Day 31: Buttermilk Whole-Wheat Bread

This bread came out a lot differently than I was expecting. The recipe uses buttermilk obviously, and a bunch of molasses. When I was making the dough the molasses was overpowering the flavor and smell of the buttermilk, (which I was thankful for) so I just figured this would come out as a sweeter bread. While baking the molasses completely disappeared and the buttermilk came back to give it some taste once done. It was the weirdest thing and I was not expecting it at all. Another thing that happened was that it about doubled in height while in the oven. There was plenty of space above the loaf but it rose and just sank into the heating element. It left a sweet mark on the top, but didn't affect the bread anymore than that. 

As I mentioned before, the bread started as molasses bread but eventually came out as buttermilk. Buttermilk gives bread a unique taste and mouth feel when used for baking bread. There have been a few recipes I've done so far that used it, and I'm sure there are plenty to go in the book. The recipe was pretty simple, except for the fact that there wasn't a first rising. You just proof it once in the pans and throw it in the oven. This might be why it rose a lot more than I was expecting. As a bread it tastes really good. It's really really big and extremely fluffy. It's got a good crust (especially at the very top) and some great color. I already made a sandwich out of it and it was excellent. 

As January comes to a close I can't believe how many different breads I've made so far. This is easily the most baking I've done at home in my entire life. Whenever I look at the recipes to come I get extremely excited to bake all these different kinds of bread, rolls, and baked goodies. I'm having fun with whole wheat but I can't wait to get to the real crazy stuff!