Make 2 loaves – 9 x 5 inch loaf tin
Ingredients
Milk – 1 cup (just a bit warmer than room temp) (can also use powdered milk)
Active dry yeast – 4 tsp
Water – 2 cups water and 1/2 cup milk (can also use milk for extra richness)
Salt – 3 tsp
Sugar – 3tbsp
Butter or margarine, or vegetable oil room temperature -1/4 cup
All purpose flour – 9 cups plus extra for smoothening the dough.
Melted butter – 2tbsp (for brushing on before baking)
Method
- Combine 1 cup warm milk and the yeast in a large mixing bowl. After 5 minutes,make sure the yeast becomes active. This is just to make sure your yeast is alive. When the yeast gets activated, you’ll see a few bubbles and some froth.
- Add the 2 cups water and 1/2 cup milk, salt, and sugar. Stir to combine.
- Add 8 1/2 cups of flour and incorporate the mixture. At this stage, the dough will be very wet, like a stiff cake batter.
- Let the dough rest for 5 minutes to allow the flour to completely absorb the water.
- Add the softened butter (or oil) a bit at a time until fully mixed well in the dough. The dough will be slippery at first but it will mix in after continuous incorporation.
- Knead the dough in the bowl for 2-3 minutes, it will be very wet and sticky at this stage.
- Take out the dough onto a heavily floured counter /flat surface and begin kneading the dough – fold the edges in towards the middle, then pushing the dough down, fold in the edges, push it down, and repeat. You’ll rotate the dough as you go to knead all sides.
- Keep on kneading knead the dough for at least 8 minutes. The dough will still be sticky but will start to have structure. If you need to add more flour – add a little at a time, until the dough becomes a cohesive mass. Scrape the edges at frequent intervals and bring them up into the middle, then pushing down in the center with your hands. Continue kneading until the dough becomes shiny and more smooth.
- Put a cloth over this and let it rest for 3 minutes.
- After this remove cloth, sprinkle little bit flour on top, turn it over and start shaping the dough. Flatten it, and pull the edges to the center to make it into a ball shape.Keep doing this until you are happy with the shape.
- Now transfer the dough in a large wide mouthed bowl, sprinkle some flour on top and let it rest for 1 hour.
- After an hour, the dough rises to twice its size.
- Take the dough out on a lightly floured flat surface/counter and divide it into two parts, as we are going to fill in two loaf pans.
- Pat the dough gently using fingers and spread it out a little bit. Divide it into two equal parts by cutting in the middle.
- Work on one piece at a time. Take the semicircle shaped dough piece, fold the top to center, and the bottom point to center, then pull the edges to center and try to make a ball shaped dough. Keep rotating the edges with both hands to smoothen. Repeat this procedure for the other half of dough. You will get two ball shaped doughs.
- Sprinkle little flour on the dough balls, cover with cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- Final shaping:
- Prepare your 9 x 5-inch bread tins by greasing the bottom and sides with softened butter, oil, or cooking spray. Butter will work best and give the best color when baked.
- Take out the dough, turn it upside down and lay it flat on a lightly floured surface. Spread it out with your fingers. Now, when this has the shape of a circle, pull the left and right side to form a small edge. Fold the left edge towards center and in a slight angle. Then fold the other edge towards center in a slight angle. Flatten it a little bit. The dough looks like a triangle. Now hold the top part which is little shorter than the bottom part, and slowly roll it inwards till you reach end portion. Roll the loaf of bread so the seam side is down and gently shape into a size that will snugly fit your loaf tin.
- Now the dough looks like kind of a roll. Place the dough into the tin, seam side down, and gently pat or push the top slightly to evenly shape.
- Cover and let it rise for 1 hour. The dough will dome as it rises.
- Meanwhile while dough is resting, after 30 minutes, preheat your oven to 375F.
- Once the dough is risen, very gently brush with melted butter and bake in a preheated 375F oven on the middle shelf. The dough will continue to rise slightly as it bakes. Baking will take about 30 to 40 minutes – check at the 20-minute mark to prevent over-browning.
Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes. Using a butter knife, carefully run the knife down the edges of the tin to loosen any stuck sections, then turn out onto the counter to check for doneness. The bread should be golden brown on all sides and have a hollow thump sound on the bottom. If it needs an additional 5 minutes, put it back in the oven directly on the oven rack (no tin) to finish baking.
When bread is ready, take it out from oven and brush on the top with melted butter.
Let cool before slicing – about 45 minutes. If it’s sliced too early, the crumb may not have set up. - Tips
- During the initial phase of dough preparation, you can use a stand-mixer/wet grinder (with chappathi attachment) to activate the yeast, add other ingredients, and flour(little by little) and mix it on low to medium for 8 minutes. Let it rest for few minutes, the add softened butter and combine well in the mixer itself for 3 minutes.Then take the dough out and do the rest of the procedure in a flat surface.
