During our 2021-2022 COVID Quarantine, we've been experimenting with bread making. We did sourdough, molasses breads, wheat breads, and what has become one of our favorite go-to options, Japanese Milk Bread. Unlike something like the Sourdoughs, which can be an all day process, the milk bread is something I can put together during my lunch or afternoon break and have ready before supper. It is a quick and easy bread, and so FLUFFY!
I happened upon the base recipe I've included below on the Savor Easy YouTube Channel. The original recipe is designed to either be made into one large loaf or three mini loaves of bread. We have played with the portions a lot as we've experimented, and we've used this recipe to make 8 fluffy brat buns (not pretty, but very tasty!) or 6 large hamburger style buns (we probably could have went 8 on these as well and will next time). I would like to try them out as smaller dinner rolls as well. Every variation we've tried has turned out very well so far.
Tips: If you live in the upper Mid-west like we do (or your house just tends to be on the colder side), we have a sure method for properly proofed bread. My favorite is using the Yogurt setting on my electric pressure cooker. If you do this, DO NOT use the pressure lid on the unit. If your bread rises to the top of your pressure cooker insert, it can clog the steam valve making your cooker think it is at full pressure. Some units have a safety feature that they will not let you open them unless the pressure has been released. It becomes nearly impossible to get the lid off and clean again. Leave the regular lid off and cover it with either a glass lid or even just a dinner place. Something to hold the warmth in.
This week, we have a dilemma. We are out of sandwich bread. My wife and I both tend to prefer wheat bread with whole grains in general. I made a loaf or two earlier in the summer, but they came out super dense. I wasn't super happy with the texture overall even if the flavor was good. We love the fluffiness of the milk bread, but we want the crunch of the whole grains and oats. So, I'm frankensteining a recipe and hoping for the best today. The original recipe calls for three cups of all purpose flour. In today's batch, I opted for two cups all purpose and one cup whole wheat. I sifted it together to hopefully achieve a bit more fluffiness from the wheat flour. I also added in half a cup of
Bob's Red Mill Hot Cereal, 10 Grain, Whole Grain. Because I added the extra grains, I put in about two tablespoons of extra milk when I added my wet ingredients to my dry ingredients. I divided the dough in half and used half of it to make one artisan sized loaf of bread. The other half got further divided to make six dinner rolls. I cooked the dinner rolls for 14 minutes and the loaf for 19 minutes. They turned out beautifully. The taste and the texture were spot on for what we wanted. The only thing we might change next time is to add a bit more salt.
Super Soft Milk Bread Loaf
Ingredients:
o 1 cup warm milk
o 1 tablespoon sugar
o 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
o 3 cups all-purpose flour (plus 1/3 to 1/2 cup for kneading)
o 1/4 cup sugar
o 1 teaspoon salt
o 1 large egg
o 1/3 cup melted butter
o 2 tablespoons of oil (for your hands while kneading)
o Egg wash (1 egg and 1 tablespoon of milk)
Directions:
First, mix your yeast, sugar, and milk in a cup and let it stand for 10 minutes, till yeast is fully bloomed. Then, you will add all of the dry ingredients to the yeast mixture to form the dough.
Turn dough out onto floured surface and lightly oil top to prevent stickage. Knead for approximately 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
Form dough into ball and place in oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour). Uncover and punch down dough.
Take out of bowl and form into either one large loaf or three small loaves. Watch tutorial video on how to create the swirl loaves (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1vSF67A7lg). Place in lightly oiled loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap (you can line bottom of loaf pan with parchment paper to decrease chance of sticking while baking). Let rise for approximately 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 355 degrees Fahrenheit.
Brush tops of loaf/loaves with egg wash.
Bake for 18-20 minutes.
