Yet another use for using up that buttermilk you bought for the biscuits. Plus, I just felt like making a loaf of bread. It happened to be on a day when I made another one of those beer-can chickens on the grill—a new family favorite—but there was enough to eat with the white bean stew the next day, too. Now, generally, I don’t like to pile on the starches in a meal, so for me, both bread and beans is a little much, but my husband can handle it, while I preferred to eat a slice smeared with butter for lunch.
This is a soft and kind of sweet bread, because of both the oatmeal and honey, even though the small amount of oatmeal is barely visible. I think the buttermilk is the hidden star, though.
Buttermilk Bread with Oatmeal and Honey
I made the bread in a stand mixer, but you could knead by hand.
1 pkg (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons warm water
1 cup whole buttermilk
1/2 cup whole grain rolled oats
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
about 3 cups bread flour, more as needed to achieve a soft but not sticky dough
- In a small dish, combine the yeast, sugar, and water. Let sit for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, using a dough hook, combine the buttermilk, oats, butter, and honey.
- Beat in salt, baking soda, 2 cups of the flour, and the yeast mixture.
- Beat in as much of the 3rd cup of flour as needed to achieve a soft, pliable dough. Do not add so much that the dough becomes stiff and dry. When the dough comes together, continue kneading at a higher speed for 5-10 minutes, until the dough holds together around the dough hook.
- Remove the dough, form into a tight ball, and add about 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to the bowl. Then turn the dough in the bowl until covered with oil; cover the bowl with a pastry cloth or towel, and set in a warm place to rise. It took a full 1 1/2 hours for mine to double in size.
- I punched down the dough and let it rise a second time in the bowl for about 30 minutes, then I punched it down again and shaped it into a loaf, placing it into a greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pan: Shape the dough into a rectangle of 9″ x 15″, then fold over each short end to the middle and roll to a loaf shape. Place seam side down in the baking pan. Let rise for another 30 minutes, until it reaches the top of the pan.
- Preheat oven to 350° during the last rise. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, and then check for a browned crust, and a kind of hollow feeling when tapped. I don’t trust the tapping on loaves in a baking pan. Mine had to bake for closer to 45 minutes to get the desired crust color.
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