Ever since the success with the Ciabatta bread recipe, I’ve been motivated to make more bread. #FMR loves milk bread so that was my next project. Unfortunately, the first attempt was a failure. Perhaps because it wasn’t a good recipe; more likely because of the idiot baker.
Then Eat it Real found this amazing recipe from Su-Lyn Tan (which I’m gonna save right here so I don’t lose it):
I was planning to use the bread machine but it decided to go on the blink right after I put all the ingredients into it so I had to revert to my trusty Kitchenaid mixer.
Ingredients:
My ingredient proportions were slightly different because my eggs are larger so I adjusted the liquids according to the recommendation that they should come up to 170 grams in total weight (68% of total flour weight):
- 250 grams bread flour
- Liquids (combined weight should be 170 grams):
- 1 egg (67 grams)
- 103 grams milk
- 4.5 grams salt (slightly under 1 tsp)
- 4.5 grams yeast (slightly under 1 tsp)
- 25 grams sugar
- 25 grams butter (increase to 40 grams for brioche)
Method:
Bread Machine: put all the ingredients into the machine and press start.
Mixer: add wet and dry ingredients to mixing bowl, except butter. Mix on low speed until combined. Add butter and continue mixing for 15 minutes.
Grease a loaf tin and place the dough into it. Cover, proof until double (1 hour). At this point, you can glaze the top with an egg (I didn’t and I quite like the unglazed result). Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, slice and serve.
Texturally, it was so amazingly fluffy and soft! I don’t I have ever had a bread recipe turn out quite as beautifully as this. I’ve been told that the flour you use can make a difference to how your bread turns out. After experimenting with different flours for our ciabatta bread, I must concur. For this particular batch, we used this Japanese bread flour recommended by a friend:
Milk Bread Recipe Using All Purpose Flour
For academic purposes, I’ve decided to make a new batch of bread using a regular all-purpose flour for comparison. I’m curious to see if the type of flour used can make that much of a difference to the end result. The comparison was against Cap Sauh all purpose flour.
- Organic Wave Japanese High Quality Bread Flour: RM 10.90 for 500 grams (left in image below).
- Cap Sauh all purpose flour: RM 2.90 for 1 kilo (right in image below).
The dough created with the Japanese bread flour was a lot smoother in texture. Coming out of the oven, the bread loaf made with the Japanese bread flour also looked better. I thought it was going to be a hands down winner for the Japanese bread flour, but when I cut the Cap Sauh loaf, it was just as soft and fluffy inside. On eating, I honestly didn’t notice much difference between the two flours.
So there you go… based on my limited experimentation, if you have a good bread recipe, you can get away with the flour you use. For all those bread making efforts that I failed – I can now blame the recipe.
Variants:
Before placing the dough into the prepared tin, you can fold in any of the following ingredients to add some variety to your milk bread:
- Raisins
- Dried Cranberries
- Dried Blueberries
- Chocolate Chips
To prevent your fruits from getting burnt in the oven, try to tuck them in under the dough.
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