I am finally able to bake! On Saturday, I used Donna German's Austrian Malt Bread recipe that Mike has often recommended, but I made a few changes. I substituted in 3/4 cup of buttermilk for that much water. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup bread flour, and 1 cup KAF AP flour. I used 1 1/2 Tbs. honey instead of sugar. I reduced the salt to 1 1/4 tsp., and the yeast to 1 tsp. regular and 1 tsp. special gold. (I brought it here in a cold chest, so I'm going to use it!) I've not unpacked my mixer yet, so I used the bread machine for the kneading. The bread rose quickly, due to the humidity and the special gold yeast. It baked into a beautiful 8x4 inch loaf. I look forward to sampling it tomorrow. We actually had to eat a loaf of the store-bought stuff this past week. 🙁

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

Joan--I use buttermilk in the place of regular milk and often most of the water in my yeast baking. S. Wirth's comments about it convinced me to give it a try. Buttermilk makes it tender, and improves its keeping qualities. I use honey in place of sugar for similar reasons.(That hint came from Cass.)

I wanted the bread to have a soft texture, which is why I used only the 1 cup of bread flour. More bread flour seems to make it firmer. My husband has told me he would like firmer for sandwiches, so next time I may try half whole wheat and half bread flour. I had a slice today with the last of my soup from the freezer. (That was Cass's mother's spinach-lentil soup, although I ended up having to use black beans.)