Milk Loaf

I like to have soft white bread in the house for sandwiches and toast as my grandchildren will eat no other. I prefer to make my own as I know what is in there and always use milk to add a little extra protein, calcium and vitamins for those growing little people I often cover my loaf with another loaf tin while baking to achieve nice soft white bread as you can see here. I was therefore intrigued to see this bread tin on the Lakeland site. It is called a milk loaf tin

I loved the shape and also the little marks which I thought would make an excellent guide for cutting. The children love their little round slices. It makes perfect sandwiches and is as soft as can be. A good buy I think. The card that came with the tin recommended 350 gms of flour but it wasn't quite enough to fill the tin. It also recommended one rise in the tin itself. This took a very long time. I assume because the metal was cold. I made the bread my own way and it worked perfectly. This is so often the case when you get a recipe with a piece of equipment. It never seems to work. I often wonder where they get these recipes from.

Milk Loaf

450g/1lb Strong white bread flour
1 teasp fast action yeast
250-270 mls/ 1 cup warm milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
25gms/1oz melted butter or 2 tablespoons of oil
A little honey (optional)

Method

I tend to make a starter sponge with my bread but this is not necessary. If you want to do it this way, place all of the liquid and all of the yeast with half the flour in a bowl. Mix well, cover and leave for an hour or up to eight hours if you wish. Then just add the rest of the flour and the other ingredients and knead as usual. I do find it gives a nicer texture and crumb but it's not always possible to make the time. I often do this either just before I go to bed for morning bread or put it together in the morning for bread for dinner. You can do this with any bread recipe you have.

For the quick route

Place all the ingredients in a bowl.
Mix together.
Check at this point if your dough is too dry or wet. It should come together as a nice soft dough that comes away cleanly from the sides of the bowl when you start to knead. If it is too dry (shaggy looking) add a little more milk. If it is sticky add a little more flour
Knead for ten minutes by hand or for five minutes if using a dough hook on your stand mixer. You should have a nice smooth elastic ball of dough.
Form it into a ball and place in a slightly oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume which should take about an hour.

Lightly grease and lightly flour the tin.

For the next stage oil you hands and work top to stop everything sticking.
Pull the dough gently out of the bowl then dimple out flat on the work top with your fingers to expel the excess gas. Make the long edge about the same length as the tin.
Now roll it in a sausage towards you pressing each fold along the line with your thumbs.
Tuck in the ends and you should have a cylinder shape. Place this in the tin and press it down gently to fit.
Cover with the lid and leave for half to one hour. There is a little spy hole on this tin so you can see the dough reach the top.
(If you are using an ordinary loaf tin it should rise to to nearly the top of the tin and place the tin in a supermarket carrier bag while rising. It keeps the moisture in If you shake the dough very slightly it will feel very light so you know it is ready for the oven)

Bake in a preheated oven 200.C/ 180.c fan/Gas6/400.F
for approx thirty to thirty five mins.
Then it is just a case of unmoulding it from it's tin and leaving it to cool on a wire rack.
If done in an ordinary loaf tin it should be well risen and golden tapping hollow on the bottom


Tip

When I am making up the dough I turn my oven on at the lowest point for a few minutes then turn off. I put the bowl of covered dough in there to rise. This gives a nice warm environment for it
For the second rise I preheat my oven and set the loaf on the hob to get warmth while it rises. In this case I also warmed the milk loaf tin a little too.

Now I'm off to make a brown version for Granny :)