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Recipes
Home   Recipes   RECIPE: Soft & Fluffy Milk Bread Loaf

RECIPE: Soft & Fluffy Milk Bread Loaf

8 Comments

Milk Bread Loaf Recipe

One of my favourite things to eat is bread. Whether it’s soft and fluffy, chewy, or “hard” like how my parents like to describe artisanal bread, I’m into it. I once had bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a few days in a row!

When this bread came out of the oven, golden-brown and glistening, the bread fiend in me lit up. Ain’t nobody gonna take this bread away from me! [Go straight to recipe]

Milk bread recipe

This bread recipe is simple to make, with the milk and cream giving it a subtle creamy fragrance. It’s soft, fluffy, and slightly chewy. Just look at the insides of this loaf!

Can I Use All Purpose Flour For Bread?

The short answer — yes. Bread flour has a higher protein content as compared to plain flour, allowing for better gluten development, making the bread dough easier to knead as a whole. Hence, we used bread flour for this recipe, but feel free to substitute it out for all purpose flour!

Milk bread loaf

What Is The Windowpane Test?

One key method of ensuring that your bread turns out soft and fluffy would be to make sure that the dough is well-kneaded. A way to test that would be to use the windowpane test. It’s especially useful when you’re making bread at home!

For the windowpane test, first you’ll have to tear out a small piece of dough. Round it between your palms. Then, using your fingers, slowly stretch it out while rotating. If the dough is properly kneaded, it should form a thin stretchy film/membrane that doesn’t tear or break easily. If it breaks easily, continue kneading and test again!

Do note that this test works better with higher protein flour such as bread flour. If you’re using all purpose flour, it might not work as well.

Read more: 5 Ways To Get Pillowy Soft-Bread

How To Store Homemade Bread?

Store leftovers covered at room temperature for up to 3 days, or place in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Reheat at 150°C for a couple of minutes to regain its soft and fluffy texture! You may heat it up in a toaster oven too. This bread is perfect for making sandwiches too.

Milk Bread loaf interior

Soft & Fluffy Milk Bread Loaf

Yield: Makes 1x large loaf

Time Taken: mixing of dough 20-25mins > ferment 1h > moulding 15 mins > proof 1h > bake 30mins

Ingredients

Bread

  • 300g Bread Flour
  • 5g Instant Yeast
  • 15g Milk Powder
  • 40g Sugar
  • 4g Salt
  • 1 Egg
  • 125g Milk
  • 75g Cream

    Directions

    Bread
    1. In a small bowl, beat one egg and set aside.
    2. In the bowl of the stand mixer/mixing bowl, combine the bread flour, salt, sugar, yeast and milk powder. Mix well.
    3. Add in half of the egg, milk and the cream.
    4. Mix/Knead the dough until soft and elastic, about 10-15 mins. Use the windowpane test to check if the dough is well-kneaded. When it doesn’t break/tear immediately/too easily, it is good to go.
    5. Round the dough, place it back into the mixing bowl/stand mixer bowl and cover the bowl with a damp cloth/towel and let the ferment for 1 hour.
    6. Punch down the dough and roll it into the shape of a log.
    7. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces (you may use a weighing scale).
    8. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a long oval shape and roll it up. Repeat for the other 2 pieces.
    9. Place into the bread baker/loaf tin/pan, leaving a equal amount of gap in between each dough piece.
    10. Cover the loaf pan with a damp cloth let it proof for 1 hour.
    11. 50 mins into the proofing time, preheat your oven to 180°C.
    12. Brush the top of the loaf with the remaining egg (from the 3rd step) with a pastry brush and bake the loaf for about 25-30 mins. *Use a sheet of aluminium foil to cover the top of the bread halfway through baking, about 15 mins into the baking time, as the top of the bread will brown very easily.*
    13. Let it cool and serve.

    This loaf has a mildly sweet and milky fragrance which makes it suitable for eating as it is, but it also pairs well with jams and chocolate spreads! Enjoy, and if you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to snap some pics and share it with us by tagging us on Instagram @bakestarters and #bakestarters.

    Get more free recipes, baking tips and trips by signing up for our newsletter here!

    Read Next: In A Pinch? This Is How To Make Self Raising Flour With Plain Flour, Salt, And Baking Powder

    *edited in November 2022 



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      8 Responses

      Elina
      Elina

      October 26, 2020

      Tried it and its so yummy and fluffy!! I omitted the milk powder tho as i dont have it. Thanks for the recipe!!

      icedfirelove
      icedfirelove

      July 27, 2020

      Great recipe!! I couldn’t find any heavy cream around so substituted with 1/4 part butter and 3/4 part whole milk. Everything turned out really well :)

      Bakestarters Admin
      Bakestarters Admin

      July 06, 2020

      Hi Michelle,

      We’d recommend using heavy cream / whipping cream instead as they tend to have a higher fat content as compared to cooking cream!

      Bakestarters Admin
      Bakestarters Admin

      July 06, 2020

      Thanks for your kind feedback Annie! Please share your bakes with us by tagging us on Instagram @bakestarters and #bakestarters :)

      Michellle
      Michellle

      July 06, 2020

      Hi, can I use cooking cream instead of heavy whipping cream?

      Annie Ng Ignacio
      Annie Ng Ignacio

      June 24, 2020

      Baked these buns today. Really awesome! The smell of the bread keep my dog loitering in the kitchen. 🤪

      Bakestarters Admin
      Bakestarters Admin

      June 03, 2020

      Hi Hwee Leng!

      We used heavy whipping cream for this recipe. Hope it helps!

      If you have further questions/queries, drop us a message at general@bakestarters.com!

      Hwee leng
      Hwee leng

      June 03, 2020

      Hi what cream did you use?

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