A delicious whole grain bread

Yesterday I was determined to both use up the rest of some buttermilk I had in the fridge and make some bread. So, I found a recipe for buttermilk whole wheat bread. I changed it slightly and I'm happy that it is a delicious, soft bread with very good flavor. It didn't rise as much as I would have hoped but next time I'll try using a longer rising time before forming it into loaves.

Here is my version of the recipe. I found the adapted version of this from the blog "The Fresh Loaf"

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Bread:

from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

makes 1 9"x5" or 2 8.5"x4.5" loaves

Ingredients

2 packages dry yeast or 2 teaspoons instant yeast

3/4 cup warm water (105-115F)

1-1/4 cups buttermilk, room temperature (or 1-1/4 cups water and 4 tablespoons buttermilk powder)

1-1/2 cups bread flour, approximately (or I use unbleached all purpose flour)

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

2 tablespoons brown sugar or molasses

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 - Mix together the warm water, the buttermilk, the whole wheat flour, the brown sugar or molasses, and the baking powder. Let this mixture set for about 60 minutes. This is called the autolyse method. The autolyse method causes the flour to soak up the liquids and the enzymes start to work which then breaks down the protein in the flour. This produces a very nice, fluffy bread.

2 - Mix in the instant yeast.

3 - Stir in the salt.

4 - Stir in the softened butter.

5 - Stir in bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time. I used about 1 cup in the dough.

6 - Knead by hand or by dough hook on a stand mixer for about 5 minutes or until dough is no longer sticky.

7 - Put the dough into a clean and greased mixing bowl. Put the kneaded dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 3-4 hours. I let it rise for about 2 hours, but the extra time might yield loftier loaves.

8 - Punch down the the dough slightly, shape into loaf or loaves, place in pan(s). Cover the pans loosely with with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until the dough has risen 1" to 2" above the level of the pan, about 50-60 minutes.

9 - Preheat oven to 425F 20 minutes before baking.

10 - Bake the loaf or loaves in the oven until they are golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

11 - Remove loaves from the oven and place on wire racks to cool.

Enjoy your bread & see you later this week for more gardening news!