Milk-enriched White Bread
- 375 ml whole milk
- 100 ml cold water
- 2 tsp fast-action yeast
- 75 g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing the tin
- 625 g strong white flour
- 25 g caster sugar or honey
- 2 scant tsp salt
- Boil the milk, then tip into a bowl, stir in the sugar, add the cold water and leave to cool.
- If you're using dried yeast, not fast-action yeast, you'll need to hydrate for 15 minutes before adding to the milk.
- While the milk is cooling, mix together the flour and salt.
- When the milk is tepid, don't rush this - if it's too hot it will kill the yeast, beat in the yeast and leave for five minutes to dissolve.
- Add the flour and melted butter to the milk and yeast mixture and mix together.
- When you have a rough but mixed dough, cover the bowl and leave for 10 minutes.
- Oil your work surface then tip the dough out.
- Use your hands to knead gently until it holds together, it will be sticky and messy but as you work it will become smoother.
- Oil the bowl and then return the dough to it, cover and leave for 10 minutes.
- This time stretch and fold the dough by pulling it into a long shape, folding the top half over and then the bottom half.
- Turn the dough round by a quarter and then repeat the pulling and stretching and folding two or three more times.
- Use your fingers to push out the dough if you need to.
- Replace in the bowl, cover and leave for another 10 minutes, then repeat the stretching and folding.
- After the third time, leave the dough to rise for an hour or two if your kitchen is cool, until the dough has grown by a half.
- Tip the dough out and push to a rectangle shape, then roll it tightly or push it into the shape you want to bake it in.
- I used a straight sided bread tin.
- This needs to be buttered and floured.
- Leave to proof in the tin or on an oiled baking sheet for about 30-45 minutes until it has risen by half again.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
- If you push your finger in the dough and the dent stays it's over-prooved.
- Flour the top of the loaf and cut slashes with a sharp knife.
- Bake for around 40-50 minutes, until golden on the top and the bottom.
- Cool on a wire tray.
milk, water, yeast, unsalted butter, flour, caster sugar, salt
Taken from cookpad.com/uk/recipes/488391-milk-enriched-white-bread (may not work)