Spent Grain Anzac Biscuits

[phoenixdigital]

Thanks for these! I'll definitely give the bread a go. I've been looking for something to do with spent grain, it seems such a waste to throw it out. I tried putting it on the compost heap once but the rats went NUTS. Tore hell out of the compost bin and kicked up all kinds of a racket under the house. I figured they must've been getting drunk off the fermenting grains? In any case the missus was not happy.

While its a good use for spent grain. I discovered while making both that you end up using stuff all grain for both. I reckon I used less than 1% of my entire grain bill making one loaf of bread and 32 anzac biscuits.

A heap is still going to end up in the bin. But at least some will be put to good use.

 

[Moad]

Yeah I made two lots of the Anzac biscuits, I used 1.5 to 2 cups in each batch and it was still a VERY small portion of the grain.

I might try and make dog biscuits to use up more of it, I threw it in the green bin once and the maggots went crazy through it.

Probably the second most wasteful part of brewing to Water. Is there anyone than needs (not kneads) this stuff do you think?

 

[brewbienewbie]

Here we go then: sourdough loaf with spent grains. It's bloody good!

 

[kierent]

One question I'm wondering, are the husks a bit tough in the cooked product? Or is it like multigrain bread, they go soft after being cooked?

 

[kierent]

To answer my own question after doing a batch last night, yep you do get a bit of husk in your mouth but it's good for you I did a double batch to use more grain but it was so wet i ended up just putting it in a baking tray and making an anzac slice. A bit floury and definitely a different flavour to the usual anzacs but pretty good i reckon. The kids love it!

 

[NickB]

I've recently been advertising on Freecycle (since my chooks died) for people waning chook food. Had a heap of responses, and you usually end up with a carton of eggs or similar If you find a regular.

Otherwise, have definitely though of dog bikkies and bread. May still give it a go!

Cheers

 

[wbosher]

One of my wife's relatives has a few chooks, I like the idea using spent grain for the feed in return for some fresh farm eggs. What do you do, do you dry it out first? Or are they quite happy eating soggy grains?

 

[phoenixdigital]

I've recently been advertising on Freecycle (since my chooks died) for people waning chook food. Had a heap of responses, and you usually end up with a carton of eggs or similar If you find a regular.

Otherwise, have definitely though of dog bikkies and bread. May still give it a go!

Cheers

That sounds like a great idea. I might do the same.

Haven't we taken out most of the "good stuff" from the grain that the chickens would use for sustenance?

Would it be like giving the chickens a low carb meal?

 

[kierent]

That's a point. I wondered that for the anzac bikkies actually, not that you eat anzacs for nutritional reasons. But I did wonder if there's much left in the grain. Any scientists here? From what I understand, the mash converts the starches to sugar which we then extract. The fibre would be left, what else is good in grain? Is carb different to starch or are they one and the same?

 

[mr_wibble]

From what I have read you need bread (strong) flour which has more gluten than plain flour.

Yeah it's got more gluten because it has a higher protein content (gluten is a protein composite).
You can check the average protein content in the nutritional information on the pack.

In my local supermarket there isn't a whole lot of difference between plain flour and bread flours, at most usually only a couple of percent.
Sometimes the organic plain flour has the same or more protein as the strong flour too.
(You can also get soft flour, with less protein, but I've never seen it in woolies)

The gluten forms a net which traps the gas bubbles from the yeast.

 

[mr_wibble]

That sounds like a great idea. I might do the same.

Haven't we taken out most of the "good stuff" from the grain that the chickens would use for sustenance?

Would it be like giving the chickens a low carb meal?

I think chooks know what's good for them and what's not.
For example, ours only really pick at white bread iff they're really hungry.

But for spent grain, they go crazy.

I can dump 7kg (dry weight) of spent grain out on the grass, and they little buggers hoover it up like there's no tomorrow.
Even when it's all gone, barely a stain on the grass, they're back the next day scratching for any left-overs.

 

[MartinOC]

Good stuff. I use some of my spent grain to make into dog biscuits. I just make the mix on the fly with obviously grain a bit of flour, egg, oil, crushed garlic and a stock cube. They love them. I like the idea of anzac biscuits though and could see it working really well. I find it amazing that if you try the spent grain as it is it tends to stick to your teeth like pop corn skins, but once its cooked as in biscuits or bread they loose that stick to your teeth factor.

I'd advise a bit of a re-think of the dog-biscuit recipe. Garlic/onions etc. are harmful to dogs, even in small amounts.

http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/StoryTemplate_Process.cfm?Story_No=257#ct-4

'Just the first link I found......