Soft White Bread

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This fluffy white bread recipe is light and soft. Made with milk and butter, the loaf is perfect for sandwiches or French toast. The recipe is simple and easy whether you make a loaf or dinner rolls.

The smell of bread at home is the most inviting when you have guests especially if you make it homemade. This white loaf bread is a very easy recipe. It never goes to waste because you can use it to make toast, for your sandwiches and if you have stale bread, pulse it in the food processor for fresh bread crumbs.

I love making homemade bread and over the years I have taught many to gain confidence in their bread baking skills through personal classes as well as online free masterclasses. Whether you want to make a simple white square bread for sandwiches, dinner rolls, or perhaps a sweet braided bread such as the Challah.

This white beard is soft, light, and fluffy with just a touch of sweetness. Perfect for sandwich slices or breakfast toast. My kids enjoy it with jam and butter for breakfast as well as sandwiches with pastrami and cheese for snacks. The recipe is fairly simple and easy too.

Ingredients and substitutes

• Flour – Ideally, bread flour is best to create a nice chewy texture to the bread but my mom always used maida / all-purpose flour to make these and it works great too. Also, it is important to stay close to the amount of flour in the recipe.
• Yeast – I love using instant yeast because I have it in my pantry all the time. You can also use the same amount of active dry yeast. And, you can also use fresh baker’s yeast (from the bakery).
• Honey – Honey or sugar are not much but they help feed the yeast and add flavor to the bread.
• Butter – adds a nice richness and flavorful taste to the bread.
• Liquid – While you can use room temperature milk it is best to use lukewarm milk or warm water of about 110F. Do not use cold milk or water as it will take longer for the yeast to activate. Milk makes a richer bread dough with a soft crust as compared to water.
• Optional ingredients
  • Garlic butter – to make garlic rolls brush the rolls with garlic butter.
  • Milk powder – for milky bread replace the water with milk and add 2 tsp of milk powder to the flour.

Simple white bread recipe

• Yeast mixture – Combine warm milk, honey, and yeast in a bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside for 5 mins until foamy.
  Pro tip – the water must be barely warm, close to room temperature. If it’s hot, it will kill the yeast and your bread won’t rise

• Knead – In a bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, combine flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture and knead for 4 minutes at medium-high speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure no dry flour is on the bottom.
  Alternatively, you can knead the dough by hand too. Start with a large bowl and wooden spoon then transfer to a well-dusted work surface. Make sure to use just enough flour to knead. Adding too much flour will make dense rolls.
• Butter – Then add the soft room temperature butter and continue to knead for 3 to 4 minutes more on medium-low speed.
• Rise – Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover it with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Leave to rise in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes.
  Pro tip – You can also let the dough slowly rise in the fridge overnight for up to 16 hours.
• Divide – Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 2 as this makes 2 loaves. Then, divide each dough into 3 equal portions.
  Alternatively, you can also shape each dough into one long sausage and place it in the loaf pan.
• Shape – Shape each portion into a rectangle by flattening it and then folding the sides in. Roll from the top to the bottom to make a roll. Place the rolls in a greased 8 x 4 loaf pan seams side down
  Alternatively, you can also shape the dough into one long sausage and place it in the loaf pan.
• Proof – Cover the loaf pan with a clean kitchen cloth or plastic wrap. Leave to rise in a warm place for 45 to 60 minutes or until almost it doubles in volume.

• Oven – At about 20 minutes before baking preheat the oven to 390°F/ 200°C/ Gas Mark 6
• Bake – Brush the top of the loaves with milk and bake on the middle rack in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. If the top of the bread becomes a dark golden brown cover with aluminum foil to prevent burning.
• Cool – When baked cool in the pan for10 minutes then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

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• Handbreads, Apas
• East Indian Fugias, or Instant Fugias
• Varias – East Indian Wedding bread
• Ladi Pav Recipe
• Homemade Brown Bread

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