Delicious Milk Bread

So I've recently discovered the joy of baking bread. And ~ also out of necessity ~ within the span of 11 days, have baked 5 loaves of bread! Haven't bought bread from the store since that first loaf. Of course, I'm not going to go to the extreme by declaring never to spend money on store-bought bread ever again. There will be times when buying will be much more convenient than baking, but for now, homemade is oh so satisfying! And I'm sticking to it as long as I can.

Just for the record, this is not a post to promote a kitchen appliance (I use Thermomix). It's just what I have and it's what I use. And it so happens that it has taken away my aversion to breadmaking by simplifying the process. I had a breadmaker I bought some years back but was never taken out of its box because despite having it, the lack of confidence of my ability to handle breadmaking was more overwhelming. I had the mindset that breadmaking was difficult and tedious and someone with my patience, or lack of it, would not be able to handle it well.

Suffice to say, I was wrong about myself. And it took myself to prove to myself how wrong I was. (Vain gile bunyi statement ni hahhaa!). So please forgive me for basking in the glory of my successful breadmaking endeavours because truth be told, I'm still pinching myself. I can't believe that I AM BAKING BREAD!

If you haven't seen the evolution of my breads, you can see them here from the first loaf, to the third. I made my fourth loaf yesterday, thinking that that could be today's  and tomorrow's breakfast. It's a jumbo loaf, it should last. It didn't. Kids couldn't wait to eat them yesterday. 3 of them had 2 slices of toasts each with some cream cheese for their afternoon snacks. My better half had a slice for supper. So did I. And by looking at what was left this morning, I knew I had to make another loaf, or else there won't be enough for everyone for tomorrow's breakfast.

But this time, though I still used the same milk bread recipe, I thought I'd shape it into a braid. Being one who is still very much a novice, I had some difficulty portioning and rolling the dough into logs. Couldn't get them to turn out smooth and even. 

But braid it, I did. 

And here's the final outcome.

Urghh! Unsightly!

Clearly, I need more practise. See how uneven the surface of the crust is? 

And I might have stretched and worked the dough too much while shaping that you can see the 'strain' on the dough. Almost look like that of the human muscles that we usually see in human anatomy pics hehehe!

But thankfully, inside, just as soft and fluffy as it should be...

 And here's to give you an idea of the size of that baby...

I usually bake this bread in a jumbo sized (11" long) bread pan, so I know that it would only rise on top and not expand at the sides. I was quite surprised to see how large it turned out when braided.

Oh well, that only means it'll go further before it runs out. Everybody can have a little more of that yummy bread. And I kid you not, it is yummy. Especially when toasted.

You have to try it for yourself.

MILK BREAD / ROTI SUSU

Ingredients/Bahan-bahan

300ml milk/susu

50g butter/mentega

2 tsp/sdt instant yeast/yis segera

40g sugar/gula

550g bread flour/tepung roti

1 1/2 tsp/sdt salt/garam

Steps

Combine all ingredients together and knead until you get a smooth dough that doesn't stick to the side of the bowl. I kneaded mine in the thermomix for 7min although the recipe calls for 3 minutes only. You might require more time is you're using a stand mixer with a dough hook (probably up to 10min), and longer if kneading by hand (up to 14min).

Form dough into a tight, smooth ball and transfer into a well oiled bowl. Cover and leave to rise in a warm spot for about 45min - 1hr.

After the dough has risen, punch it a few times to release the air bubbles.

Divide dough into 3 equal portions, roll each portion into a long strand of about 14" long and then braid the 3 strands together to form a braided bread loaf.

Transfer onto baking tray lined with baking sheet, cover lightly with cling wrap and leave to rise again for another 30-45mins.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 180ºC.

After 2nd rise, brush the risen loaf with egg wash (1 egg and a little milk mixed together) and bake in oven for 30min.

Cara-cara

Satukan kesemua bahan dan uli sehingga mendapat doh yang lembut dan tidak melekat di sisi mangkuk. Saya cuma uli selama 7min dengan Thermomix tapi jika anda ada stand mixer yang ada cangkuk roti, anda perlu uli lebih lama sedikit untuk dapat doh yang lembut dan licin. Uli dengan tangan pun boleh, cuma tambahkan masa menguli, kemungkinan sehingga 14min. 

Setelah diuli, bentukkan doh menjadi bentuk bola yang padat dan masukkan ke dalam mangkuk besar yang telah disapu minyak. Tutupkan dan biarkan ia mengembang sendiri selama 45min - 1jam.

Setelah doh mengembang selepas jangkamasa yang ditetapkan, tumbuk-tumbukkan doh untuk mengeluarkan udara yang terkumpul di dalam doh.

Bahagikan doh kepada 3 bahagian, dan golek2kan setiap bahagian menjadi seperti tali sepanjang 14". Pintalkan ketiga2 tali seperti mendandan rambut Barbie doll hahaha! (Dah start merapu dah aku...)

Alihkan roti yang telah dibentuk ke atas talam yang telah di alas kertas minyak. Biarkan doh mengembang sekali lagi selama lebih kurang 30-45min.

Sementara itu panaskan ketuhar ke suhu 180ºC.

Setelah doh cukup naik, sapukan doh dengan sedikit campuran telur dan susu sebelum di bakar selama 30minit.

HAPPY BAKING!