Fluffy bread - Asian style (Laura Kitchen)

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A YouTube channel provider, 'Laura Kitchen' recently posted a video on how to make 'Condensed Fluffy Loaf'. Not the catchiest of titles, so I've takien the liberty of renaming it 'Fluffy Bread - Asian style' for the purposes of this review. 

The original YouTube link is here: 

It proved a huge success over at BreadClub20. My initial thought was that it would be super sweet. However, so many home bakers over at BreadClub20 reported that it was no over-sweet and carried the texture of a croissant, I thought it was about time I reviewed it and made some myself. Further more, bakers kept commenting that it made fabulous toast.

A soft and fluffy loaf would be a hit with children as well as lovely with jam and fruit. Let's see how it goes. 

INGREDIENTS

• 120 gms mlk (at room temperature)
• 250 gms bread flour
• 15 gms sugar
• 3 gms instant yeast
• 1 egg
• 3 gm crushed sea salt
• 50 gms condensed milk
• 30 gms unsalted butter

A note on the ingredients

Milk - I'm using semi-skimmed, but onlybecause that's what I drink.

Both 'condensed' milk and 'evaporated' milk have roughly 60% of their water removed. However, 'evaporated' milk is usually unsweetened, whereas 'condensed' milk has sugar added. If you feel strongly about the quantity of sugar, you can substitute by using evaporated milk. You will lose some of the caramel flavour that is typical of condensed milk.

(I'm doubling the quantities above to make two loaves....seems eminently sensible to maximise oven space and use more of the condensed milk, rather than waste it. But the method below follows the original ingredients and quantities)

METHOD

• To make the dough,  place 120 gms warm milk in a bowl. Ass 15 gms of sugar and 3 gms of instant yeast. Stir and leave for 10 minutes
• Add 50 gms of condensed milk and 1 egg to the bowl. Whisk well.
• Add 250 gms of strong bread flour and 3 gms of crushed sea salt. Mix well until combined. 
• Add 30 gms of warm unsalted butter and stir well until thoroughly mixed. 
• Tip the dough out onto a oiled surface, lightly oil your hands and start kneading for 15 minutes until you have a silky dough.

If you wish, you can place the dough in a bread machine on instant start dough setting (e.g. pizza) and use that to knead the dough.

• Place the kneaded dough in a clean bowl, cover and rest for one hour in a warm place until it has doubled in size.
• Prepare a 21 x 11 (cm) loaf tin by oiling it and cutting a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom.
• Lightly flour a board. Tip the dough out onto the board and knock back. 
• Roll the dough out into a large rectangle.

• Fold the left side into the middle and then the right side over - think 'folding a letter'.
• Roll out into a large rectangle again. 
• This time, fold the top down to the middle and the bottom up - think 'folding a letter again.
• Roll it out for a third time so that the width is roughly the same length as the long side of your loaf tin. 
• Using a pizza cutter, cut lines into the dough but be careful not to cut all te way to the top or the bottom.

• Roll up the dough fairly tightly - think 'rolling up a carpet'
• Place it in the loaf tin. Cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm to double in size (approximately one hour)=

• Preheat the oven to 170⁰C.
• Milk wash the dough and bake for 25 minutes. 
• Optional - after baking you can reglaze with a mixture of condensed milk and butter
• Cool on a rack

Happy baking....