BEST bread ever! I have been baking bread for 45 years and I think this is my favorite bread. This makes a very large loaf and is absolutely wonderful. I didn't have buttermilk so used regular milk with 1 TBSP. of white vinegar instead and put the soda in with the milk to start working. I used 2 1/2 cups of King Arthur wheat flour and 1 cup of King Arthur white bread flour. It needs that extra 1/2 cup of flour. I used 2 1/2 tsp of yeast and that was perfect which I always poof with the 1/4 c. of water with 1/2 tsp of sugar. I also used 1 tsp. of cinnamon and it was full of flavor. I mixed it in my bread machine and added the cranberries/walnut to the last of the mixing before rising. After the dough cycle I formed it into a large bread pan or put it on a cookie sheet and form it in a circle. Either works wonderful. If you want a more crusty bread I recommend the cookie sheet method. The bread is so tender on the inside and also makes wonderful toast. I bake it at 350 for 40 minutes. We used whipped cream cheese on it instead of butter. Perfection. This goes to the top of our bread recipes for a healthy wonderful bread. I am going to try 100% wheat also which should work good. Best Bread Winner!
I'm new to bread making. I do not have a bread machine but am enjoying my new Kitchen Aid mixer...anyway this bread was easy and the flavor is great. It makes a beautiful loaf and it is perfect sliced and toasted with coffee in the morning. The cooking time in my gas oven was about double the time given for the bread machine.
This has to be the most delicious bread that I have made.. it did call for more flour.. I used an additional 1/3 cup flour and the yeast, since I use bread machine yeast was 1 1/2 tsp.. but this 1 1/2 lb loaf went up a little bit above the top of the pan.. it was beautiful, chewy, and because of the buttermilk it made the cranberries slightly tart and I used orange blossom honey and it had the most fabulous flavor all together.. thanks its a keeper.. and this bread was wonderful with ham on it..
I love this bread, but I find it a total pain to make the traditional way; the dough is incredibly stick and needs way too much extra flour. So, I've adapted the recipe to fit with the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day method. Increase water to 1/3 cup at yeast to 3/4 TBSP. Add yeast to water & buttermilk. Add honey, melted butter, egg. Dump the dry ingredients on top, and stick your hand in and mix until just combined, wetting your hands if you need to in order to get all try dry ingredients incorporated. DO NOT KNEAD. Now just cover and let the dough sit on your counter or somewhere warm for 2-5 hours. Then refrigerate for up to 5 days (because of the raw egg). Whenever you want some bread, pull off a chunk of dough & shape it. Let it warm up & rise a bit (this will take about 1.5 hrs, it'll be 'wobbly' when it's ready). Then bake as per usual. This is much easier than struggling with the incredibly sticky dough.
I made this bread with some changes to the original recipe s we are diabetic and it turned out marvelous. I used the knead cycle of my bread maker and had it ready to go in the oven when my husband came home from work. After the knead cycle was done I had to go to work. When I got back home the bread had been baked and tasted! My husband made the comment that I had really outdone myself with this one! My changes were: 1/2 tbs honey & 1 1/2 tbs. of Splenda 1 1/2 c. bread flour & 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour butter in place of margarine. I did not have any baking soda available but it did not hurt the recipe at all. Also I did not have buttermilk on hand. so used 1 c. milk with 1 tbs. white vinegar. I can see this recipe will be used a lot at our house! If using the bread machine remember the liquid ingredients need to go in first and be kept away from the yeast.
I also tried the alterations by adding 1 full tsp cinnamon 2 1/2 c wheat flour and 1 cup regular bread flour. I had the bread machine do all the work and removed the dough at the end of the rise cycle and put into two loaf pans and baked in the oven at 350 for about 30-40 min. It was great on its own but I also mixed up about 1/2 c powdered sugar 1 1/2 tbsp melted butter 1 tbsp milk and 1 tsp vanilla to make a glaze. Thanks for the delightful recipe!
This is the best bread with turkey! It is terrific for turkey sandwiches too. Very moist and flavorful! Oh, and I used regular milk.
Thank you!
I recently rediscovered my bread machine when I cleaned out a cabinet and after trying this recipe I'm glad I did! I substituted whole wheat flour for half the bread flour and it turned out great! I will make this regularly.
Great bread with wonderful texture. The only problem I had with it was that it rose so high the lid of my breadmachine kept opening. Top didn't get baked completely so tried to bake slightly longer and the edges got too dark and the top still wasn't cooked. Just cut the top off and the rest was fine. Next time will reduce recipe slightly. Tastes great toasted with butter cinnamon and sugar!
My loaf had a disappointingly dense texture--kind of a cross between an over-mixed muffin and a cellulose kitchen sponge. Not sure what I did wrong. Bummer.
