Watching my bread dough rises beyond the rim of the baking tin is one of my favorite kitchen highlights. But something about baking perfectly cornered square loaves sometimes lures me away from shaping dome loaves from time to time, and these tend to be plain milk recipes.
Other than making perfect symmetrical sandwiches, I enjoy turning this almost-brioche-texture bread into luxurious thick french toasts. This is not something you will want to prepare if you are in a hurry as I make sure the bread slices soak up the custard thoroughly, and this could take up to 20 to 30 minutes. Plus, I bake it in the oven for another 10 minutes just to make sure the custard gets cooked all the way inside the toast, even after frying them in the skillet. So if you have really hungry kids waiting in line at the kitchen door for their breakfast, may I suggest regular omelettes on toast instead, same ingredients but much faster.
Alternatively, make the french toasts with thinner bread slices to reduce the soaking time. But still, make sure that the custard gets completely absorbed. Otherwise, it will just be cooking an omelette on the surface of the bread, which bring us back to my earlier suggestion. This video perfectly illustrates the importance of the additional soaking and baking step. It might just make you wake up an hour earlier to do the prep work, like how it did for me.
Coupled with homemade jam like this, breakfast gets extra brownie points, though I would have settled with just honey or maple syrup when the (cheaper) berry season is over.
Condensed Milk Potato Bread
100g potato, cooked and mashed 200g bread flour 20g top flour 1 teaspoon instant yeast 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons condensed milk 45g liquid** 36g butter 1/2 large egg (around 35g)
** You can add liquid of your preference such as fresh milk, soy milk, plain water or water remained from cooking potatoes with, along as they are chilled or room temperature, never boiling hot.
In a mixing bowl, combine bread flour, top flour, instant yeast, salt with a hand whisk to mix the dry ingredients.
Add mashed potatoes, condensed milk, beaten egg (roughly 35g) and liquid of your choice. I made mine with fresh unsweetened soy milk. Start the mixer on low speed (KA 1) to knead the ingredients to form a dough. Stop the mixer and rest the dough for 15 minutes. After the resting time is up, turn on the mixer again to continue kneading the dough, this time with cold cubed butter added, one by one. Knead this dough till window pane stage, a must for soft, cotton-like Asian style bread.
Turn off the mixer, and let dough bulk rise covered for 1 hour, it should expand considerably up to twice its original size. After an hour, punch the dough down to and transfer it to a clean and dry worktop. Divide the dough into three equal portions, roll them into balls and let it rest for 15 minutes. wl from the As soon as the bread dough reaches almost the top of the tin, it is covered and the bread should continue to rise well within the next 15 minutes to reach all corners of the enclosed tin, while my oven is being preheated.
Take a ball of dough, and flatten it to remove any air trapped inside. With a rolling pin, flatten it into a longish piece, and roll this up into a cylinder, like a swiss roll. Repeat with the other two balls of dough. With seam side facing downwards, place them in a bread tin, and let it rise in a draft-free area for 40 minutes. As soon as the bread dough reaches almost the top of the tin, it is covered and the bread should continue to rise well within the next 15 minutes to reach all corners of the enclosed tin, while my oven is being preheated.
After 40 minutes, check if the bread dough has risen to fill about 90% of the tin. As soon as it has risen to that height, cover the bread tin and it should continue to rise well within the next 15 minutes to reach all corners of the enclosed tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 210C for 40 minutes.
Unmold done bread from bread tin and cool it completely on a rack, before slicing or serving.
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