Buttermilk Bread Dough

Caralee's Buttermilk Bread Dough

Basic Recipe-

Ingredients:

10- 11 cups Whole wheat flour, preferably freshly ground
3 cups Cultured buttermilk
1 cup Filtered water
1/2 cup Coconut oil
1 Tbsp. Real Salt
1 Tbsp. Baking Soda
(opt.) Arrowroot (to help prevent sticking- although I realize white flour could also be used, I prefer arrowroot)

Grind 6 cups of whole wheat (you may use spelt or kamut or combination of any or all) - this should yield approximately 10 1/2 to 11 cups of flour.
Pour the flour into your bread mixer (or bowl, if you do not own a mixer) and add three cups of cultured buttermilk* (or the equivalent**), one cup filtered water and 1/2 cup coconut oil or melted butter, or a mix of the two. Mix well until dough reaches a nice bread dough consistency (neither too dry nor too wet, and the dough cleans the sides of the bowl and forms a nice ball). Cover the dough with a towel or mixer lid and let sit for a 7 to 24 hours on the kitchen counter. 36 to 48 hours also works fine, but naturally will take on a sourdough flavor, which is great if that is what you are looking for.

When ready to use, add 1 Tbsp. baking soda and 1 Tbsp. Real Salt*** to the dough and mix well.

*This must be real cultured buttermilk, or it will not work.

**Other alternatives- Kefir or a good quality plain, whole milk yogurt can work in place of the buttermilk. If you use yogurt, use 2 cups yogurt and 2 cups water.

***Real Salt is native and local to our area, so this is what we use- any other high quality sea salt works great.

Proceed as follows:

Flatbread- roll out dough thinly, using a little arrowroot as necessary to prevent sticking, and cook using a tortilla maker or on a lightly buttered pan on stovetop until bubbles form and the edges look done (not sticky or doughy) . Turn once and serve hot with butter or cheese, or any other topping of your choice.

Rolls- Shape dough into any sort of roll you desire and bake in preheated 350º oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and smelling delicious.

Pizza- Roll out dough onto pizza stone, using a little cornmeal on the bottom, if desired, and bake at 350º for approximately five minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, add pizza sauce, desired toppings and cheese and broil until cheese is bubbly and slightly browned. Another option is to not pre-bake the crust, but to simply add sauce, topping and cheese onto rolled out dough and bake until the crust and cheese are golden. Enjoy!

Empanadas, cheese bread, bread sticks, pizza pockets, tortillas, scones, naan, you get the picture- use your imagination! This dough is very versatile and easy to use. Just roll it out in a little arrowroot powder, if needed, and proceed. Here are a few more variations to try:

Cinnamon rolls- Add a little Rapadura or Sucanat to your dough when you are mixing in the salt and baking soda (approximately ¼ cup) and proceed to roll out dough into a nice rectangle shape. Spread dough with butter or applesauce, cinnamon, Sucanat, raisins or nuts (optional, of course) and roll as you would to make ordinary cinnamon rolls. Cut dough with dental floss and place on stoneware or cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until done. Mix a little honey and vanilla in some homemade cream cheese and spread on hot rolls. Bon appetit!

Muffins- After you have mixed in the salt and soda, split the dough in two halves and set aside one half for later use. If you are using your bread mixer, change the dough hook to the cookie whisk and proceed with recipe. Add two to three eggs (you will have to experiment with this to see which consistency you like best), ¼ to 1/3 cup sucanat, 1 teaspoon vanilla and whatever mix-ins you prefer (blueberries are yummy, as well as pecans, etc). A little bit of raw milk may be added if the batter seems too dry. Blend well in mixer with cookie whisks and bake in muffins pans for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Serve with butter, honey butter, or cream cheese.

Bread- You can make bread with this dough if you use smallish pans and make sure that the bread is cooked through before removing it for good from the oven. Simply shape the dough into loaves and bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned on top and has a hollow sound when you knock on the top. You can also make cinnamon raisin bread by rolling dough out with butter, cinnamon, sucanat and raisins, then rolling back up and forming into a loaf. Herb bread is also yummy. I have found that larger loaves can cooked all the way if you cook the bread for about 50 minutes, or another option is to you turn off the oven after baking for 30 minutes but leaving the bread in there for an hour or so- I've baked them just before bed and then turned off the oven upon retiring and taking beautiful loaves out in the morning. I have not tried this with bread pans yet (I think stoneware would work best) but just hand-shaped "peasant" loaves, and this works great. I am continuing to experiment and will try my stone bread pans next.