Victorian Milk Bread

I learnt to bake bread a few years back and attempted the Victorian milk bread a couple of times by manually kneading the dough but without success. A few years later, after finally owning my own stand mixer, I decided to make another attempt on this bread.

Victorian Milk Bread

 

Ingredients:

2 tsp dried yeast (add some milk to it)

1 tsp salt

300g milk

500g bread flour (sieved)

1.5 tbs sugar

 

 

Method:

(1) Make a well in the flour

(2) Put in salt first followed by some milk. Mix flour in and add milk slowly while mixing flour in.

(3) Halfway through, add in the yeast

(4) Continue to add remaining milk while kneading the dough by hand or by machine

(5) Add sugar

(6) Dough will be wet initially and it is also the indication that the dough requires more kneading. The dough is ready when it doesn't stick to the fingers.

(7) Cover with plastic foil and leave to raise for an hour

(8) Grease a baking tin

(9) Put the dough in the baking tin, cover with a damp cloth and leave it to proof for another 30 minutes

(10) Bake at 200°C for approximately 20 minutes

(11) When the bread is almost done, reduce the oven temperature to 180°C and bake for a few more minutes

 

 

Tips:

* Put dough in a small bowl if you want to yield a bigger dough after proofing

* Yeast need sugar to react, therefore, add sugar last and slowly to the yeast

 

 

Verdict:

(+) Easy recipe for beginners

 

(-) Without the use of a stand mixer, it can be pretty tedious when manually kneading the dough

 

(=) Due to the high humidity in Singapore, the bread does not keep as long as in temperate countries. (=) It can at best be kept for 2 days with the same bread texture and taste

(=) Nevertheless, it is best eaten on the same day!