Milk Bread (bread machine)

 

 

 

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is not a photo of a loaf of bread. Instead it is a photo of a delicious cheese on toast, which is something tasty you can do with your bread after you bake it!

I thought it would be a lot more exciting to look at than a loaf of bread, as tasty as that loaf of bread might be!! 

 

There are only so many ways that you can present a loaf of bread before the photos all start to look the same, no matter how different the loaves might be from each other. No matter how delicious!

And this is one very delicious loaf of bread. So delicious I baked it twice last week!  It is a bread machine recipe.  I am making my bread machine pay for itself!

There are some people as might think that using a bread machine is cheating, but then again, they have never tasted my homemade from scratch bread.  If they had they would know that using a bread machine is an improvement for me from the real deal.

When baking traditional breads, I am really good at baking door stops!  I kid you not. Okay, maybe slightly better, but not much. I have found that using my bread machine improves vastly upon that experience!

This recipe for Milk Bread Has been adapted from a recipe found in the book, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine book, but Beth Hensperger, which has become my bread machine bread baking bible!!

Seriously.  I haven't had a loaf fail on me yet!  And I have been baking at least two or three a week.

 

This is a beautiful loaf of bread, the perfect loaf of white bread I would go so far as to say.   It has a fabulous homemade bread flavor and a beautiful tight crumb as you can see.

Milk breads are in the category of lean breads, which simply means that they use very little fat or sweetener.  

When you choose to use milk in a bread dough, it increases and strengthens the capacity of the flour to absorb liquid, especially when you are using a high gluten flour.

It also helps to decrease the acidity in a dough, causing the yeast to work more efficiently, and to age or ferment more slowly, giving your bread a delicate flavor.  

Perfect for sandwiches and the like, this is quite simply a beautiful loaf of bread! 

 

I used some of it today to make myself some cheese on toast after church. Hence all the cheesy photos!  Have you ever made cheese on toast? I wager most of you have. It makes a great light lunch!

Quick and easy too.  On Sundays when I get home from church I am famished and quick and easy is the order of the day!  I also usually go to my sister's for supper, so I need to eat something that is not so filling so as not to ruin that! 

To make a good cheese on toast you want to start off with a great bread and I did.  Toast it lightly in the toaster and then butter it lightly.  You don't have to butter it, but I always do, and then I like to spread it lightly with some grainy mustard.

Cheese and mustard are perfect partners! 

 

After you have done that you can sprinkle on the cheese. Today I used a cheddar blend, but to be honest I prefer it with a much stronger cheddar.  Pile on as little or as much cheese as you wish.

I, myself, am a bit of a glutton and I like to add a fair amount of cheese.

Did your mother make you bacon and cheese on toast when you were growing up??  Mind did and what a treat that was.  She would use process cheese slices and cooked bacon. My how delicious it was.

Today I remembered that I had some already cooked bacon in my freezer and I added some to half of my cheese on toast slices!  Cheese and bacon are also perfect partners!

 

A few minutes under a hot grill/broiler and Bob' your uncle!  You have a very delicious Cheese on toast!   

That bread all buttery toasty and golden edged.  The cheese all ooey and gooey.  The bacon crisp and delicious!

This is the perfect lunch. One of my favorite bits is the cheese that melts on the pan. Yes, yes, yummity, yummity!

 

HINTS AND TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST BREAD IN A BREAD MACHINE

Really if you follow the directions on your particular bread machine your bread should work out perfectly, but there are a few things you can do that will give you an even better loaf of bread. 

1. Measure by weight and not volume.  Weight is a much more precise way to measure. You can't go wrong.  I have a set of digital scales that I use. I just pop the bread pan onto them and measure away. My scales measure in grams, Kg, pounds and ounces, milliliters, etc. I started baking by weight when I lived in the UK and I would now never bake any other way. 

2.  Bread machine loaves work best with bread flour.  Bread flour can also be labeled "Best for Bread" or "High Gluten flour."  

