I have no feeling for how much 550 grams of flour is....but the rest sounds good....and you just add flour enough to work it up as the old folks said.
sounds like a lot of yeast...unless it's cake yeast....
Linda C

I would just do it Sharon. Simple enough. Although as Linda says the one ounce of yeast must be fresh yeast. Just substitute 2 1/4 teaspoons instant/dry yeast. I'm assuming when you say a flat top that it is just cooked on a griddle on top of the stove. Like a Chapati or flour tortilla. I'd be tempted though to just bake it quickly on the oven stone.

Okay - that is going to be a VERY yeasty little bread! Once those little beasties get a taste of the beer they are going to bloom like bothing you have ever seen.

But yea - give it a go and let us know how it turns out!

Alexa

Alexa, funnily enough he did say it was a very "yeasty" bread.

Ann, he was talking about his professional flat top grill but I think your idea of the stone might be the ticket.

I just know I won't be able to duplicate it but I'm going to try!

I am wondering how big the bottle of beer is... and what kind of role the beer plays in the dough. Is it the malt, or additional yeast that makes this yeasty flat bread so special? Just curious.

Al

Al, he didn't say but I'm guessin' a regular size bottle of good ole' Canadian beer!'' I'm thinking Blue !

Seriously, that's why I need some help...you folk now know as much as I know...

go to
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cooking-conversions/gram-conversions.aspx

for a gram to cup conversion.

550 is just a tad under 2.4 cups

Most of our bottles in the US are 12 oz. That seems like a lot of liquid for less than 2 1/2 cups flour? I don't see how you could knead the resulting dough. So maybe it is more of a batter bread that rises in the bowl then is poured onto the cook surface? What about ladling the dough out onto a griddle pancake style? Or....maybe he doesn't *use* the entire bottle of beer?

My converter says 120 grams per cup of unsifted flour....so by my calculations that's about 4 1/2 cups of flour...lots for 12oz of beer.
I have made bread using beer as the liquid fairly often....when ever we have had a keg, I save the extra and have been known to beg at friend's keggers for the leavings.
Don't really know the chemistry but it makes a very nice loaf.
How about baking it on a griddle on the grill?
Linda C

A standard Canadian beer bottle holds 341 ml, a bit less than 1.5 cup. A cup of unsifted flour weighs about 135 grams while a cup of sifted flour weighs about 115 grams. Let's take it in the middle... say, 120 grams per cup. 550 grams will work out to somewhere between 4 and 4.5 cups of flour. In that case, 1.5 cup of fluid in 4.5 cups of flour, it's not too bad. So, Chase, I say it's worth trying.

Al

It is actually 3 1/2 cups and I know that because I just weighed 550gs of unbleached flour.

Ann

The bread I make most often is 3 3/4 cups of flour to 1 1/3 cups of water....proportions are roughly equal.

LOL, I'm loving this discussion. I think the beer is to add flavor because beer is used for malt flavor in some no knead, baked the same day the dough is mixed, breads. I think the theory is that it partly makes up for flavor that develops when bread dough is refrigerated several days. Do you, any of you, all of you, think that the dough was rolled out into one large round or several, how many, personal sized rounds? I wonder if his grill was oiled since there is no oil in the dough and I would think the honey would make it stick to grill? I have had a few things stick to my baking stone.

I hope someone tries it soon; I'll be watching for a report.

I think it would make a great casual dinner with some spreads, cheese, olive, and of course, wine.

Lee

You can use Google for arithmetic and conversions.

Just enter "550 grams in ounces".

Lee has a good point. Most flattops are kept oiled.

You could probably get a similar effect with a cast iron frying pan.

I'm thinking the dough is divided into portions to roll/stretch out then cook on the restaurant flattop or grill grid. You could oil a paper towel and wipe the grill grids with it, or oil the dough after it is rolled out to help prevent sticking. Individual portions would be easier to handle and turn than one great big flatbread from this recipe.

Now you've got me wanting to try it too!

I agree, the proportions of liquid to dry look right and I don't think the honey will make the dough stick. I also think a package of dry instant yeast (or that 2 1/4 tsp conversion) would be appropriate.

As noted, most restaurant flat top/grills are kept well oiled, so the dough wouldn't stick.

I'd mix the dough up, probably let the mixer do its thing for five minutes or whatever, divide the dough into four or six pieces, flatten it out and toss it into a hot cast iron pan to see how it goes. Another piece I'd put into the oven on a hot pan or stone, and then I'd compare.

In fact, I might, later this week. I just have too many projects working right now to do it tonight or Elery would probably love to "help" me with this experiment!

