Ultimate Whole Wheat Bread with Brown Butter and Buttermilk

Ultimate Whole Wheat Bread with Brown Butter and Buttermilk is light and tender with a tight crumb that makes an exceptional sandwich or toaster worthy slice.

“She heard the air whooshing into the big bellows in the forge and the practice tap for range of hammer on anvil. She heard Liza open the oven door and the thump of a kneaded loaf on the floury board.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Searching for a bread rich with whole wheat flavor that would slice easily, yet remain light and tender led to the development of Ultimate Whole Wheat Bread with Brown Butter and Buttermilk. With clean slicing and easy preparation Ultimate Whole Wheat Bread has fabulous flavor from the combination of nutty whole wheat flour and wheat germ paired with brown butter and buttermilk. A touch of honey lends a subtle warmth to this tight crumbed loaf of bread that makes an exceptional sandwich or toaster worthy slice.

Ultimate Whole Wheat Bread with Brown Butter and Buttermilk looks are deceiving. The bread seems to slump across the loaf pan giving up on the lofty goals of most breads. Keeping the whole wheat flour and wheat germ hydrated and plump with whole grain flavor is this recipes goal. To keep the bread hydrated no more flour is added to the dough after mixing. The dough is deflated in the bowl. Which also means that there is no floured work surface to clean up! We are winning in kitchen clean up!

Essentials

This is the bread we have for breakfast with homemade jam and scrambled eggs. Even after toasting, Ultimate Whole Wheat Bread with Brown Butter and Buttermilk does not succumb to the usual drying and cardboard texture of store bought whole grain bread. Making bread with active dry yeast is such a pleasure, it’s easy to work with. In three to four hours, your kitchen will smell amazing with freshly made whole grain bread. It will be an act of self discipline to wait for the bread to cool before slicing. Just a reminder, weighing ingredients always leads to the best baking outcomes.

	Ultimate Whole Wheat Bread with Brown Butter and Buttermilk — Yield: two, 9”x5” loaves
1/2C	unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the bowl and baking pans
2C	water
1-1/2C	buttermilk
1/3C	honey, fluid and pourable
2 pkg/4-1/2t	active dry yeast
4C/452gr	whole wheat flour
3C/360gr	bread flour
2-1/2C/200gr	wheat germ
4t	fine grain sea salt

1. Lightly butter the interior of a large bowl for proofing the bread dough and two 9”x5” loaf pans. Butter the top rims of the loaf pans too.
2. Prepare the browned butter by melting the butter in a saucepan or skillet with a light colored or shiny interior on medium heat. At first the butter may sputter for a bit as the milk solids cook. Gently swirl the pan until the milk solids are a warm toasty brown at the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, but keep warm and pourable.
3. Warm the water and buttermilk to fingertip temperature, no more than 110° in the microwave or stovetop. Pour the water and buttermilk into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the browned butter (scraping the pan clean, adding all the browned bits to the bowl), honey and yeast to the mixing bowl. Attach the bowl to the stand mixer and then attach the whipping attachment. Mix to thoroughly combine, stop once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Most of the yeast will dissolve, a few clumps will float on top on the liquid.
4. Remove the whipping attachment and the bowl from the stand mixer. To the mixing bowl add the whole wheat four, bread flour, wheat germ and salt. Place the bowl back on the stand mixer and attach the dough hook. Mix all the ingredients together, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. When all the ingredients are thoroughly combined mix on medium speed for five minutes until the dough is sticky and elastic. The dough will mostly stay flat in the bowl and be too wet to handle.
5. Scrape the dough into the buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let proof for one to one and a half hours until puffy and almost doubled in size. Deflate the dough while still in the bowl by using a flexible bench scraper or large rubber scraper. Scrape the dough down from the outside edges of the bowl toward the center of the bowl, turning the bowl as part of the process, making sure all the dough has been deflated. Then scrape half of the dough into each buttered loaf pan. (For very uniform sized loafs, divide the dough into the two pans, weigh them individually and adjust.) Smooth out the dough so that the loaves are of even thickness. Heat the oven to 350° while the dough proofs. Let proof for thirty to forty-five minutes. When ready to bake, the dough will begin to arch over the rim of the loaf pans.
6. Place both of the loaf pans in the center of the oven with at least an inch between them. Bake the loaves for twenty-five to thirty minutes. When done, the Ultimate Whole Wheat Bread will have a toasty brown top crust, sound hollow when tapped and the internal temperature of the bread will be 200°. Let cool ten minutes and then loosen the edges of the loaf from the top of the pan with a table knife or small off-set spatula. Turn out on a cooling rack to finish cooling. For almost perfect slices wait until the bread has cooled completely to slice.