Buttermilk Bread
Buttermilk Bread
This recipe is from my neighbor Marlie who picked it up from a co-worker. The recipe makes two loaves, slightly less than two pounds each, and is easily doubled or halved.Special note: Marlie says she always refrigerates the dough overnight as it is easier to work with. She takes the dough out of the plastic tub, cuts it in half, and makes two loaves. You can also freeze one or give it to a friend. If baking both, put both on the same shelf in the over for 23 minutes, then switch and turn back to front. It depends on your oven, but she usually bakes it for 50-55 minutes. She also puts parchment paper on the bottom of the loaf pans.
Ingredients
- 2 cups lukewarm water (100 degrees or below)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tbsp granulated yeast
- 1-1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1-1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 6 1/2 cups flour King Arthur is best
- Unsalted butter, melted For greasing the pan and brushing the top of the loaf.
Instructions
- Mix the yeast, salt, and sugar with the water and buttermilk in a six-quart bowl or lidded (but not airtight) food container.
- Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon or a heavy-duty stand mixer with paddle. If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
- Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately two hours. (Marlie's flattens, never collapses.)
- The dough can be used immediately after initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold.
- Refrigerate the container of dough and use over the next five days or freeze for up to three weeks.
- On baking day, lightly grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a two-pound (large cantaloupe-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball, stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Elongate the ball into an oval. This takes about 20 seconds.
- Drop the dough into the prepared loaf pan and allow dough to rest for 90 minutes, loosely covered with plastic wrap.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a pastry brush, paint the top surface of the dough with melted butter. Bake the bread near the center of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush the top crust with more butter when the loaf comes out of the oven.
- Remove the bread from the pan. Allow to cool completely before slicing, or it will be nearly impossible to slice.
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