Easy Oven Baked Buttermilk Loaf Bread
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Delicious bakery bread that is impossibly easy and takes under three hours!
Ingredients
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • ⅓ cup water
  • 2 tbsp melted butter
  • 3½ tbsp honey
  • 3½ cups bread flour
  • 2¼ tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast (usually a packet)
  • 1½ tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Before you begin make sure to put your oven rack on the lowest notch and turn oven on to 200 degrees. Place an overturned baking sheet or baking stone if you have one on the rack. Once oven reaches 200 degrees turn it off. This makes the perfect home for rising dough.
  2. Take your buttermilk and water and heat to about 110-115 degrees, if you don't have a thermometer just do a finger check. Is it a comfortable hot tub temperature? Not too warm, not too hot. Jussssst right.
  3. Add your melted butter & honey and whisk until fully mixed together. Set aside.
  4. Next in your stand mixer using the dough hook, mix together the bread flour, yeast & salt on a low speed. Gradually add your wet mixture, bring the dough together about a minute or two and then increase speed to medium until dough is completely smooth for about another eight minutes.
  5. Use the spare time to clean ;)
  6. Once dough has come together, lightly flour your counter space and knead the dough by hand until you form a ball. Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover bowl tightly with saran wrap (plastic). Place the dough bowl in the warmed oven (THAT IS OFF) and let it double in size for about an hour.
  7. After your dough has finished rising and doubling in size remove from bowl and lay it out again on a lightly floured surface. pat the dough into a rectangle that measures about 8 inches long and is an inch in height (roughly). Roll the dough, length wise, toward you (refer to pictures if confused) making sure to keep a tight roll. Pinch the seams close and place the loaf, seam side down, in a very well greased 9x5 inch loaf pan, pressing down the bread into the corners. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size for another thirty minutes.
  8. While your dough is rising for a second time, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place a spare loaf pan or if you do not have a spare one a baking dish will work, filled with about 2 cups of boiling water (so it's about an inch high... you may need to add more if you are using a baking dish) in oven on top of the overturned baking sheet or baking stone.
  9. After dough has finished doubling in size for a second time place in oven inside the water filled loaf pan or baking dish (it will still be in its original loaf pan, you are just giving it a steam bath with it being inside an additional loaf pan that is filled with water) and let bake for about 40-50 minutes until crust is golden brown.
  10. Remove from oven and let dough rest for about 10 minutes in pan and then remove from loaf pan and let rest for about two hours on a wired rack. Its easier to slice after two hours, or you can just begin tearing it apart with your hands, which i do, after thirty minutes. Oops.
  11. For storage, double wrap the bread in plastic wrap, will be good for three days on the counter, or double wrap and freeze for about a month. I like to slice mine after the third day and place in a freezer bag. That way I can toast it for breakfast.
Notes
Rapid-Rise or Instant is different than Active Dry. Please make sure you get rapid-rise. There is no waiting and less fuss!
Make sure you don't over heat your liquids, if so let them cool to appropriate temperature before adding to the dry ingredients. You don't want to kill the yeast with cold or very hot/boiling liquid!
Recipe by My Lavender Blues at https://mylavenderblues.com/easy-oven-baked-buttermilk-loaf-bread/