The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [66]
Press the dough flat and divide it in two. Round and let relax, then deflate and shape into loaves. Place in greased 8″ 4″ loaf pans and let rise in a warm place until the dough slowly returns a gently made fingerprint. The loaves should arch beautifully over their pans.
Place in a preheated oven (350°F) and bake about 40 minutes, or until done. For a less deeply colored crust, turn the heat down to 325°F after 15 minutes and bake about 50 to 60 minutes in all. If the occasion merits, brush the crust with butter. Cool this bread before you slice it.
You can also make excellent rolls with this recipe. Bake them about fifteen to twenty minutes at 400°F after the bread comes out of the oven. If you want, bake them along with the bread at 325°F; they will be paler and less moist inside, and they’ll take about half an hour to bake. A sprinkle of poppy seeds is pretty. Brush the rolls with butter and serve them piping hot.
Buttermilk Bread
This is one of our most beloved recipes. Tender, featherlight, bright-tasting bread that is somehow perfect with any sandwich filling, and devastating (in its subtle way) as toast. It keeps exceptionally well, too, when hidden. The bread may be slightly extravagant for everyday, but it makes an occasion of any simple dinner.
For the lightest, most delicate version, use very finely ground spring wheat flour. Coarsely stone-ground flour makes an earthier, tenderer bread. For rolls that are light as a feather, include the larger amount of butter in the dough; for bread, the smaller measure is plenty. Well-kneaded dough made with bread flour will give airy, chewy rolls; if you prefer soft rolls, use a cup of whole wheat pastry flour in place of one cup of the bread flour.
The buttermilk conditions the dough to give the bread its special tenderness. Because of this conditioning, or mellowing, of the gluten, be careful not to overwork the dough, particularly if you are kneading by machine. Be careful, too, not to let it rise too long at each stage or else the loaves may tear in the final proof.
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)
½ cup warm water (120 ml)
¾ cup very hot water (175 ml)
¼ cup honey (60 ml)
1 ¼ cups cold buttermilk (300 ml)
5 ½ cups whole wheat flour (830 g)
2 teaspoons salt (11 g)
2 to 4 tablespoons butter (28–56 g)
Mix the hot water with the honey and add the buttermilk. The temperature should be just slightly warm.
Stir the flour and salt together, making a well in the center. Pour the yeast and buttermilk mixture into the well, and stir from the center outwards, incorporating all the flour. Test the dough to see whether more flour or more water is needed and adjust accordingly. The bread is lightest if the dough is slightly soft. For rolls, it should be quite soft. Knead about 20 minutes, adding the butter in cold bits at the end of the kneading time.
Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in a warm, draft-free place. After about an hour and a half, gently poke the center of the dough about ½ inch deep with your wet finger. If the hole doesn’t fill in at all or if the dough sighs, it is ready for the next step. Press flat, form into a smooth round, and let the dough rise once more as before. The second rising will take about half as much time as the first.
Press the dough flat and divide in two. Round it and let it rest until relaxed, then deflate and shape into loaves or rolls. The recipe makes two loaves for 8″ 4″ pans. Or shape the dough into rounds, flattening them slightly, and place in pie tins. Bake a little less time than loaves. These rounds, cut into wedges, make really good dinner bread. For rolls, one loaf’s worth of dough makes 9 large or 15 small dinner rolls in 8″ 8″ or 9″ 13″ pans, respectively. Sesame seeds