I'm kind of a purist when dealing with bread and beer. I consider REAL bread and REAL beer to be solid and liquid versions of each other. In the case of beer, back in the 1980s I joined a group of hobby brewers. At that time US beer was the worst in the world. Today with the craft beers the best beer in the world is available here. I know of a few craft beers that came about from hobby brewers. My hobby friends even talked about going pro. REAL beer shouldn't be filtered. When I lived in Austria I came into contact with REAL bread; “Bauernbrot ('farmers bread)” It is baked in two kilo round loaves (about 4 pounds). In antiquity it was baked in the fall with the grain harvests and stored on shelves in the one room houses. There was always an ax handy, since after a few weeks it was needed. It was softened up in soup. I recall an incident when I went to the bakery to buy a loaf and was told there wouldn't be any until tomorrow. I pointed up to a shelf containing several. The lady told me that they wouldn't be available until the next day. She recognized me as a foreigner, so she explained that it would make me sick if eaten so fresh. I promised I wouldn't cut into it until the next day, so she reluctantly sold one to me. Of course I went home and ate several slices. No problem. When we lived in Miami there was a German bakery, so it was available there. Now I have to bake it myself. The recipe is quite simple: two parts whole wheat, one part rye. Rye doesn't have much of the component (Can't think of what it's called right now) that helps rising, and whole wheat doesn't rise as much as white flour, so it's quite heavy, I make it with sour dough, so it has to have at least 10-12 hours before baking. It's hard to knead, so I use my bread machine for the kneading and bake it elsewhere, after rising over night. If one searches for 'Bauernbrot' on the internet, recipes come up, but I haven't found any that are real: two parts whole wheat-one part rye. A version of it calls for fennel, best if chopped up a bit.
@James Hintze Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with us. It would be a tedious World if we were all purists. However , may those who are, always find a voice and a place at the table! Sorry, but dissing other's favorite beer and cutting our hard bread with an ax, doesn't sound too inviting. BREAD AND BEER BAND (Full Album) 69 Private Press Elton John-One of the Worlds Rarest Records £2000