Just when you least expect it, a miracle occurs!
Had given up on finding anything simple in Baking With Julia.
I was wrong.
Not too big to admit it.
Here are the instructions:
Dump everything in the bread machine.
Turn it on.
Wait for the beep.
Eat.
Didn't even know there was such a thing as powdered buttermilk. It's one of those things I could have used SO many times. When I looked, there it was. Right on the grocery shelf. Seriously? It was there all the time and I didn't even know to look.
If you haven't heard of Pam Grout, I highly recommend her books. E-squared helped me see the world in a whole new way. Experiments in the magic of the universe. Things show up when you start looking for them. Kind of like that little tub of powdered buttermilk.
Full disclosure. After letting the bread machine do all the work, I watched the video of Lora Brody making the bread with Julia. Maybe next time I will take the risen dough out of the machine and shape it up, or bake it in a loaf pan. This time I was happy to let the machine do the baking.
Homemade yeast bread is hard to beat. Even if it's machine-made. Heck, Julia couldn't tell the difference and that's good enough for me. My second piece of advice for the day: slice it thin and make a killer tuna melt. Serve with homemade bread and butter pickles. You will not be sorry.
A few others made the bread. You can find them here.
I'll leave you with a shoe. From a trip to my hometown last summer. Was having lunch with my best friend from childhood (and adulthood, even though we live on different sides of the Atlantic now) and spotted the shoe out the window of the restaurant. No, it's not a truck stop, just looks that way. And what's better than a huge truckload of hay? Anyway, tomorrow is Big Susan's birthday. Wish we could sit next to each other and have California Chicken Salad and House Tea again.
