I have decided that buttermilk is a great thing to have around the house now. I like using it for breads and things. It gives everything a really good flavor, adding a buttery richness and the tang of sour cream or yogurt. I was inspired to make bread in a loaf pan by Kelli at Culinary Epiphanies. I rarely use a loaf pan for bread, prefering to shaped loaves by hand, but her loaves always look so great. Besides, this is a more conventional size for making sandwiches.
This is such a good bread. It’s really basic and has a very soft, light texture. It makes fabulous dinner rolls. It (unsurprisingly) makes a great sandwich bread. I personally like it toasted with jam.
Honey Buttermilk Bread
1/4 cup water, (warmed, 110F)
1 pinch sugar
1 packet active dry yeast (rapid rise is fine, too)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, warmed
2-3 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
Combine water, sugar and yeast. Let sit until yeast is foamy, about 10 minutes.
In the bowl of an electric mixer with dough hook, combine all ingredients (except egg). Mix until dough forms a smooth, slightly sticky ball. Knead dough on a floured surface for a few minutes, just until you can shape it into a ball. Don’t work too much flour into the dough. It should be firm, but still slightly sticky. Place in greased bowl, covered, to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
Punch dough down and shape into rolls or a loaf. Beat egg slightly and brush top(s) of bread.
Preheat oven to 375F while bread rises.
Rolls: Place well spaced on a baking sheet. Let rise until almost doubled, 40 minutes. Bake 20 minutes, until well browned.
Loaf: Place in greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, 40 minutes. Bake 45 minutes, until loaf is browned and sounds hollow when tapped. Cover loaf with aluminum foil if top appears to be browning too quickly.
Let cool for 30 minutes before slicing.
Makes 1 large loaf or 10-12 rolls
On a totally unrelated note, I’m glad that I have been able to post so much lately. I first thought that it was a sign of blogger addiction, but now I realise that it’s symptomatic of my cooking addiction combined with my ever- growing desire to photograph my cooking. Frankly, it also saves me the trouble of messing with recipe cards and whatnot when I want to make things again. Yes, my laptop lives in my kitchen now.
I’m not ashamed.
Jessica
March 15, 2005Wow, a good loaf with all-purpose flour AND rapid rise yeast? I have to try this one, along with the gazillion other recipes I’ve collected from blogs!
Nic
March 15, 2005Heh, I sympathise with the gazillion recipe backlog! This bread is a good one, though. And it’ll still be good if you don’t get around to it for a while. =)
purplegirl
March 17, 2005hi, nic.! thanks for visiting my site (Kitchen Ni Lola — http://lolaskitchen.blogspot.com)
aah, so you’re a baker… i am drooling over this honey buttermilk bread of yours and that’s the bread i’ll bake next. i’m more of a cook (eyeballing ingredients) than a baker. too exact for my tastes. but i can see liking it. the aroma of baked bread that fills the kitchen is unbelievable.
i’ll be checking regularly as to what you’re baking!
Nic
March 17, 2005Thanks, purplegirl. You’ll like the bread – I promise!
And after awhile, you can even begin to eyeball ingredients for baking. There are some failures, but it’s exciting when things you just threw together turn out. Of course, you can’t always make them again…
Kelli
March 19, 2005Hi Nic!
I am so flattered. =) And that is one beautiful loaf of bread! I’ll definitely have to try it soon… of course, I’ll have to cut some of tht AP flour with whole-grain flour.
Nic
March 19, 2005You’re welcome, Kelli. Let me know how it turns out with some/all WW flour. I hope it’s even better!
water
April 7, 2006I don’t know why! when baked for 35 minutes the loaf was ok, but 10 minutes later, it turned out to be so dark. The crust is too hard. Fortunately the inner still soft and tastes good.
Hailey's
August 22, 2006I made the bread today and it was awesome!!! I somehow had buttermilk and tried to get rid of it by using it in recipes, yours by far the best one. I made rolls instead of a loaf, since it’s easier to eat. With Philadelphia cream cheese, YUM!!!! Thanks!
Tiptoe Shortbread
September 16, 2007Made this today and it’s in the oven as we speak, loved making it having never made bread with fresh yeast before. Have a second loaf rising aswell – Delicious
nikita
October 30, 2009Hi,
I tried to make this bread yesterday. It was one of my better bread baking attempt. But, I had a few problems. Wondering if you could give some insight on those. The bread dough was extremely sticky. By the time I finished kneading, I might have used nearly 5 and half cups of flour. The dough was still somewhat sticky. Is this normal? After baking, the crust was way too hard. The inside was quite nice. Only the top crust was a problem. Was it due to the dough kneading problem? Does the bread stay soft the next day too?
Jane
May 23, 2011Lovely bread with exact measurements. I replaced half cup flour with whole wheat. Also sprinkled some herbs and sesame seeds on top. Was excellent. Thanks for the recipe.