Buttermilk French Bread

What is the best thing you can do to improve your bread making? PRACTICE and patience!

Bread making is one of the most difficult and easy things I have ever done. Getting a good starter going in my fridge is what put me over the edge to understanding how to make bread. One of the tricks to your fridge starter is not to mistake that it is dead. Sometimes it just takes some attention to get it going again. I had one that I thought had dried out and died yesterday. I took it out, added a cup of water and a cup of flour and let it sit overnight on the radiator. This morning it was soupy, but a little bubbly, it didn't rise any. I added more flour until it made a manageable paste and moved it from the radiator to slow it down. I let it sit all afternoon and checked on it when I went to get a glass of water occationally. By lunch time it was a beautiful bubbly starter again. Time for some experimenting. Patience and Practice!

Buttermilk Sourdough Rolls

2 C starter
1 1/2 C buttermilk
1 t fenugreek, ground
1 t salt
4 C flour

1 egg yolk for glaze

mix moist ingredients and dry ingredients seperately. Slowly mix moist ingredients into dry ingredients. Add more flour if desired to make a sticky dough. Kneed 10 minutes. Let rise until doubled. Fold down, shape into rolls and let rise a second time. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush with egg yolk. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Buttermilk Starter

I LOVE the buttermilk starter. It's developed such a wonderful flavor. I have to leave in 6 hours and would love to get some baguettes from it, but the unfortunate thing about starters is the time it takes them to rise when it's freezing in the house. I have the starter proofing on the radiator, so hopefully I can get it on it's first rise soon. I don't know if it will be done in time, here's to hoping.

Banana Espresso Scones

One of the wonderful things about developing recipies is that you can tailor them to your tastes as well as duplicate the effort. I have bananas going bad on my counter and have spent the last couple days brainstorming about what to do with them. Today I realized I could probably make some scones out of them. Good move!

I've been learning about starter bread hydration and knew that if I could find a working scone recipe I could substitute some of the fluid out for banana. I ran across a recipe using coffee and banana while looking for a basic scone recipe. Oh, that got me inspired. I made the cookies from Martha Stewarts site last week called Chocolate Espresso Snow Caps. I have made them every year for the holidays for a few years now. I remembered at some point making Banana Chocolate Chip muffins and decided that I should combine the banana, espresso powder, and chocolate chips into a scone. The results were phenomenal! So crisp on the outside and smooth and soft on the inside. Yum! I have a cup of Lady Grey tea and a scone to get to, Enjoy!

Banana Espresso Scones

2 ½ C flour
4 t baking powder
½ t salt
¼ C sugar
½ C butter
½ C mashed banana
¼ C milk
¼ c water
1 t instant espresso
1 t vanilla
1/3 C Dark Chocolate chips

In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter until forms a fine crumb. In separate bowl, combine banana, milk, water, coffee powder, and vanilla. Add to dry mix. Stir lightly. Gently knead in chocolate chips until just distributed. Form into a circle 1” thick and cut into 8 wedges. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.

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Post Thanksgiving Baking

Today I made two substandard loaves of wheat bread. It was just the recipe off the Kitchenaid cookbook that came with the mixer. Those are ok, but not great. It will work for sandwiches.

I started a Buttermilk Sourdough Starter. I plan to feed it for a week until I finally use it to make bread. So far, it was buttermilk, bread flour, salt, water, and yeast. It sat all day at room temperature. Bubbled nicely and almost grew out of it's container. So far so good!

Buttermilk Bread

It's a rainy day in St. Louis. The kids and I have to head out later to take a friend to the doctor, the stairs are vaccumed and it's time to plan out some bread for the week. Today I have some leftover buttermilk and fresh tarragon was on sale at the grocery. Last week I made a loaf with the same ingredients and it turned out beautiful in flavor, texture, and looks. I hope to make a couple of braided breads for the holiday, but the tarragon and buttermilk are on the dockette for daily eating until Thanksgiving.

Honey Tarragon Buttermilk Bread


1/4 C water (warmed to 110 degrees)
1 pinch sugar
1 pk active dry yeast
1 1/2 C buttermilk, warmed
3 T honey
1 t salt
4-6 C flour
1 egg
2 TBSP fresh tarragon, chopped
1 t ground fenugreek

Combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit until yeast is foamy, about 10 minutes.

In mixer with dough hook, combine all ing. except egg, reserving 2 C flour. Mix until dough forms a smooth, slightly sticky ball. Knead on floured surface for a few min, adding flour as necessary, just until you can shape it into a ball. Dough should be firm and slightly sticky. Place in greased bowl, covered, to rise until doubled (1 hour). Punch down dough and form into round loaf. Beat egg slightly and brush loaf. Let double. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 45 minutes.

Enjoy!