Artisanal Milk Bread
In its simplest form, bread is nothing more than a dough of flour and water, leavened by yeast and baked. In fact well known breads such as banquettes or other crusty breads contain only these two ingredients plus salt. Other kinds of breads, as the one I like to share with you, contain additional ingredients, including milk, eggs, butter, sugar and other flavorings. This white pan bread recipe is made by using a sponge yeast dough mixing method which makes the dough prepared in two stages. 1st stage: the yeast, liquid(milk or water), part of the flour and sometimes part of sugar are combined. Mixture is left to ferment until double. 2nd stage: the ferment is added to remaining ingredients and combined to form a dough. This is a common method when you make a brioche dough which could be tailored into cinnamon rolls as final product. Enough of theory, let’s get into the recipe.
Artisanal Milk Bread Recipe:
By Zosia Culinary Adventures | Date: Mar 17
Preparation Time: 3.5 hrs
Baking Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 2 loaves
Equipment: 2 bread pans 21.6 cm x 11.4 cm or 8.5” x 4.5”
Ingredients:
1 kg white bread flour (could be substituted with 50% with whole wheat flour) plus extra for dusting
24 g fresh yeast or 12 g active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
600 ml whole milk
3 tsp salt
50 g-100 g sourdough starter or poolish(optional) it enhances the flavor of bread
butter to grease bread pans
for the glaze:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of whole milk
Instructions:
Combine 6 tablespoons of lukewarm milk with 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of flour. Mix into a thick batter. Let the mixture to ferment until double in size in the warm place for 10-15 minutes.
Punch down the starter and add the rest of the flour and the remaining ingredients. Mix it with Danish whisk until all ingredients are well combined.
Turn out the dough with the scraper onto the surface. Don’t flour at first. Work the dough for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Lightly dust the table and form dough into a ball.
Let the dough rest in the lightly floured bowl covered with a linen cloth, for about 2 hours, until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 450° F or 230 °C.
Lightly grease two bread pans with butter.
Divide the dough into half approximately 900 g each piece. Form each piece into a ball. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Flatten gently the dough with the palms of your hands. Stretch each dough into a long rectangle. Fold into thirds. Roll the dough into a tight roll of the same length as the pan it is to be baked in. Seal the seam well and place the dough seam side down in the greased pan.
Another way of shaping into loaves is to flatten the dough, fold one side of dough into the middle, press down with you palm. Bring the other side over the middle, and press. Fold, the third side edge into the middle and press down. Finally, roll the dough into a tight roll of the same length as the pan it is to be baked in. Seal the seam well and place the dough seam side down in the greased pan.
Cover each pan loosely with plastic bag so there is plenty of space to grow and top cover with the tea towel.
Allow to rise until double in size, approximately 1 hour. Refer to attached pictures to guide you.
Egg/milk wash each loaf prior baking. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place the loaves inside of preheated oven and mist the inside with water spray before closing the door. Make sure to place a heavy bath towel on the glass door to protect the glass from cracking. It has happened to me so just want you to be aware. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Another option prior to baking, score the loaves as on the pictures below, let them rest covered for 5-10 minutes, egg wash it, sprinkle with sesame seeds and place it in the oven. Mist the inside as per instructions above. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Enjoy this tasty bread with honey or to make a special sandwich!