Milk Bread

Milk bread is a classic bread that has a light and fluffy center and a soft crust. It makes for the perfect sandwich in my opinion. It is also very easy to make.

Now a little back story to this bread… My recipe book has some of my older recipes, from my grandmother, from the late 1930s to the 1980s. This milk bread recipe is originally from the 1930s; I have updated it from her recipe. They measured quite differently back then. They typically used tea cups for cup measurements and/or small tin cans. So the measurements were quite off when used with today’s measuring cups. 1 cup from her recipe measured out about or just over half of a cup by today’s standards so I had to do some updated measuring with dry ingredients. But that was ok. It turned out great and I have been using this version for years.

Anyway, enough chit-chat, let’s get on to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 Cup. Warm Water (105-115*)
1 pkg (OR) 2 1/4 Tsp. Active Dry Yeast
1 C. Warm Milk (105-115*)
5 Tbsp. Butter – Room temp/softened or melted
3 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Egg
1 Tsp. Salt ( kosher- use half if you use a finer grain such as table salt)
3 to 4 C. Flour

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl combine 1 tbsp sugar, water, and yeast. Stir to combine and let stand in a warm place until the mixture is foamy and active. About 5 minutes.
2. In a saucepan over low heat add the milk, butter, 2 tbsp sugar, and salt. Stir to combine and warm the mixture over low heat until about 105-115* temp on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Add the egg and milk mixture to the yeast mixture and mix for 1 minute.
4. Add 3 cups of flour to the wet ingredients and knead for about 10 minutes. You can add a bit more flour if needed. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 to 2 more minutes. The dough should be soft and elastic.
5. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn the dough over to coat in the oil. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm area in your home to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Gently press the dough down in the center and place it on a lightly floured surface. Using your fingertips press the dough out to a rectangle shape. Roll the longer end into a cinnamon roll shape and tuck the ends under itself.
6. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with oil or butter and place the loaf into the prepared pan.
7. Brush the top with a little oil and cover with a cloth or plastic wrap. Place in a warm area to rise while you preheat your oven to 375*. This can be on the stove or beside the stove. The warmth from the stove will help it rise but make sure it is not too hot or it will cook the bread instead of helping it to rise.
8. Once the bread has doubled in size you can place the bread in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes. The top of the bread should be golden brown and it should sound hollow when gently tapped in the center.
9. Remove the bread from the oven and then remove from the pan. Place on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing the bread. If you slice the bread when it is still warm it will make the center gummy and we don’t want that. We want nice and fluffy bread.

• You can use a stand mixer if you do not want to knead this by hand. Once. you have all of your mixtures ready to combine just simply add the flour mixture to the stand mixer followed by your wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low speed until the mixture is combined. You can then turn the mixer on speed 2 or 3 and let it knead the dough for about 5 to 7 minutes. Once the dough is combined and it still feels sticky you can add a bit more flour, one tablespoon at a time until it is no longer sticky but is still a soft dough. You do not want the dough to have too much flour because it will make it dense instead of light and airy. Follow the rest of the directions for shaping and baking.
• You can test the doneness of the bread by inserting a thermometer into the end of the bread to the center. The thermometer should read about 190*. This will ensure the bread is cooked through and not over-baked and hard.
• Never cut your bread while the bread is still hot or warm. Cutting the bread too soon will make the center of the bread get gummy and chewy instead of fluffy, springy, and airy. The top of the bread should be soft to the touch and gently springs back when pressed.
• Make sure the bread is completely cool when storing it. If you store the bread when it is still warm or slightly warm it will mold faster because of the condensation in the storage container. I store my bread in a bread bag and then I place it in a bread box. It will last up to 1 to 2 weeks.