-When purchasing buttermilk, I try to buy brands that are thicker in texture. Locally (Utah) my favorite brand is Winder Dairy. Their buttermilk is significantly thicker than other brands. If you are concerned about using up all of your buttermilk, try making ABK's buttermilk pancakes, buttermilk biscuits, buttermilk syrup, blueberry buttermilk scones...search "buttermilk" in the search bar on the right side of the main page.
-I do not recommend using dry buttermilk for this dressing.
-I usually double the dressing recipe so I can have leftovers for other salads. Salad:
-You may use any type of filled pasta in this salad . I like cheese or a combo of spinach and cheese filled ravioli, but tortellini also works well.
-You may add additional lettuce to this salad to create more servings. If doubling this recipe, double the lettuce but only 1 1/2 the bacon, tomatoes and pasta. Any type of lettuce may be used ( I have even used spinach) I like Romaine because it has a very firm texture, which makes it a good lettuce to support the heavy pasta and tomatoes in this dish. I also like Romaine's dark green color.