Brown Bread with Kumquat Butter

It's raining, Annie.

A beautifully rainy and cloudy day, the perfect weather for a steamed up kitchen window.  A hearty, slightly sweet loaf of rustic bread?  I think so.

Things have been hectic, I haven't had the time in the kitchen lately to give birth to my thoughts, and therefore they have been dashing around my head preventing me from doing pretty much anything.  I figured I should fix the whole fiasco before it got too late!

Brown bread with a hint of molasses, a generous amount of wheat germ, and lots of missing-you-for-weeks love packed in there.

This loaf is perfect sliced and toasted in the morning, or the afternoon, or pretty much whenever.  I made some kumquat butter to spread on it, but it really doesn't need it, though the citrus brightens up the dense wheat for sure.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 cups wheat germ

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp salted butter

2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/3 cup molasses

Oven at 350 degrees.  Place your baking sheet in to let it warm up.

Sift flours with baking soda and salt, whisk in wheat germ.  

Cut in butter with your fingers until there are no more chunks.  It should look sort of like cornmeal texture.  

Add molasses and 2 1/2 cups buttermilk.  Stir in until it is damp and dough like.  You may need more buttermilk, keep adding until it is right.  

Knead gently, and when it is a smooth lump, divide into as many loaves as you'd like.  I made two, and they were quite large.  

Once you have divided it into balls, cut an X on the top of each.  About 1/2-1 inch deep depending on how big your loaves are.  

Place on hot baking sheet, and put back in oven.  I made two loaves and baked them on the same pan, they took about 45-50 minutes.  Depending on the size of your loaf/loaves it may take as few as 25 minutes for quite a few small loaves, or a bit longer if you made one giant loaf.  

Once it is done let it cool for quite a while on a wire rack.  

I was too impatient, so I left to go rollerblading while I let mine cool.  ((Well, actually I broke off a piece to eat warm and then left.  But shhhh...))

Kumquat Butter

some butter

some kumquats

I use about half a stick of butter and maybe six kumquats.  Just take the zest or peel or whatever part you like, I used the peel.  Mix it into your softened butter.  Add salt or honey or both.  I also added the tiniest hint of cardamom, but I'm a sucker for spices, I throw them in everything, I just don't tell people...