Milk Bread

Master Recipe #3: Milk bread

Remember, you can find this recipe in Bread Made Easy found here.

This recipe didn’t appear much harder than the other recipes I’ve tried from this book. However, I’m not sure that my bread turned out how it was supposed to. I’m going to try this recipe once more now that I’ve learned a few things.

It’s funny how going through the whole process of making and baking the bread teaches you how to do it better the next time. If only it could teach you how to do it better while you are making it!

FUN FACT: Milk in bread helps stabilize fermentation, the lactose sugar helps with the crust color, and it also helps keep the bread fresh just a little longer.

Here is what I learned from this dough and what I’m going to do differently next time:

First, There is a lot of flour in this bread and, of course, not very much liquid. The recipe says, after all the flour has been added, the dough should be "shaggy." My dough seemed very dry and not very shaggy. More water needed to be added to make a wetter dough.

Second, the dough needed more kneading (it was very needy, ha ha ha). I stopped after about eight minutes, but the dough was still a little rough, not smooth and satiny like the recipe says it should be.

Next, more time was needed for the second rising. The recipe said to let it rise for an hour or until it rose to one inch above the tops of the pans. My bread sat for an hour but the dough didn’t rise above the rim of the pan. Next time, I’m going to let the dough rise until doubled in size, regardless of how long it takes (well, within reason).

Finally, the dough smelled wonderful when it was done baking. Just like you would expect a homemade white bread to smell. However, the bread was very dense when I expected it to be fluffier. I'm hoping that kneading the bread more and letting it rise longer on the second rise will help this.

The bread did taste delicious though!

I couldn’t find a similar recipe online so you’ll just have to go buy this book so you can try it and tell me how to do it better.

Since you are sad that there is no recipe for this post, here is a picture of the bestest cat in the world. He will always make you happy!

Yes, the cat is in the cupboard with our dishes. If you’ve ever owned a cat you will understand.