Buttermilk Yeast Bread & Random Acts of Cooking

Posted by Brittany Arcand on January 11, 2011

That is what I feel like lately. Random foods, flying out of my kitchen in all directions without rhyme or reason or direction. One day, salads. Another day, Buttermilk Bread. Lunch on Sunday was pancakes. Today? Chicken and Dumplings. I blame a portion of this on the fact that my couch is in my kitchen while we finish renovating our family room. I wonder if my husband comes home from work and inwardly braces himself for my answer when he asks “What is for dinner?” Because…well…you just never know.

I’m sorry! Its me! I need variety in my food! I don’t like a lot of repetition. For example, there seems to be a large group of people out there who eat the same thing for lunch every day. The same thing! How is this possible?! After days and days of ham and cheese, wouldn’t you want to arm wrestle a coworker just for a bite of his reheated Thai food? Is there some kind of secret society that no one knows about that exists in office building broom closets? A noon-time black market of sorts? Do they boast to friends and family that the lettuce with egg and fat free vinaigrette that is lunch every single day is so satisfying that they do not wish to vary it, while secretly trading stellar office supplies for a Cobb salad with extra bacon, lasagna with garlic bread, or Jimmy Johns with salt and vinegar potato chips? The bonds of secrecy are strong, so we may never know.

However, on the off chance that this culinary trading post doesn’t really exist, that would mean that they really do eat the same thing for lunch every day. Or breakfast. Is it lack of imagination or do these people like the repetition? Hmmm…my feelings on this could go two ways. First, I would go insane. Or second, I would have a lot more time on my hands if I didn’t have to figure out what to cook everyday. And I spend a significant amount of time trying to decide what to cook everyday. I have major cravings (strictly food related, not baby related) and they seem to change every 24 hours. *sigh* It’s exhausting, really.

So here is to randomness! Variety! Ahah! I feel better already!

Buttermilk bread is a recipe I have had for years and I used to make all the time. I was experimenting with the recipes from the manual that came with my new bread machine-my first one ever-and this was clearly a keeper. It is the only recipe that I made just like it is was printed, with no changes. The nutritional value of it is pretty slim so I started making it less and less in favor of more healthful carbs. A recent overabundance of buttermilk that was about to spoil prompted me to pull it out, brush off the flour, and make it again. And oh my goodness. I had forgotten how light, how fluffy, how spongy, and how fantastically wonderful this bread is. No wonder I stopped making it. I would never eat anything else with this in the house! As I recall, it made fantastic french toast but we usually used it for BLT’s and sandwiches. As with most bread, it freezes great. But I enjoyed it still warm from the bread machine, slathered in I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter and a healthy drizzle of honey. My next piece will have Spiced Peach Jam on it. Yeeeeeesssssss!And who knows? Maybe one of you out there will finally have the courage to break from routine and bake this bread and use it for a roasted red pepper hummus sandwich with sharp cheddar cheese, fresh spinach, sliced tomatoes and avocado. Take that masterpiece to work and really knock their socks off! Just don’t tell me if you trade it for leftover Thai food.

Buttermilk Bread
This recipe is for the bread machine but as always, adapts well to the old fashioned method. It is directly from the Breadman Ultimate Plus, Instruction Manual and Recipe Guide.

4 c bread flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c canola oil
1 1/2 c plus 2 T low fat buttermilk
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeastPlace the ingredients in the bread machine in the order given or according to your machines manufacturers directions. Bake on the basic white setting for a 2 lb loaf. This bread does better if you do not use the rapid mode.

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