Buttermilk Bread

April 10, 2018

I was just sitting down to write this post when I got a text from my daughter’s schoolteacher. “Aimee slapped another child in the face.” WHAT?! My Aimee girl? The child who soothes her brother when he barely scrapes a knee? The girl who tells her friends to be more kind when they tease her for no reason? It couldn’t be.

As a parent, there’s a lot of things you can’t control and sometimes kids just pick up actions and language out of the blue. We like to pretend that we can discipline or encourage or bribe them into submission, but the truth of the matter is that sometimes your kid is going to do or say something that shocks the heck out of you. Sometimes your kid is the savage that slaps someone cold in the face.

Kids get away with things that would never fly in adulthood. When you’re a grown up you can’t just slap someone in the face and go back to sitting at their lunch table. There’s no coming back to class when you’ve pooped your pants or got caught talking to a stuffed animal. And while crying in public works okay for toddlers, people will seriously start to worry if you incorporate that into your daily routine as a 30 year old woman.

At 3 and almost 2, my kids are at the ages where they are making developmental leaps and bounds everyday. I see so much kindness and love in their little lives, but there are still those weekly (okay, daily) moments where I think, “Now where on earth did we go wrong here?” It’s in those moments that I say a little prayer and throw my hands up in the air because you just can’t prevent all the mini come-apart that come with tiny children. Sometimes your kid is going to be the one who throws golf balls at cars or pours a cup of milk on the couch for no reason. You might have the kid laid out on the floor at Target because they didn’t get that new pair of Paw Patrol sneakers. We can’t prevent every slap to the face, hair pull, or temper tantrum because they’re kids. They’re really cute but they act like animals sometimes, okay?

So to the child who just got a face-full of my daughter’s palm, I’m so sorry. I promise we’re trying to get it right. And to the parents out there who have to strap it on to train up their children in the way they should go: hang in there. You’re not alone.

This buttermilk bread is for the children in your life. It makes the absolute best morning toast and PB&J sandwiches. It’s mild, fluffy, and the perfect vehicle for all of your favorite sandwich toppings. Buttermilk bread is simple and crowd-pleasing, the type of thing every parent needs.

To make your own buttermilk bread, we start with yeast. Dissolve some active dry yeast in warm water and then add room temperature buttermilk, melted butter, and honey. When combined, stir in some salt and all-purpose flour until a shaggy dough comes together. You can use your hands or the dough hook on an electric stand mixer to knead this buttermilk bread, but just do so until a smooth, slightly tacky ball of dough is formed. Allow the dough to rise in a warm spot in your kitchen until doubled in size.

Once round and fluffy, dump the buttermilk bread dough out onto floured surface and form it into one giant loaf. This video from King Arthur Flour is seriously helpful if you’re new to the loaf-making game. Place the loaf into a large, greased bread pan and allow it to rise a second time, just until the dough has risen an inch out of the pan. Bake it in a preheated oven until golden brown, hollow-sounding when tapped, and about 190 degrees internal temperature.

Homemade goods like this buttermilk bread are a simple pleasure your whole family will enjoy. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Happy Tuesday, friends!

If you like this buttermilk bread, you should check out:

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread