Paul Hollywood's Milk Loaf

Just a quickie post to say I tried another bread recipe from Paul Hollywood's 'How to Bake' book the other day.  Its full of yummy bread and sweet delight recipes, but the one I tried this time was a 'Milk Loaf'.

He seems to favour quite a sticky dough for most of his bread recipes, as you seem to use a bit more water than usual.  Also rather than the warm water normally suggested in bread recipes, he opts for cool water.  This takes longer for the initial rise to take place, but in the process provides a fuller flavoured dough.  If, however, you are baking in a cold wintery kitchen, use slightly tepid water.

Butter is melted in warm milk, then mixed in to your flour, yeast, sugar and salt until its a nice sticky dough.  Then tip it out onto an oiled surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes.

I then popped out for a bit and 3 hours later it was a lovely billowy pillow.......

You then knock it back, shape into a rectangle and pop in a loaf tin...........................

........ so it can then rise for another hour or so until doubled in size.

Then popped in the oven until lovely and coloured.

Buttery rich, with a sweet soft texture it cuts nicely and is lovely with butter and jam when still warm.  It also toasts well, though does become a bit crumbly after a few days.

I've never made a white loaf in a tin before, as I usually prefer a round loaf, but I'm really pleased with how it came out.  Altogether, rather scrummy!

Happy baking!