THIS is the extremely soft milk bread that I'm talking about...
Although it is so deliciously soft, I have to say that slicing this extremely soft bread is extremely challenging!!! So challenging that I was actually in the borderline of frustration... LOL!
Extremely soft and Fragile Milk Bread
See! The bread is so soft that it drapes on my hand!
Why is this bread so soft like tofu? This recipe from Cookpad uses almost the same amount of milk and flour to bake this bread that is extremely moist and soft. As a result, this bread didn't have a good amount of strength to hold its structure and can be very fragile and easily to crushed when sliced.
I'm surprised and amazed to see that the soft dough can rise so well!
After baking...
Here I'm surprised and amazed again with its super moist and soft texture...
... but hate hate hate hate HATE slicing it! ... LOL!
Then I discovered another recipe at Cookpad which contains the same composite of milk and flour but substitute 30ml of milk and sugar with 30g condensed milk making the dough and the bread firmer and easier to handle.
Instead of using this recipe to bake sandwich bread, I have used this recipe to bake pulled apart buns which also helps me heaps by eliminating my frustration of slicing the bread! LOL!
Shaping the dough into little rounded rolls.
No bushing of milk or egg wash prior baking is required.
Nice that I don't have to slice these soft fluffy rolls... LOL!
Although these These bread rolls are nice and soft...
... they are not extremely moist and soft like the sandwich bread!
Like the extremely soft and fragile bread? ... but hate slicing it? To slice or not to slice? Oh man, this is too hard to decide... LOL!
Eventually, I had to surrender to this recipe! LOL! I really love the softness of the bread so much that I had to bake them again... Then again and again.
Here's a one-minute video showing how I baked these extremely soft and fragile sandwich breads again. This time, slicing the breads is not really a problem because I'm an electric knife! Yay!!!
Here are the two recipes that is mostly adapted from Cookpad at here and here and it is up to you to decide which one that you prefer to bake... and enjoy the softness of these breads :)
To bake two extremely soft 10 x 20 cm loaves with all milk:
590g milk*, lukewarm at about 40°C700g bread flour8g salt
80g caster sugar
60g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 tsp instant dry yeast
To bake into 9 soft bread rolls in 20 cm square pan:
(by substituting 30g milk and sugar with condensed milk)180g milk*, lukewarm at about 40°C30g condensed milk250g all purpose flour
4g salt
15g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
3/4 tsp instant dry yeast
*un-scalded pasteurized milk, not UHTAdd all ingredients (according to this order, liquid first, dry ingredients, butter and then yeast) into a breadmaker. Using the dough setting, combine and knead ingredients into a smooth and elastic dough and allow it to prove for 1 hr.If breadmaker is not available, kneading by electric mixer with a dough hook is possible. Using an electric mixer with low mixing speed, mix all dough ingredients (except butter) to form a dough first. Then, mix in the unsalted butter and keep kneading at medium low speed until dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer dough into a large bowl and cover it with a cling wrap. Allow the dough to rise for 1 hr or more until doubled in size.
Important: This bread recipe uses un-scaled milk and will produce a dough that is sticky to handle and so I would not recommend kneading by hand. Due to the presence of the milk enzymes, the bread might take a longer time to prove than usual.Grease loaf pan or square pan with butter or vegetable oil spray.
To shape dough into two loaves:Transfer dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide dough into 4 portions and shape each into balls. Cover the dough with cling wrap and allow them to rest at room temperature for about 10 minsUsing a lightly floured rolling pin, flatten and roll each portion into long and flat oval shape (about 15-20 cm). Use your fingers to pick one shorter side of the dough, tuck and roll the dough like a Swiss roll. Use a rolling pin to flatten and roll the dough into a long rod shape again. Then, pick one shorter side of the dough and roll it like a Swiss roll again. Repeat this rolling step with the remaining portion of dough.
Place two shaped dough with their seams side down into the prepared pan. Press the top of the dough lightly to form an even surface. Cover the dough with cling wrap loosely and allow the bread to prove for another 90 mins or until it reaches the top rim of the pan.To shape dough into rolls:Divide dough into 9 portions and shape each into balls with their smoothest surfaces that you can stretch. Arrange dough with their smooth surface face up into the prepared pan. Allow it to prove for 60 mins in a warm place or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan forced and bake the rolls for 12-15 mins or the loaves for 25-30 mins or until the bread turns golden brown.When the bread is baked, unmould the bread immediately. Transfer bread on a wire rack to cool completely. Slice or pull and serve.Happy BakingPlease support me and like me at Facebook...
