Milk Bread

 Golden crust, soft sweet pillowy centre, this easily sliceable bread is very delicious on its own. Best enjoyed with peanut butter and a drizzle of honey, it makes great sandwiches too.

Winters may be harsh but the season comes with its own little joys. The joy of curling up in the quilt a little longer, the joy of walking on the frost laden grass and that sound of ice clinking under feet, fighting for your place around the fireplace and huddling together and dunking a buttered slice into the hot soup.

Late autumn and the time before the snow comes, has its own beauty. The orchards become bare, while leaves of some trees wear exceptionally bright shades to make up for the brown foliage. 

Some leaves get high on red tints and peep forth from the grey rocks. 

Together with the blueness of the sky, it makes a lovely scenery.

A milk bread on its final stages of baking makes the home smell heavenly. The bread has a super soft and sweet crumb. Its tastes divine with butter and pairs very well with hot soup. Such meals make an ideal light dinner in winter.

Milk Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup hot milk ( more if required)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar (brown or unrefined sugar)
• 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. Add butter to hot milk. Let the milk become warm. Add sugar. Stir to dissolve. Add yeast, cover and keep it for 10 minutes.  The mixture will become frothy.
2. In the meantime whisk flour and salt. Add to the milk mixture. Stir. Now get it to the counter and knead to get a very soft dough. If the dough feels a little hard, add a teaspoon of milk or more to get a very smooth, very soft and satiny dough.
3. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Turn around once to coat evenly with oil all over. Cover and keep in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough doubles in size.
4. Punch the risen dough and shape into a loaf. Place the shaped loaf in one greased 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf pan.
5. Cover and keep to rise for 45 minutes or until it almost doubles or, crests 1 inch above the edge of the pan. During the last stages of rising, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
6. Bake 30-35 minutes or until the top turns a beautiful golden brown.
7. Remove from the oven after 6-8 minutes. Remove from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack.
8. Slice when cold.

Recipe adapted from www.kingarthurflour.com