Milk Bread

Time: 3.5hr – 30min prep / 1.5hr rise / 20min shape / 40min rise / 30min bake
Servings: 1 loaf
Rating: 4.5/5

Recipe by JinJoo Lee from KimchiMari from: https://kimchimari.com/milk-bread-asian/

INGREDIENTS

Starter

• 2.5 tbs flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup whole milk

Dough

• 2.5 cup flour
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 3.5 tbs sugar
• 1/2 cup whole milk, warm
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 4 tbs butter, softened

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Starter: in a small pan on medium heat, whisk flour, water, and milk for 2-3min until thickened and whisking leaves tracks on the bottom of the pot.
2. Dough: in a large bowl, whisk together flour, yeast, sugar, and salt.
3. Warm milk to 110 deg F.
4. To the dry ingredients, add milk, starter, and egg. Knead for ~5min.
5. Add softened butter to dough. Knead for ~10min until dough becomes smooth and stretchy.
6. Shape into a ball, place in bowl. and cover. Let rise until doubled, 40-60min.
7. Divide dough in half. Shape both halves of dough into a ball, place in bowl, and cover. Let rise ~15-20min.
8. Butter loaf pan.
9. Lightly flour surface and rolling pin. Roll out one dough ball into 12″x5″ rectangle. Roll both ends of the short sides of the rectangle in to create a square. Roll the dough along the other direction to create a log. Place in half the loaf pan.   
10. Repeat for second dough ball. Cover and let rise for 30-40min until dough logs have risen above the edge of the loaf pan.
11. Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
12. Brush top lightly with milk. Bake in bottom shelf of the oven for 32-35min, or until olden brown. Toothpick should come out clean.
13. Cool for 15min before removing from loaf pan. Cool for another hour before slicing.   

Thoughts
Delicious bread though lots of kneading and rising. Use dough scraper to help with kneading and shaping.