Wheat beers such as hefeweizen, weissbier and wit are all light beers made from a mix of malted barley and wheat. In southern Germany the typical hefeweizen is fermented with a non-flocculating yeast, and it is not filtered before bottling. This gives the beer a yeasty, bread like flavor accompanied by aromas reminiscent of banan, cloves (we’ve encountered that combo before), coriander and citrus. I’ve just begun to read up on brewing and my first batch of a partial mash hefeweizen is bubling along. As I pitched the liquid hefeweizen yeast into the wort I decided to keep a tiny amount for baking. If hefeweizen beer is reminiscent of bread, why not use the yeast for making bread? In particular I was curious whether some of the aroma top notes characterizing hefeweizen beer would stand out in bread made using the same yeast.
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The Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (“SEAS”) and the Alícia Foundation have developed a new General Education science course, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter”. The class is limited to currently enrolled Harvard undergrads, but the general public will have an opportunity to attend topic-related public lectures given by the guest chefs and faculty affiliated with the course. The lectures are not a replication of the course, but will consist of a brief introduction by Harvard professors followed by a broad-based talk by the chef. The first public lecture tomorrow features Harold McGee, Ferran Adria and José Andrés, so it would be well worth a visit if you live nearby. More info on venue, times and schedule here.

[Thank's to Matthew Pierce for the tip!]