Homemade Milk Bread (with dry yeast)

After all the news and investigative stories on the main stream media on processed foods, I opted to be making bread at home whenever I can and have never looked back. I have been obsessed with baking bread since and this particular one has a special place in my heart since it is an easy one to make and I would compare it’s simplicity with that of making chapatis. (In other words, it’s easier to prepare and bake this bread than prepare and cook chapatis). One can prepare this real quick for breakfast or enjoy it with soup. It only requires 7 simple ingredients which most households have in their pantry for other dishes.

Feel free to bake it for your family and say goodbye to store bought bread.

Flour: The flour of choice in this recipe is bread flour. This is so because it has a higher protein content which helps the bread rise high. (If at all you don’t have bread flour, you can use all purpose flour though the rise won’t be as that of bread flour.)

Eggs: You only need one in this recipe. Just make sure it is room temperature

Milk: On this particular recipe, I used cow milk. Any other milk would work for lactose intolerant people. (Will be posting a vegan recipe of this bread on the blog soon)

Yeast: It is a key ingredient in bread making. It helps the dough rise before the actual baking in the oven. On this recipe I used dry yeast.

The other ingredients which every kitchen has include water and salt and sugar to taste.

Making the dough:

In a bowl stir together the milk, water, sugar and yeast and let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast is foamy and dissolved. Make sure the water and milk are not hot since this can kill the yeast.

After the yeast mixture is foamy, add in the egg and mix. Then add in the sifted flour and salt and knead till it forms a dough similar to that of chapatis.
Cover with a cling film to let it rise in a warm place for about an hour to an hour and a half depending on the temperatures of your kitchen. For a hack on stress free cling film, click here.

Your dough will have risen to this:

Punch it down then kneed it gain to release the air

Once kneaded, divide into 3 equal portions and roll into logs as below:

Braid the three logs as below. Put it on your baking tray then cover with an oiled cling film to avoid sticking and a dump kitchen cloth. Put it in a warm place for another 30 to 60 minutes before baking.

This is how risen it will be after the second proofing.

At this point, you can brush it with the egg wash before baking it in a 180°C preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

Let it cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 3 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 3 3/4 cups bread flour*
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Egg white and 2 teaspoon of water for egg wash (optional)

Instructions

1. In a bowl stir together the milk, water, sugar and yeast and let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast is foamy and dissolved.

( Always check your yeast usage instructions)

2. Add in the egg and combine

3. Slowly add in the flour and salt and knead till the dough comes together for about 10minutes.

4. Grease a bowl with a little oil and place the dough inside shaped like a ball. Cover with a plastic wrap and allow to rise until it doubles in size, for about 1 to 1.5 hours in a warm place.

5. After the dough has risen, punch it down to remove the air then shape it as desired. ( in my case I divided it into three equal parts and rolled them into logs then braided them together)

6. Once shaped into the desired shape, place the dough in your baking tray/ tin and cover with an oiled cling film then a dump kitchen towel. Allow it to rise again until it’s puffy. This takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

7. Optional step: Just before baking, you can brush the top with egg wash for a shiny finish.

8. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°c for 25 to 30 minutes.

Let cool for 20 minutes, slice and serve.

Notes:

*Always make sure you fluff your flour before measuring it as failure of doing so will lead to having too much flour in your bread. Too much flour equals a tough bread. Am sure you want it soft, right?! Don’t skip this step. Also remember to use the measuring cups meant for baking and not your regular tea cup.

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I know you’re going to love these homemade milk bread . Please rate this recipe below (After you’ve made it, of course )
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