that bakers didn't want in their bread.

Could there be something in this theory?

[lepard]

Did you mean this quote from Kirkland

But since bakers, or others for them, began to make a fermenting agent for themselves, about 1800, that has been described as barm, while the word yeast has been retained for the brewery product, as well as for the more modern article sold in solid form.

My understanding is that bakers used a barm, 'making yeast' in-house, to save money. Though hop bitterness wasn't desired in the bread, neither was sourness; since the hops controlled the sourness in the ferment a little bitterness was acceptable. Wheat prices were high during 1790 - 1810 and it would likely that bakers had little extra money to buy yeast.

[Scotch and Rye]

I did mean that quote, yes.

I now think my porter beer/black malt theory is a load of rubbish, and have an alternative to put forward. It could easily be just as wrong, but might be interesting.

Dan says "Wheat prices were high during 1790 - 1810". Due to the rise in malt taxes in this period it also became more expensive to brew. In addition, industrial common brewers were fast displacing the production of beer in private homes and on the premises in pubs, as you could buy it cheaper from the common brewer than you could make it yourself.

So we have a double whammy: there were far fewer people producing ale-barm and the cost of producing it had increased too. With higher prices and decreased availability of ale-barm it looks like bakers were squeezed all round, not just by wheat prices.

I assume that a typical bakery around 1800 would be a very small operation with maybe a master and apprentice and one shop. Possibly they had even counted among those who had recently given up brewing themselves and no longer had their own supply of free yeast.

I am fascinated by the relationships between brewers and bakers. I can't help but think there must be something deeper behind such a significant change in practice.

Beer historian Ron Pattinson says here:

This period saw a key change in British brewing practices. Though brewers had already been aware of the better yield of pale malt compared to brown, it was only with the introduction of the hydrometer that this could be quantified. It became apparent that, despite the lower price of brown malt, it was still cheaper to brew from pale malt. Brown malt produced only about two thirds as much fermentable material as pale.

But I can't for the life of me think what possible adverse effect moving to mostly pale malt would have on the yeast.

[bethesdabakers]

Baker seeks barmy brewer for mutually uplifting relationship.

Mick

[Scotch and Rye]

Baker seeks barmy brewer for mutually uplifting relationship.

Mick

Are you actually animated by ale, or amused by alliteration alone?

[aulda]

I was inspired by baking a Guinness bread this week to try my hand at Dan's Barm bread. Here is the result:





It is really delicious and customers seemed to love it. I will definitely be giving it another try. Particularly as a pub I supply has offered to provide some ale with which to make the barm...

Andy

[Ben]

Hello Andy

If there was a bakery like yours near where I live I would wander if it was worth the time and effort making my own homemade bread!

Ben

[SallyBR]

..... I've posted before about it here, I guess I did not realize there was already a full thread devoted to it.

Even though the "white levain" is my default bread, I fell completely in love with the barm bread, it is just amazing, flavor, texture, it has everything. The beer (I used Chimay) lends a slightly different flavor to it.

I cannot recommend this recipe highly enough.

[SallyBR]

Oh, great....

Now I am probably getting banned from this place....

How can I change the size of the HUGE photo I just uploaded?

I am very sorry....

[Pekar]

I call this picture realistic !

maybe best to scale it down in photoshop