Hokkaido Milk Loaf

This is not my first bread loaf, but this is my first successful bread loaf. The previous few bakes attempts were not that successful. The bread turned hard the very next day, and I mean really hard "as rock" when you pressed on it. The texture was very coarse. The yeast smell was very strong after the bread cooled down. I don't know if it's because I refused to use bread improver as specified in the recipe or not. Everything that can go wrong seems to have gone wrong.

 

So, I did not have a high expectation that this bread will turn up well. But I have some whipping cream that I want to get rid of. So I just baked without any expectation.

 

This time, I used my stand mixer to knead the dough for a total of 15 minutes, which is longer than my previous few bakes. Maybe I did not knead the previous dough long enough, therefore the gluten did not form properly. But since as I was using the normal stand mixer (not the expensive type eg. KA mixer), I have to stop the mixer every 5 minutes, because the manual says the mixer cannot be used for more than 5 minutes continuously.

 

This is not as difficult as I thought and the loaf is indeed very soft, moist and spongy. No need to use any bread improver. The softness could be due to the whipping cream added. So now let's see how many days can the softness endure.

 

Ingredients:

• 270g bread flour
• 30g cake flour
• 5g instant yeast
• 15g milk powder
• 40g sugar
• 4.5g salt
• half an egg (beaten)
• 125g fresh milk
• 75g whipping cream

 

Method:

1. Knead all the ingredients together for 15 minutes.
2. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with clingwrap, and let stand till double in size (approx 60 mins).
3. Punch down the dough to let out the gas. Divide into 3 portions, shape into rounds and let it rest for 20 mins.
4. Flatten and roll each portions like a swiss roll. Place in bread tin and let rise till it reaches 80% full.
5. Bake at 180 degree C for 45 mins.

Very soft and fluffy