Buttermilk Bread and Oeufs en Cocotte

When my friend V agreed to catch up for brekky this weekend, I asked her if she would like to meet at a cafe or for me to cook. V asked if I could cook for a change, so I went into Nigella Express mode (there is a scene in that series where Nigella and her children carry trays of fodd through their neighbourhood to a friend's house) and made a transportable brekky to take to V's place.

I decided to make oeufs en cocotte (baked eggs), then thought that fresh bread would be perfect to have with it. After a quick flick through Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, I settled on their recipe for Buttermilk Bread (p207), as I like my bread soft.

Here is the bread fresh out of the oven:

To make your own buttermilk bread, you will need:

1 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 tablespoon salt
3/4 tablespoon sugar
3 1/4 cups plain flour
Melted butter to brush the loaf

Combine the yeast, salt and sugar with the water and buttermilk in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix in the flour using a stand mixer with a dough hook. Cover the dough, and rest it at room temperature for about 2 hours (or until it rises then flattens on top).

Grease a 9 inch loaf pan. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and shape it into a ball, then elongate it into an oval. Place the oval shaped dough into the greased loaf pan, and allow to rest for 40 minutes (or 1 hour and 40 minutes if using refrigerated dough).

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Dust the top of the risen loaf with flour, and make a single slash down the centre of the loaf. Brush melted butter over the top of the loaf, then place it in the oven to bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove the cooked loaf from the oven, turn out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Here is the oeufs en cocotte before baking:

I spiced my eggs up with mango chutney and paprika.

To make your own oeufs en cocotte for 4, you need:

4 eggs
4 greased ramekins
4 tablespoons mango chutney
8 tablespoons milk or cream
paprika
salt to taste

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Spread one tablespoon of mango chutney in the bottom of each ramekin. Break the egg on top of the chutney, one egg per ramekin, then place two tablespoons of milk or cream on top of each egg. Sprinkle a pinch of paprika over the top of each egg, and season with salt to taste. Place the ramekins on a baking tray, then place in the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serve hot out of the oven with bread.

Here is the buttermilk bread once sliced:

It is delicious!!! I love this bread, which is deliciously soft and light, and I would make it again. I also liked the addition of the chutney to the baked eggs, which I did just because I had the chutney in the fridge and thought this would be a good way to use some more of it.

Bon appetite!