Annie

I think maybe the breads were cooked ahead on the flattop and then thrown on the grill when an order came in, just long enough to put some grill marks on the pale bread for a nice presentation.

I plan to try the recipe using my round cast iron griddle and cast iron skillet to cook the breads. I think I'll try for 6-8 pieces from the recipe.

Thanks for all the reassurance and advice.

I'm going to try it today so I'll let you know how it goes. If anyone else tries it don't forget to sprinkle with kosher salt before cooking.

One thing that puzzles me is that the bread was soft and warm but not hot and certainly not crispy, more the texture of a really good soft bread stick. But for sure he said he cooked it on the flat top not, in the oven.

We'll see how it goes.

Sharon, he probably wrapped the bread in a cloth as it came off the heat, this would keep it soft and not crispy.

Using a Grams to Ounces conversion calculator 550g equals 19.5 ounces in weight. And 19.5 ounces equals 2.415 cups. You really can't go by these conversion charts. You need a scale to really convert this type of recipe accurately.

For the record, I weighed out 550g of flour which equaled 3.5 cups and then weighed it again in ounces and the 3.5 cups of flour equaled 19.5 ounces.

Ann

I wouldn't grease the griddle or stone....if it's hot enough the bread won't stick.
I went through a period of experimenting with beer bread....roughly about the same time I was making "varietal crab apple jelly" and different beers make a huge difference in the bread....try it with a stout, sweetened with molasses....
Linda C

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cooking-conversions/cooking-conversions-calculator.aspx?t=t&foodg=2000&foods=all%20purpose%20flour&fno=20581&foodq=550&foodf=0amp;foodt=1#food

this link gives me 4.4 cups for 550. Using this link you select specific flour. quite a difference from the site i cited above which it turns out is "average"

However, I'm still puzzled about Ann T's actual mesurement. I know the weight of flour can vary with humidity ... but that much?????

Guess that why serious bakers invest in a really good scale. I just hope the recipe writer didn't measure on a very humid (or conversely, really dry day).

another ????
once flour has absorbed moisture, does it retain the water or will it lose that moisture on a dry day?

My grandson gave me "The Bread Bible" for Christmas and I've only just begun to scratch the surface.

kayskats, I never rely on measurements when making bread, whether it's in ounces, cups or grams. There are so many variables, including humidity, type of wheat, brand of flour, a zillion other things.

I go for an approximate and then add flour or liquid until I get the correct dough consistency. And, what works today might not work tomorrow, bread is not an exact science.

Annie

I believe it has something to do with how you pick up a cup of flour. Like mentioned before, a cup of sifted flour can weigh much less than unsifted. I just did this: dipped a cup into a bag of packed down unbleached flour, scooped and dumped. It weighed 161 grams. After sifting the flour, I carefully spooned to fill one leveled cup, it weighed 118 grams, that's 43 grams difference! Not sure how humidity affect the weight of flour but sifting the flour definitely makes a difference. I guess that's why the chef referred the amount of flour in grams, not in cups.

Al

Whether sifted or unsifted, I spoon the flour into my measuring cup. Maybe it's imagination, but I think I can feel the difference when I simply scoop up a measuring cup -- the latter 'feels' heavier.

Using my bread maker, I've found I have to add a tbsp per cup of flour. Otherwise I get a bit of collapse.

Annie... I believe you're right. Guess I'll just have to make a lot more bread and live with the 'didn't work' times. 'cause what works one time may not work the next.

Because of my youngest grandson, I've been making a lot of bread. I'm progressing from all the way in the machine to taking it out for shaping and the final rise.

I find the shape of the machine bowls awkward for slicing.

Like Annie, I never rely on the measurements in a recipe for bread. If you start with the liquid, you might have to adjust the amount of flour, adding more or less. If you start with the flour it is the same thing. Sometimes you need more or less liquid than the recipe calls. Bread is all about feel.

Sharon, just start with the beer and add enough flour to make a soft dough.

Ann

Wouldn't you think in a Mexican (tapas) restaurant the chef would have used a Mexican Beer? Try a Dos Equis, not a Blue!

Steve

Steve, the tapas restaurant here is Spanish, not Mexican. Somehow, I think in bread the kitchen is going to use what's on hand, certainly. I don't know what type that would be, though.

I agree, Ann, start with the beer and add flour until it's "right".

Annie

I would love to check out and of course taste, the samples!

Sharon, I can't wait to hear about and I hope see the how your experiment comes out. Good Luck!

Nancy

Yay Chase, go for it! I can't wait to hear your report.

