Wow.
Time got away from me.
Just pretend that I have regaled you with tales of hard manual labor in the yard and garden, followed by enormous satisfaction and handfuls of aspirin and we will be all caught up!
What snapped me out of my blogging slump was a foray into yeast dough territory.
(Oh Gawd. It's true. This is a foodie blog. Go ahead, try to deny it. It won't work.)
Hey, a farm girl has got to eat. And farm girls need to use what they have on hand to best advantage. And that's what I did.
I have been getting my half gallon of raw milk every week, which includes a generous amount of cream that floats to the top. I have been making butter with that every week, which leaves me with buttermilk. I decided to add some commercial buttermilk to mine as culture.
Then I spent too much time on Food Gawker cruising through the recipes using buttermilk.
Just for the record, there are WAY too many recipes for buttermilk pancakes and buttermilk biscuits.
I'm just sayin'.
I finally ran across a recipe for buttermilk bread. And of course, I had to try it.
After all these years of baking bread, I'm pretty darned good at turning out whole grain loaves. I know how they roll. But I have never really had great luck with white bread. The recipes I have tried are usually too light and fluffy and prone to holes, or tasteless and dry. But as of an hour or so ago, I think my luck has changed.
I could tell by the feel of this dough that I could possibly have a winner....
When I took it out of the oven, I was even more hopeful..
I love bread.
The stuff is gorgeous.
And I know it's getting a bad rap right now. But I'm standing by the staff of life through this difficult time. I haven't forgotten the war on eggs. And butter. And coconut oil. And any number of other 'bad for you' foods.
So I cut into the loaf....
Oh my.
It wasn't too airy and delicate. It doesn't know the meaning of dry. Nor was it too dense and gummy. It was just right. And it tastes wonderful.
Thanks to the fact that when I read the recipe, my baker's 'spidey sense' told me that one teaspoon of salt was not enough for this amount of dough, so I put two.
I was right.
And I now have a good use for my homemade buttermilk, which I will be having on hand all the time now.
Anyone have a favorite recipe that uses buttermilk?
I'd love to hear about it.
When I took it out of the oven, I was even more hopeful..
I love bread.
The stuff is gorgeous.
And I know it's getting a bad rap right now. But I'm standing by the staff of life through this difficult time. I haven't forgotten the war on eggs. And butter. And coconut oil. And any number of other 'bad for you' foods.
So I cut into the loaf....
Oh my.
It wasn't too airy and delicate. It doesn't know the meaning of dry. Nor was it too dense and gummy. It was just right. And it tastes wonderful.
Thanks to the fact that when I read the recipe, my baker's 'spidey sense' told me that one teaspoon of salt was not enough for this amount of dough, so I put two.
I was right.
And I now have a good use for my homemade buttermilk, which I will be having on hand all the time now.
Anyone have a favorite recipe that uses buttermilk?
I'd love to hear about it.