Fresh Baked Buttermilk Bread for Lunch

It smells as good as it looks!

Emily and Kate my Granddaughters are coming for lunch today and to help me with a couple of big projects.  I just put a different bed skirt on one of the guest beds and putting the mattress down will be a lot easier with additional hands on deck.  I also want to try to position some of the largest lighted village pieces atop the Hoosier Cabinet as they are too deep to fit on the mantle and there are way too many to fit there.  It will be easier to have help handing up rather than all of the up and down climbing!

They both love home made bread.  So this morning I dusted out the bread machine and set it on the dough cycle so I could continue my cleaning and straighten plans.

The dough is beautiful and I am confident the BL T's or PB J's or grilled cheese or hot dogs, which ever they choose will be all the better with fresh baked bread.

This recipe comes from the manufacturer of my original bread maker,  Toastmaster Corner Bakery Cook Book.  (Yes, I have done some adapting.) All of their bread recipes I have found to be especially good.  I haven't used the bread machine a lot so far this summer.  I love to use it in the dough cycle on busy days then bake a round or oval loaf on a baking stone after removing it from the mixing pan and letting it rise.  My new machine is a Zojirushi and does a great job too.  I just prefer not baking in the machine some days.

Ingredients for Buttermilk Bread,  2 pound loaf mixed in the bread machine:

1 1/2 C. buttermilk heated to 80 degrees F
1/4 C. olive oil
1/4 C. sugar
2 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. baking soda
4 1/2 C. bread flour (I like King Arthur Organic.)
1 3/4 t. instant yeast

Place all of the ingredients into the pan of the bread machine in the order given but make a shallow trench atop the flour the length of the pan with a teaspoon for the yeast.  Then sprinkle the yeast into the trench.  Be mindful to keep the yeast dry at this point.

Set the bread machine on the dough cycle.  On my machine it runs about a hour and a half.  When it has completed the cycle remove to a floured board and shape into the desired loaf.

Place the loaf on a baking stone and cover.  Let rise until doubled.  Usually 1 1/2- 2 hours.  Bake in a hot oven, 400 degrees F. for 30-40 minutes until golden.  Coll before slicing.

It is hard to beat a BLT in the summer time.

The girls were a big help to me today and we made short work of what would have taken me all day to do.  The Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches on freshly baked bread made a great lunch and of course I gave them the half of a loaf that was left from lunch to take home.