Only eat what you knead: buttermilk bread

Ragazzi, Annalena knows that most of you have no wish, desire, motivation, etc, to make your own bread, and whilst she disagrees with you and thinks you're lazy for it, she respects this decision.

Well, not really; however, she refrains from posting homemade bread recipes, because she knows...

Except when she finds one that is exceptional.   And ragazzi, this one is.  You do have to go and get a product that is not going to be in your pantry (or, perhaps make a substitution, as Annalena will explain), but it's worth it. And if you make this, Annalena thinks you will almost certainly say something along the lines of "why haven't I done this before."  You will, of course, remember your manners and say a thank you to Annalena,  and she'll wait and smile.

As she has written before, Annalena started making her own bread when she found the preservatives in the bread she was buying to be too problematic.  Also, there were , and are, so many ways to make a delicious loaf of bread  that you will never find most of them in any market.  No question, there are  bread makers who care, and make wonderful bread, but let's say you have a hankering for spicy cheddar cheese bread with jalapenos?  Bet you won't find it.  Or walnut and sausage bread?  Nope.  And so on, and so forth.

This one is nowhere near as fancy as those, but it is pretty darn good.  And it's a good, basic loaf to make so that you, 'get your feet wet' or your hands in some dough.

The ingredient (actually, there are two), which you will need to gather, is buttermilk powder.   This is essentially the same thing as dried milk powder, but adapted for bread making.  You will also need semolina flour, just a bit.  If you can find neither, or are not inclined to look for them, in the recipe which follows, substitute all purpose, unbleached flour for the semolina.  As for the buttermilk powder, replace at least half, and up to 2/3 of the water, with buttermilk.  And if you have no buttermilk, then you can do one of several things.  You can make the same replacement suggested above, with whole, or 2% milk, with a tablespoon of white vinegar added.  Or, you can take a cup of yogurt,and then thin it with water or milk to make the quantity you want (use plain yogurt, kids).

Ready?  Here we go.  For two nice loaves, you will need 4 cups of all purpose white flour,  and 2 cups of whole wheat.  You can go to six cups of white, but this is such an easy way to get some fiber into your diet.  You will also need a cup of semolina flour.  As above, make the substitution, if you need to.  Now, if you have the buttermilk powder, add a half a cup of it to the flour mix.    Annalena's original recipe calls for sugar, which she dismisses as unnecessary.

Keep those dry ingredients at hand, as you put 2.5 cups of liquid into a bowl.  Again, what that liquid is, depends on what you have at hand.   (and if you happen to have left over water from boiling potatoes:  FABULOUS).  Add a tablespoon and a teaspoon of yeast to this liquid, making sure it is no warmer than room temperature.  Add a couple of teaspoons of salt.

Now, start adding that flour mixture, a cup at a time.  If you are using a mixer, you can increase it to two, and use the dough hook.  If you are doing it by hand, use a spoon.  For you by hand folks, when it gets too stiff to stir, put it on the table, and knead the rest of that flour in, little by little.  For machine folks like Annalena,  after you have the flour in, switch to a dough hook.  Knead the stuff, by hand, for about 10 minutes, or six by machine (or, until your machine tells you "I've had enough," and stops.  They do that).


You just made bread!  Yes, you did.  Now, you let the yeasty beasties do what they do, and put the dough aside, covered, for an hour and a half to two hours.  Annalena has made over 2000 loaves of bread, and she remains amazed by this process.  When the dough has doubled, punch it down, divide it into two pieces, and form logs of each piece, before putting them into lightly greased 9x5 baking pans. You can use the smaller size  8x4, but you will get a very tall, exaggerated loaf here.  There's 7 cups of flour in all.  That's a lot for two small loaves.

Cover these loaves, until they crest over the top of the pan. You're looking at probably another hour or so, while you preheat the oven to 350.

Put the loaves in, and bake them for 30-40 minutes , until you have that miraculous golden brown color.

Your home will smell like you're an old fashioned gal when you're making this, and the bread is spectacular.  You can eat it just plain, as the Guyman and Annalena did, or use it for sandwiches (as we are), of any type.

The astute amongst you will see the possibility of herbs,  or cheese, or sun dried tomatoes, or olives, or other good things in this.  Go for it, says Annalena, but try it straight up the first time, because there is nothing quite like a good, honest loaf of the homemade stuff.

She WILL turn some of you into bread bakers.