Beer bread earns good crust for charity

So when the long-time baker in the Lake Macquarie village of Wangi Wangi heard that local watering holes were about to tip out the contents of tapped kegs of beer, because their doors were closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions, an amber-coloured light bulb went off in his head.

"I thought, 'We could make bread out of it!'," the co-owner of the Wangi Wangi Bakehouse said. "I didn't even know you could do it, but I couldn't see why you couldn't do it."

The baker approached Wangi RSL Club, Hotel Wangi, Toronto Workers Club and Toronto Country Club with a proposal. If those establishments donated the beer they were going to throw out, he would use it to bake bread, and the money from the sales would go to local charities.

There was perhaps an added incentive.

"We wanted to get free beer to drink, and we didn't think they'd give us free beer otherwise!," Mr Woods said.

The watering holes embraced the idea, handing over 25 kegs, each able to hold about 50 litres.

Wangi RSL donated nine kegs, amounting to thousands of dollars worth of beer.

"I think it's a great idea," said the club's secretary manager, Wayne Izzard. "The beer would have gone to waste."

David Woods and his team got pouring and baking, creating the beer bread.

"I thought it might be dense, like a scone, or soggy, but it's turned out unreal," Mr Woods said. "I'm impressed."

In the first week, Wangi Bakehouse produced a XXXX Gold white loaf. This week, Tooheys Old soy, linseed and barley loaves are coming out of the oven, and next week's offering will be Hahn Light wholemeal bread.

The team has been baking about 30 loaves a day, and the bread has been walking - not staggering - out the door.

"There's a middy in every loaf," David Woods said, before explaining the alcohol content was burnt off during the baking process.

The beer bread not only tastes good, according to the customers, but the three-dollar loaves nourish the soul. The sales of the XXXX Gold bread raised more than $500 for the local Foodbank. The money raised by the Tooheys Old bread sales will go to Toronto Meals on Wheels.

Wangi RSL supports the local Foodbank, so Wayne Izzard is pleased the club can still contribute to the cause. What's more, while he prefers "beer in a glass, it's alright in bread".

Christine Mastello, the founder and CEO of Southlake Marketplace, which operates the Wangi Foodbank, said the beer bread gesture was "beautiful".

"It's a nice thing to know that even in the midst of COVID-19, people help each other," she said.

The beery generosity will cycle through the area. Christine Mastello has decided to convert the beer bread proceeds into vouchers to spend at Wangi businesses, including the bakehouse, so that Foodbank clients can give back to the community.

David Woods said the bakehouse would continue creating beer bread as long as there was amber fluid available. So far, about seven kegs had been emptied.

"Beer tastes better when it's free," the baker laughed.

"And it doesn't taste too bad in bread at all."

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