Jheri wrote:
> Hi, Am brand new to bread baking. Do you have a copy of your recipe
> with more explicit instructions? Sorry to be a pain - Jheri
Hi Jheri,
Believe me, you are not being a pain. We all have to start somewhere and
the beginning is he best place. After all, we bread-heads need to help one
another.
I have rewritten the Buttermilk Bread recipe to expand the directions for
you. Hopefully there is enough detail that you can now make the
recipe. Please shoot me an email if you have any more questions.
Let me know how it turns out and....
Happy Baking!!!
Don Bischoff
* Exported from MasterCook *
Dede's Buttermilk Bread
Recipe By :Bread Machine Magic - Book of Helpful Hints - Rehberg & Conway
Serving Size : 36 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Breads: Yeast
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 cups water
1/2 cup buttermilk, dried
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons margarine, unsalted -- melted
6 cups bread flour
4 1/2 teaspoons dry Instant active yeast or dry active yeast
DIRECTIONS
1. In your work bowl, put the two cups of water, the yeast and just a
pinch of sugar. Mix it up and let it sit about 5 - 10 minutes. This is
called "proofing" the yeast. It means that you are verifying that you
don't have dead yeast. After about five minutes it should be foaming and
that indicates it is active. If nothing happens the yeast is
dead. Speaking of dead, the temperature of the water is critical. Between
100 and 110 F is optimum. Yeast dies at 120 F so be careful. Better too
cool than too hot. While the yeast is proofing, get out the rest of your
ingredients and utensils. The proofing step is not absolutely
necessary. Many people don't do it they just add the yeast right to the
dry ingredients. I buy bulk yeast two pounds at a time therefore I like
to verify that the yeast is indeed active therefore I proof it.
2. Add in the oil, powdered buttermilk salt and honey to the work bowl and
stir it up.
3. Add in two cups of the flour and stir it in. Add the rest of the flour
a little at a time stirring it in until a shaggy mass begins to form and
the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. By that time
you should have used about four to five cups of flour. Now's the time to
get your hands dirty. Just reach into the bowl and start mixing it with
one hand squeezing and pushing it with your fist adding more flour until
you can no longer work it in the bowl. Lightly dust your work surface with
flour then dump the whole mess out on top of it. Dust the top of the dough
with flour and begin kneading the flour in using a fold, push, turn
technique. It will probably take a total kneading time of ten to twelve
minutes. When the dough has reached the proper consistency it will be
tacky to the touch. Not sticky, not dry, just a slight tacky feel. When
that point is reached, form the dough into a ball and set it aside.
4. Select a large bowl for the dough to rise in. Remember it is going to
double in bulk. Lightly grease the bowl using Pam, veg. oil, margarine,
shortening etc. Roll the dough ball around in the bowl to cover it
completely with the oil then cover the bowl with cling wrap or a linen dish
towel and set it in a warm place to rise. No hotter than 85 F and allow it
to double. I like to let it ferment at room temp which is about 72
F. Now, get a cup of coffee and read your morning paper, this should take
about an hour.
5. Generously grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans with shortening and set
aside. When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down and remove it to
your work surface. Knead the dough a few times to get the gas out of it
then form it into two loaves and place it into the greased pans. Loosely
cover it with cling wrap or the linen towel, and let it rise in a warm
place. Again, not above 85 F. Better low than high.
6. Begin preheating your oven to 350 F. Now get another cup of coffee and
read more of your paper you've got another 45 minutes to an hour.
7. When the dough has once again doubled it will have pretty much filled
up the pans and the domed top will be about two inches or so above the tops
of the pans. Carefully remove the cling wrap or towel and place the pans
on a rack in the center of your preheated oven to bake.
8. Now here comes the tricky part. Since all ovens are different it's
difficult to give a time frame for baking. My oven will bake a loaf in 25
minutes. This recipe tends to brown quickly so keep an eye on it. When it
is sufficiently browned, drape a piece of aluminum foil over each pan to
reduce the amount of heat reaching the top of the loaf. It will now bake
primarily from underneath.
There's one sure fire, lead pipe cinch method for telling when your loaf is
done. Use a remote reading internal thermometer such as a Polder, Pyrex or
whatever brand is available. They are readily available in cooking stores
such as Williams Sonoma but for your best price look at Wally Mart or
Target. The remote read thermometer consists of a temperature probe on a
cable about 30 inches long and it plugs into a little electronic gizmo that
accurately reads the internal temperature of whatever it's stuck into.
After the loaves have baked about twenty minutes, stick the probe into the
very center of the loaf, run the wire outside to the readout device and
close the oven door. When the internal temperature of the bread is between
190 and 200 F your bread is perfectly done.
9. When the loaves are baked, remove the pans from the oven and carefully
remove the loaves by inverting the pan and dropping the loaf onto one hand
that is covered with a pot holder or oven mitt. Place the bread on a wire
rack to cool and get another cup of coffee. It will take about an hour to
cool.
10. Some people like to slice the bread as soon as it comes out of the
oven. DON'T!!! The baking process has not yet completed and the cooling
portion is important for maximum development of flavor and crumb. If you
cut the loaf after waiting about an hour or so it'll still be slightly warm
inside and at its absolute peak flavor. YUM!!!