The coronavirus fear and the stockpiling craze has finally arrived at Melbourne and there are no rice, flour, UHT milk, dried pasta and toilet paper on our supermarket shelves now. And people were buying a lot of dried and canned food plus many other essentials so that we can survive for two weeks or more just in case if there is a lock-down or we have to self-quarantine at home.
"Even the white sandwich breads were gone!" said my husband. I guess that some people might bought more sandwich breads than usual and stored the excess breads in the freezer for their emergency use.
Are you a stockpiler? ... Or a domsday prepper? Or simply always prepared for emergencies?
I told my husband not to worry because I'm a woman of backup!!! Being an organised and logic person, I always have an extra set of food and ingredients as a backup in my pantry for emergencies and any whatsoever reasons. No flour and breads in the supermarkets? I'm not going to panic because that I always have flour at home and can bake breads for my family at anytime that we want.
How about the toilet papers? LOL! No worries!!! I always make sure that our house is equipped with all sort of essentials like toilet papers and etc. So I didn't have to queue or fight with anyone...
So if you are like me who are always well-prepared for anything and always have bread flour at home, you might want to try baking this super soft honey sandwich bread recipe. These dairy-free almost-vegan breads are not just super soft... They are super super super soft! So soft that it was difficult to slice them even with my electric knife!!!
And the good thing is you can bake these super soft breads with very basic ingredients like water, honey, vegetable oil, bread flour, salt and instant dried yeast. No perishable ingredients such as eggs and milk are required!!! Great to bake for either emergency or non-emergency times... LOL!!!
Super Super Soft Honey Sandwich Bread
The Dairy-free Recipe with NO butter NO milk NO egg
Why are these sandwich breads so super soft?
Based on my extensive bread baking experiences, I noticed that the addition of thick viscous liquid ingredients like condensed milk, honey and corn syrup CAN make sandwich breads extra soft and nice!!!
... as I have witnessed this effect with these soft white breads recipes:
Recipes with condensed milk:
Japanese Shokupan Condensed Milk Sandwich Bread - Recipe One
Japanese Shokupan Condensed Milk Sandwich Bread - Recipe Two
Japanese Shokupan Condensed Milk Sandwich Bread - Recipe Three
Recipes with light corn syrup:
Super Soft and Fluffy White Crusted Japanese Square Bread
Recipes with honey:
American Honey Sandwich Bread
Spongy Soft Honey Sandwich Bread (with egg yolks)
Super Soft White Basic Sandwich Bread with overnight starter
Super Soft Sandwich Bread with NO Overnight Starter Recipe ONE
Super Soft White Crusted Sandwich Bread with NO Overnight Starter Recipe TWO
What are the differences?
Unlike all of the honey sandwich bread recipes that I have mentioned earlier, these super soft white-crusted honey sandwich breads are made with NO milk powder, NO butter and NO egg! It is almost a vegan recipe as it requires the addition of honey. And the good thing is they don't contain a lot of vegetable oil.
Based all the honey sandwich breads that I had baked, I must say that these are softest! However, I have admit that the breads that contain milk and butter taste nicer due to the additional sweet milky buttery taste. So, dairy vs non-dairy? You decide! ... bearing in mind that the dairy recipes are useful only if you can buy butter and milk from the supermarkets... LOL!!!
Here's a video showing how I baked these super super soft sandwich breads.
As you can see in the video, the bread dough is fully loaded with moisture and can be sticky and difficult to handle. So, please use a breadmaker or an electric mixer with hook attachment for kneading. Please do not knead the dough by hand.
You will see too that the bread dough won't be as smooth and white like a baby bottom. LOL! Instead, it will have a rather spongy bubbly surface and it's ok!
Another thing... These super super soft breads will shrink slightly after cooling but don't panic!!! These breads will still stand well in good shapes.
The breads will shrink a little after cooling because they are very very very soft like tofu!
They are so soft that they can be very difficult to slice!
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Here's the recipe.
WARNING: This bread dough can be sticky and difficult to handle. Please use a breadmaker or an electric mixer with hook attachment for kneading.
Makes two 10 x 10 x 20 cm loaves, 450g each
You can use half of the recipe to make one loaf of bread.
450g lukewarm water, at about 37°C
30g honey
50g neutral tasting vegetable oil
650g bread flour with about 12% protein
4g salt
2 tsp instant dry yeast
vegetable oil spray or vegetable oil to grease the loaf pans (plus the Pullman lids if required)
extra bread flour for dusting and shaping
If you are using a breadmaker to knead and prove, add all ingredients into the breadmaker according to this order. Use "dough" setting to mix and knead dough for 30 mins or until the dough is elastic and allow the dough to prove for 60 mins.
If you are using an electric mixer with an hook attachment to knead, combine all ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix at low speed until a soft dough forms. Continue to knead at low speed for at least 25 mins or until the dough is elastic. It is important that the dough has to be elastic and stretchy. Cover the dough and allow the dough to prove in a warm and humid place for about 60 mins or until doubled in size.
NOTE: This bread dough won't be as smooth and white like the super soft honey sandwich bread that contains milk powder and butter at here. Instead, it will have a rather spongy bubbly surface. And it's ok.
To shape the dough into bread loaves:
Grease 10 x 20 cm loaf pans (plus their lids if required) with vegetable oil or vegetable oil spray.
Divide dough into into 6 equal portions. Shape all portions of dough into smooth balls. Allow them to rest at room temperature for about 10 mins.
Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each portion into long and flat oval shape (about 20 cm) on a lightly floured non-stick surface. Use your fingers to pick one shorter side of the dough and tuck and roll the dough like a Swiss roll. Use the rolling pin to flatten and roll the dough into a long rod shape. Then, pick one shorter side of the dough and roll it like a Swiss roll again. Repeat this rolling step with the remaining portions of dough.
Place three rolled dough with their seams side down into the each prepared pan. Press the top of the dough lightly to form an even surface. Allow the dough to prove in a warm and humid place for another 60 mins or until the dough is going to reach the maximum height of the loaf pan. Cover loaf pans with lids if required.
Bake breads in a preheated 180°C (350°F) oven for 25 mins or until the breads are thoroughly baked inside. Remove the lids and the breads from the loaf pans immediately and transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving. The breads will shrink slightly after cooling but it won't affect their super-softness.
To store, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature for 2-3 days or freeze in serving portions for 2-3 months. The breads that are kept at room temperature will stay soft for about 2-3 days but the frozen and thawed breads are super soft whenever they are freshly thawed.
Happy Baking and take care! Eat well. Stay healthy and away from the virus.Please support me and like me at Facebook...