Beautiful Seeded Buttermilk Bread.

Total Time: 4 hrs 15 mins Preparation Time: 3 hrs 30 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup warm water
• 12 g fast action dried yeast (2x6g sachets)
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm fresh cultured buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon poppy seed
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons natural honey, warmed
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons melted margarine
• 6 cups strong bread flour
• 1 egg yolk, beaten
• flour, for dusting & kneading
• seeds or sea salt, to decorate

Recipe

• 1 mix the water, sugar & yeast together in a large mixing bowl. set aside to rest for 5 minutes.
• 2 stir in the buttermilk, melted margarine, warmed honey, the salt & 3 cups of the flour. mix well with your hands or a large spoon.
• 3 slowly add the rest of the flour until you have a workable dough. depending on the weather & your altitude, you may need a little extra flour.
• 4 knead the dough for 30 minutes, until it is soft (but still firm), smooth & no longer sticky.
• 5 dust lightly with flour & place inside a large, clean plastic bag. allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
• 6 when doubled, remove from the bag & lightly knead to deflate to dough. once you've done this, grease a large bread tin - i like to use a spring-form 12" x 4" round cake tin with margarine. place the dough in the tin & gently push out until it fills the tin evenly.
• 7 cover again with the plastic bag & leave to double in size.
• 8 when doubled, brush the exposed dough with the beaten egg yolk & sprinkle your choice of seeds of sea salt over the top.
• 9 place on the middle shelf of a 180c pre-heated oven for 45-50 minutes.
• 10 remove from the oven when cooked and allow to cool completely - takes around 4 hours - before eating / slicing.