Drawing by Vince Long © 2025
Meadowlark Brewing opened in Billings just a few years ago in a large, purpose-built facility located across the street from Zoo Montana. It is a brewery and a restaurant with meeting rooms and play area for small children. Originally from Sidney, Montana, they expanded here and seem to be doing pretty well.
I had one of their beers at a beerfest in 2018 and thought it would be fun to try them at their original brewery. So, a friend and I flew on Cape Air to the Sydney airport and walked from there to the brewery. The flight was beautiful and the walk was nice, about a mile. The beer and the food were great.
Meadowlark Brewing is also a donor to the Yellowstone Rim Runner's annual Run Turkey Run race held on Thanksgiving morning in downtown Billings.
When I perused their beer selection, I decided to pick the Ole Gus Scottish Ale to build a bread around. While making a bread with just the beer would be pretty easy, I wanted to add something to make a little bit special. I thought about food pairings and the malty, semi-sweetness of a Scottish ale goes well with a smoked cheese so that was it. It would be a cheese bread made with Ole Gus and smoked gouda.
The flour mix I use is my standard, a blend of bread flour, whole wheat, and a bit of rye. This brings a bit of complexity into the flavor and works well with most recipes plus, the Ole Gus is made with rye so that is just another reason they should play well together. I also decided to make this with standard yeast rather than a sourdough as I wanted the sweetness from the ale to step forward.
Ingredients
Makes 2 loaves.
2-1/2 cups (21.85 ounce) (622 grams) Meadowlark Brewing Ole Gus Scottish Ale at room temperature
2 teaspoon kosher salt
2-1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2-1/2 cup (12.4 ounce) (350 grams) white bread flour (Montana Wheat is the best)
1 cup (4.8 ounce) (135 grams) whole wheat flour
1/4 cup (1.4 ounce) (40 grams) rye flour
3 cups (12 ounce) (340 grams) smoked gouda cheese, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
4 cups (20 ounce) (566 grams) additional bread flour, approximate
Procedure
Place the ale, salt, yeast, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir until dissolved.
Add the 2-1/2 cups of bread flour, the whole wheat flour, and rye flour. Stir either by hand or by mixer for a few minutes and then let it stand for 5 minutes.
Start adding the additional bread flour stirring until it becomes thick enough to begin kneading. Either knead by hand or use a dough hook in stand mixer. You can also use the stretch and fold method. These are described on the first page of this site.
Just before the kneading is complete, add the cubed cheese. Knead until it is evenly distributed.
Spray the dough with a bit of oil and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside and let it ferment. The dough should double in size. I let mine go for about 2-1/2 hours.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured surface. Punch it down to degas it and cut into two equal amounts. Shape each into your desired type of loaf. I did mine as rounds and placed them on sheets of parchment to proof. You can also shape them as traditional loaves and place each in an oiled loaf pan. Let them proof until doubled, about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. I am baking mine in a convection oven with the bread placed inside a Dutch oven which is preheated in the oven as well. When it is up to temperature, slash the top of the loaf, place it in the Dutch oven, and bake for 16 minutes with the lid on. Remove the lid and bake for another 16 minutes. If doing regular loaf pans, you might try baking at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
When the bread is done, cool it on a wire rack before slicing.
Illustrations
Kneading is almost done. The dough looks smooth rather than shaggy. Time to add the cheese.
The cheese is incorporated.
The dough is done fermenting and ready to shape.
In the proofing stage.
Into the Dutch oven to bake.
Halfway through the baking.
The finished loaves.
The crumb.
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