Buttermilk Challah Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 3 tsp. salt
• 4 jumbo eggs
• 3 jumbo egg yolks
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 Tbsp. honey
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or you can use 1 cup unbleached A.P. and 1 cup rye, whole wheat, or other flour)
• 4 cups unbleached bread flour
• 4 Tbsp. yeast

Directions:

Measure out buttermilk into a 4 to 6 cup glass measuring cup. Add the salt, eggs, egg yolks, and honey. Mix well with fork or small whisk, and pour into bread machine pan. Add butter and flour to bread machine pan.

Take the 2 cups all purpose flour and add to the bread machine pan, and with a spatula mix in to the buttermilk mixture. Then do same with the bread flour. This keeps the flour from spraying the inside of the bread machine.

Place pan in bread machine on dough and allow to mix until first cycle. Stop machine and add yeast. Re-start the machine from the start of the dough cycle and allow to do it's thing.

When finished remove from pan and form as desired. Bake for 30 minutes in 300 degree F oven that has a pan of water on the bottom of the oven.

By Jackie Schlageter from Oscuro, NM