I was thinking last night about what several of you have said that encouraged me to try bread again a couple of years ago - hey it's only a little yeast, flour and water, what do you have to lose? Of course for this recipe we also have a bottle of beer to lose, still...

I think that weighing flour is an inexact science at best, but definitely more consistent than measuring it by volume. Why shouldn't it take more of my very dried out flour to weigh x ounces than it would take more damp flour to weigh x ounces in San Francisco or Florida? Unless the flour starts out in a controlled moisture environment and stays air tight there have to be differences.

I think bread making is an art, and I hope I can achieve knowing what good dough feels like instead of relying so much on the measurements by weight or volume. Teresa helped me a lot in Paney Camp (a wonderful breadmaking camp that she taught in the summer of 2007) to understand dough better, but I still need lots more experience. And Ann has given me loads of help and encouragement by phone, and many others on this forum have answered my questions here. I tend to overthink things I'm not familiar with and want to make everything science textbook perfect. Looking back, I remember several phone calls with Ann the day I made Pita breads and it didn't have oil in the recipe and it didn't stick to my stone using a recipe that had a little sugar in it. And I have several pages of notes from questions to Ann before I made the simple, food processor, Julia Child baguette recipe and then when I finally made that dough, it was with two or three calls to her during the process; it was a success! Although I know my mother made "real" bread countless times as a child and teenager when she was growing up on her Grandparents farm, she only bought frozen bread dough, let it thaw and rise and bake, when I was growing up. Yup, that's it - I need to make more bread!

Lee

Steve, this restaurant is neither Spanish nor Mexican, I just used the word "tapas" to describe the type of menu. Small portions, meant to be shared.

The food was delicious and very eclectic but no particular ethnicity.

Together we shared marinated beets, spicy garlic shrimp, the flat bread with olives and an artichoke spread, bison, venison and boar sliders (each with its own topping), seasoned potato wedges with an aoli dip and a chipolte dip, and a selection of Quebec cheeses with quince jelly slices and crisp baguette slices.

There is a restaurant in Fl and in GA, that offers the best flatbread. Here is their recipe:

Here is a link that might be useful: Season's 52 recipe

I would like to try this recipe too. Like Lee, I think the malt flavor from the beer will be especially good in the bread. I add dried malt to my own flatbread, which is more of a cracker.

Lars

Well I made it but it isn't right.

The flavour was close but a bit more sour than I recall. The texture was much too chewy. Maybe I didn't bake it long enough. I used my oven and the stone. If he used the flat top he didn't flip it because the "look" was perfect. Colour, air bubbles etc.

These are a few things that were weird to me.

The dough was lovely when kneaded, great texture and feel. However when I went to shape it the dough was very wet sticky. Did I let it rise too long?

Also I could see granules in the dough after the rise. As if not all the yeast had dissolved? Never saw that before... mind you there was no evidence of this in the baked product.

The finished bread was nice and soft but way too chewy. Not baked long enough?

All thoughts welcome. I really want to duplicate this flat bread.

I suspect you kneaded it too much....try just mixing it up...rolling and baking.
Linda C

Did you use beer in room temperature or was it cold? I have a feeling that warm beer probably will make a softer, less chewy dough. If you saw granules after kneading, you can try mixing the honey in the warm beer then proof the yeast before mixing the flour in. In that case, you will know the granules are not undissolved yeast. I would try making this flt bread at home but we don't have any beer around the house. Don't give up and keep us posted!

Al

Sharon, here is a similar recipe, maybe the instructions here will help. Although looks like they over "baked" it.

Ann

You know I love bread so I'll be trying this too Sharon. Sorry your first try wasn't what you were looking for. Maybe you need to roll it thinner than you did? I have know idea what the granules could have been. Strange for sure. I think I would use a hot cast iron skillet or grill pan for the next try.

Not the same recipe but I found this video. Maybe this technique will work for you.

David

Here is a link that might be useful: Flatbread

... i'm waiting with baited breath for more reports. I don't know if I like flat bread or not because it totally confuses me.
It is so different everywhere you try it. Prompted by this thread, I began looking at recipes and some are more like unleaven bread (no yeast) some soft and pillowy, some thin and crispy....
.. So I'm even more confused.

So just what is flatbread?

Nice warm flatbread sounds so good!

I have also read that there is a massive difference in flour measuring, as Al reported. The food calculator probably assumes 'proper' technique ex. fluffing the flour, spooning in, and leveling off with a butter knife. If you measure your flour by sticking your cup in the flour bag, you'll probably do better starting with ann_t's amounts.