When this recipe came up I tried to do some research into the histoty and origins of Milk Bread. What I found was basically any bread can be "milk" bread by just substituting the water in the recipe for Whole, Fresh Milk. I learned that when milk is used in breads it increases the absorptive capacity of the flour. So after rising the bread will be stiffer. Since Milk has a lot of sugar in it the crust is going to be nice and dark, and since there are lots of fat solids in whole milk the break will stay fresh a day or two longer. Other than that I could find very little history on this type of bread. So I will jump right into the prep. I took the Bread pan out of the machine and dumped the following into it:
1.5 Pound Loaf
1 1/8 cups whole milk
1 Tablespoon butter
3 cups Bread Flour
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Honey
1 Tablespoon gluten
1.5 teaspoon salt
2.5 teaspoons bread machine yeast
I set the crust on Medium, set basic mode and started the machine. After 5 minutes I went in to check the mixing and got the flour out of the corners and added a tablespoon of water, the dough was a little flakey.
I then let the machine do its business while I went about mine, finding new volunteer opportunities in Chico. Seems there is help an Adult learn to read program looking for people, and mentoring program, and I contacted the food back. I have found the best way to learn a new area is to get involved in things I believe in. You meet like minded people, it eats up time, and one feels less isolated in a new town if one is busy.
I loooked in on the bread during the rise section and BOY was it risen, highest I had ever seen a 1.5 pound loaf.
While the bread cooked I also wrote a restro9sppective on the Occupy/SF movement in San Francisco and got that published, pictures and all! Then finally the finish bell sounded and the house smelled of fresh bread! I cut off the crust, put some butter and was in for a treat. This was a light, airy and amazingly flavorful bread, a delight to eat. I tried it toasted with Nutella and Bananas, toasted a slice with butter and honey and YUM, this is a great bread! I set half the load aside to see if it really cankeep for a couple of days, but this was a delightful tasting bread!