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Home Recipes RECIPE: Soft & Fluffy Milk Bread Loaf
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One of my favourite things to eat is bread. Whether it’s soft and fluffy, chewy, or “hard” like how my parents like to describe artisanal bread, I’m into it. I once had bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a few days in a row!
When this bread came out of the oven, golden-brown and glistening, the bread fiend in me lit up. Ain’t nobody gonna take this bread away from me![Go straight to recipe]
This bread recipe is simple to make, with the milk and cream giving it a subtle creamy fragrance. It’s soft, fluffy, and slightly chewy. Just look at theinsidesof this loaf!
Can I Use All Purpose Flour For Bread?
The short answer — yes. Bread flour has a higher protein content as compared to plain flour, allowing for better gluten development, making the bread dough easier to knead as a whole. Hence, we used bread flour for this recipe, but feel free to substitute it out for all purpose flour!
What Is The Windowpane Test?
One key method of ensuring that your bread turns out soft and fluffy would be to make sure that the dough is well-kneaded. A way to test that would be to use thewindowpane test. It’s especially useful when you’re making bread at home!
For thewindowpane test, first you’ll have to tear out a small piece of dough. Round it between your palms. Then, using your fingers, slowly stretch it out while rotating. If the dough is properly kneaded, it should form a thin stretchy film/membrane that doesn’t tear or break easily. If it breaks easily, continue kneading and test again!
Do note that this test works better with higher protein flour such as bread flour. If you’re using all purpose flour, it might not workas well.
Read more:5 Ways To Get Pillowy Soft-Bread
How To Store Homemade Bread?
Store leftovers covered at room temperature for up to 3 days, or place in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Reheat at 150°C for a couple of minutes to regain its soft and fluffy texture! You may heat it up in a toaster oven too. This bread is perfect for making sandwiches too.
Soft & Fluffy Milk Bread Loaf
Yield: Makes 1x large loaf
Time Taken: mixing of dough 20-25mins > ferment 1h > moulding 15 mins > proof 1h > bake 30mins
Ingredients
Bread
- 300g Bread Flour
- 5g Instant Yeast
- 15g Milk Powder
- 40g Sugar
- 4g Salt
- 1 Egg
- 125g Milk
- 75g Cream
Directions
Bread
- In a small bowl, beatone eggand set aside.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer/mixing bowl, combine thebread flour,salt,sugar,yeastandmilk powder. Mix well.
- Add inhalf of the egg,milkand thecream.
- Mix/Knead the dough until soft and elastic,about 10-15 mins. Use thewindowpane testto check if the dough is well-kneaded. When it doesn’t break/tear immediately/too easily, it is good to go.
- Round the dough, place it back into the mixing bowl/stand mixer bowl and cover the bowl with a damp cloth/towel and let theferment for 1 hour.
- Punch down the dough and roll it into the shape of a log.
- Divide the dough into3 equal pieces(you may use a weighing scale).
- Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a long oval shape and roll it up. Repeat for the other 2 pieces.
- Place into the bread baker/loaf tin/pan, leaving a equal amount of gap in between each dough piece.
- Cover the loaf pan with a damp cloth let itproof for 1 hour.
- 50 mins into the proofing time,preheat your oven to 180°C.
- Brush the top of the loaf with the remaining egg(from the 3rd step)with a pastry brush andbake the loaf for about 25-30 mins.*Use a sheet of aluminium foil to cover the top of the bread halfway through baking, about 15 mins into the baking time, as the top of the bread will brown very easily.*
- Let it cool and serve.
This loaf has a mildly sweet and milky fragrance which makes it suitable for eating as it is, but it also pairs well with jams and chocolate spreads! Enjoy, and if you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to snap some pics and share it with us by tagging us onInstagram@bakestarters and #bakestarters.
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Read Next:In A Pinch? This Is How To Make Self Raising Flour With Plain Flour, Salt, And Baking Powder
*edited in November 2022
8 Responses
Elina
October 26, 2020
Tried it and its so yummy and fluffy!! I omitted the milk powder tho as i dont have it. Thanks for the recipe!!
icedfirelove
July 27, 2020
Great recipe!! I couldn’t find any heavy cream around so substituted with 1/4 part butter and 3/4 part whole milk. Everything turned out really well :)
Bakestarters Admin
July 06, 2020
Hi Michelle,
We’d recommend using heavy cream / whipping cream instead as they tend to have a higher fat content as compared to cooking cream!
Bakestarters Admin
July 06, 2020
Thanks for your kind feedback Annie! Please share your bakes with us by tagging us on Instagram @bakestarters and #bakestarters :)
Michellle
July 06, 2020
Hi, can I use cooking cream instead of heavy whipping cream?
Annie Ng Ignacio
June 24, 2020
Baked these buns today. Really awesome! The smell of the bread keep my dog loitering in the kitchen. 🤪
Bakestarters Admin
June 03, 2020
Hi Hwee Leng!
We used heavy whipping cream for this recipe. Hope it helps!
If you have further questions/queries, drop us a message at general@bakestarters.com!
Hwee leng
June 03, 2020
Hi what cream did you use?
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