3. You can use regular flour, but if you do I recommend adding Vital Wheat Gluten to the recipe. This helps to boost the protein content of the bread.

4. Measure very carefully.  If you don't add enough flour, no matter the type of flour you use, the bread will collapse and is often uncooked in the center.  If you add too much flour, you will end up with a dense, hard heavy ball.

 

5.  I add Vital Wheat Gluten to all of my recipes for bread making in a bread machine. You can purchase it online.  It helps to yield a much better loaf, helping the loaf to rise higher with a nicer texture than without.  

Vital wheat gluten is best stored in the refrigerator (for up to one year), but you can store it on the counter if you think you will use it up within two months (highly unlikely for the home baker.) 

6. Yeast is a vital component in making yeasted breads! Duh. It can come in many forms. I recommend using yeast which is prepared specifically for use in the bread machine. I store my yeast in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator.

7. Salt is another important component in bread making. Do not however, let the salt touch the yeast.  Salt is important in bread making, not only as a flavor enhancer, but also in controlling the level of yeast fermentation. 

8. Follow the recommendations when it comes to the order of adding ingredients to your machine. There are reasons why some machines put the dry ingredients first and the wet last.    Others might recommend putting in the wet first and the dry last. YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THE EXACT ORDER AS RECOMMENDED BY YOUR PARTICULAR MODEL!!

Most of the time when a recipe fails it is because the baker fails to follow the correct directions as per the machine they are using.

I had a loaf fail last week and it was because I was in a rush and failed to make sure that the pan had engaged with bottom of the bread machine when I dropped the pan into the maker. As a result it did not mix up, rise or anything. I got a huge surprise when I opened the machine when it beeped to tell me it was done.  Lesson learned!  Don't be in such a rush! 

 

There are so many delicious things to do with a perfectly baked loaf of bread. I love a simple supper sometimes of just BREAD & JAM.  One tasty mouthful and I am a child again!  Soooo good!

I also love to enjoy it with soups and stews or with a tasty filling as a sandwich!

Leftovers are also never wasted. Some of my favorite ways to use stale bread are:

OLD TIME BREAD PUDDING - This is a lovely old fashioned recipe which results in a dense and heavy bread pudding, nicely spiced and filled with fruit. You can cut it into squares and eat it out of hand. This is the bread pudding which fuels many British Childhood memories! 

BREAD AND POTATO STUFFING - This is a very Maritime Canadian thing. This is the stuffing which always accompanied all of my childhood Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys!  It is delicious! 

SWEET ALMOND BREAD PUDDING WITH BLACKBERRY SAUCE - This is one of the most delicious bread puddings you could ever want to eat. It's rich custard is topped with the crunch of toasted almonds and the blackberry sauce is to die for!

I really hope that you will be inspired to bake this loaf of bread. It is truly a lovely loaf. You can let it bake totally in your bread machine, or use the dough cycle and finish the bread in a traditional oven, baking it in a traditional bread pan.  

That way you don't have the paddle hole in the center of the loaf. This never bothers me actually, but I do know some people are put off by it! In any case, if bread be the staff of life, bake on!  You won't be sorry!!

Milk Bread

Yield: 1 (1 1/2 lb) loaf

Author: Marie Rayner

This is a beautiful white bread for beginning bread makers. It has a beautiful homemade bread flavor. It will keep well for two to three days and makes beautiful sandwiches and toast!

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups (9 fluid ounces) whole full fat milk
• 1 TBS butter, cut into bits
• 3 cups (420g) bread flour
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1 TBS vital wheat gluten
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

Instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients to your bread machine according to the manufacturer's instructions for your particular model. (In mine you start with the yeast, then flour, butter, then wet, then salt.)
2. Choose basic/white program setting, based on the options of your particular machine. Select the loaf size, color, and press start.
3. When loaf is done, remove it from the baking pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least half an hour prior to slicing it. (I know its hard to wait!!)

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