Honey Buttermilk Bread

Hubby has the honor of slicing the Honey Buttermilk Bread

I have a buttermilk jug in the fridge that has been sitting for more than a week now, originally intended for a caramel cinnamon roll recipe that I saw, but never had the gumption to make (somehow, really sweet rolls make me cringe at the present, with my struggles not to add any more pounds on my baggage).

I was preparing Pork Roasted in Mang Tomas Sarsa and was thinking of making a bread to go with it for supper. Then I saw the buttermilk...so off I looked for recipes. I combined a recipe of Honey Buttermilk Bread and one from breadworld since I wanted to make use of my Rapid Rise Yeast.   I imagined in my head how I was going to proceed, then prayed.

I was so excited when supper time came, and we were not disappointed with the outcome of the recipe I developed for a buttermilk bread that has honey and egg in addition to the old-fashioned recipe.
It has a crunchy crust (typical of buttermilk breads, I have observed) that we all loved and the flavor and texture were superb! The only drawback was that this recipe would have been good for a gathering of 10 people (there were only 4 of us). I used the big 9x5 loaf pan and came up with 10 big slices (not counting the ends). Since one slice is huge, I had several slices left. This bread is also good as toast with jam for breakfast.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt
1 package rapid rise
4-1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp honey

Instructions:

Place and mix 1 cup of bread flour in mixing bowl with yeast, baking soda, salt and sugar.
Attach a paddle to the stand mixer.
Heat together buttermilk, water, honey and butter to raise temp up to 120-140ºF. Pour this gradually into the bowl while on the stir setting then increase to low medium setting. Stop and scrape the bottom of the bowl then repeat beating for another minute.
Add the egg and some flour.  Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
Change the paddle with a dough hook.
Turn to stir setting and gradually add the remaining flour until a stiff dough is formed.
Turn onto a generously-floured surface and knead until elastic, about 4 minutes. This will be sticky.
Place the dough onto an greased surface and cover with a greased cling wrap. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Place dough on a floured surface and punch to deflate. Sprinkle flour where it is sticky, and fold in two and fold again in three (no hard rules here; just fold to have a compact dough the will give you a rectangular shape. Flatten with your hands then roll like jelly roll. Pinch the ends to seal.
Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan and place the rolled dough.
Cover with greased cling wrap. Let rise for about 35-45 minutes or until doubled.
Bake at 375ºF for 30-35 minutes (if top gets too dark, you may cover loosely with foil).