Kerala style bakery bread/ Milk bread

 

I think it was last month that I got a DM in Instagram asking whether I am familiar with the sweet bakery bread which we get back home. Until then, I never really thought of making it at home.  It reminded me of those days when we had guests for chaya and Amma serving bakery bread and chicken curry! The soft pillowy bread will soak up all that gravy, the combination of sweet bread with spicy chicken curry was a perfect marriage! I just couldn’t wait to bake it and eat it with some chicken curry. 

I had baked challah and soft dinner rolls recently and those bread tasted similar to our Kerala bread but less sweet. So, I had an idea that this bread has to made with an enriched dough (egg, milk, butter) but to get a clear idea, I looked up on Youtube to see how they are done in professional bakeries . The recipes I saw were all pretty much the standard bread recipe. Some with butter, some with dalda, with milk, milk powder etc..all pretty much the same. 

Though most of the bakery breads are eggless, when we are balking at home without professional equipments, it’s not easy to get the same result. So I decided to add an   egg for a better texture. I jotted down a recipe in a paper keeping all those recipes in mind and voila here it is! The bread was a great success and it tasted almost like the bakery bread and I enjoyed it with some chicken curry just to walk down the memory lane! 

INGREDIENTS 

All-purpose flour/bread flour – 325 gm ( plus extra for dusting)

Egg – 1 large +1 (for egg wash)

Milk powder – 3 tablespoons 

Unsalted butter – 50 gm 

Sugar – 40 gm + 1 tsp 

Instant yeast – 1 ½ tsp 

Milk – 150 ml /3/4 cup + one tablespoon( for egg wash)

Salt – 1/2 tsp 

METHOD

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk with one tsp of sugar and leave it aside for 10 minutes until frothy. 

Meanwhile in a big bowl, mix 325 gm flour, milk powder, sugar and salt .

Add butter to it and mix it well with hand. 

Break one egg and mix again. Finally add the yeast solution and start kneading the dough. 

The dough will be very sticky, please do not add flour for the first few minutes. As you knead dough will become less sticky. 

Keep kneading the dough and if the dough is still very sticky after 5 minutes add some flour and knead again. 

Knead dough for another 15 minutes (softness of the bread depends on how well you knead).  

You should get a very soft dough which when stretched should pass the window pane test (should give you a thin translucent membrane) .

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it proof for 1-2 hour in a warm place until it has doubled in size. 

After 1 –2 hour, knock the air out from the dough and roll it into a rectangle with a rolling pin and then roll the rectangle slowly into a log. 

Place the log in lined baking tin and cover it with a damp cloth. Let it rise for proof for another 1 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 170 degree C . 

Meanwhile break another egg and mix it with a tablespoon of milk and give the bread an egg wash. 

Place the loaf in the preheated oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Timing may vary depending on your oven.