Japanese Milk Bread

Ingredients:

For the starter (tangzhong)

• 45 grams bread flour
• ½ cup / 120 milliliters whole milk
• ½ cup / 120 milliliters water
  

For the dough

•  650 grams bread flour
•  120 grams sugar
•  14 grams active dry yeast
•  8 grams salt
•  2 eggs
•  1 cup / 240  milliliters warm whole milk, plus extra for brushing on the unbaked loaf
•  8 tablespoons / 120 grams unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened at room temperature, plus extra for buttering bowls and pan

Directions:

1. Make the starter: In a small heavy pot, whisk flour, milk and 1/2 cup water (120 milliliters) together until smooth. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often, until thickened but still pourable, about 10 minutes (it will thicken more as it cools). When it’s ready, the spoon will leave tracks on the bottom of the pot. Scrape into a measuring cup and lightly cover the surface with plastic wrap. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
   
2. Make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt and mix for a few seconds, just until evenly combined.
3. Add egg, milk and starter. Turn the mixer on low speed and knead 5 minutes.
4. Add soft butter and knead another 10 to 12 minutes (it will take a few minutes for butter to be incorporated), until the dough is smooth and springy and just a bit tacky.
5. Lightly butter the inside of a bowl. Use your hands to lift dough out of mixer bowl, shape into a ball and place in prepared bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes.
6. Punch the dough down and use your hands to scoop it out onto a surface. Using a bench scraper or a large knife, cut dough in half. Lightly form each half into a ball, cover again and let rise 15 minutes.
7. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In the meantime, generously butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
8. Form dough into loaf and place in pan, seam side down.
9. Cover and let rest 30 to 40 minutes more, until the risen dough is peeking over the edge of the pan and the dough logs are meeting in the center. Brush the tops with milk and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven until golden brown and puffed, 35 to 40 minutes.
10. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and let cool at least 1 hour, to let the crust soften and keep the crumb lofty. (If cut too soon, the air bubbles trapped in the bread will deflate.)

Roasted Garlic Focaccia Bread

I love garlic! And roasted garlic is sweet and savory. This is a simple, easy bread recipe that is bursting with flavor and is great for sandwiches, or as a side for any pasta or Italian dish.

Ingredients:
15-20 cloves of garlic peeled and roasted
1 c warm water
1 tbsp active yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp basil
1 tbsp olive oil + more to brush over
2 c flour + some for kneading

Directions:

1. Roast your garlic by peeling the cloves and putting it in a ball of foil. Roast for about 45 minutes at 350F.
2. Activate yeast in a bowl by combing year, water, salt, sugar, and herbs. Wait 10 minutes or until bubbly.
3. Add olive oil, garlic, and flour. Add enough flour so you can get it out of the bowl. But keep it as sticky as you can.
4. Knead on a floured surface for a few minutes, adding flour as needed.
5. Put dough in a greased (with olive oil) bowl. Turn to coat the dough.
6. Let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled.
7. Coat a cookie sheet (preferably with raised edges) with oil.
8. Press dough onto sheet spreading it evenly.
9. Brush olive oil on top and let rise again for about 20 minutes.
10. Bake at 400F for 18-20 minutes or until the top is beginning to be browned.
11. Enjoy!

(A wonderful panini made with this bread)

Best Sandwich Bread At Home

It's a well known fact. Homemade bread mostly is bad. It's crubly, dry, and is missing the great texture we all love from store bought bread.

Well if you are like me and don't like most homemade bread, this recipe is for you. This healthy (yes, it really is) bread has the light fluffy texture of store bought bread with all the freshness you love of homemade bread. Once you try it you will never buy bread again for sandwich.

Ingredients

3 cups warm water
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast or 4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast
1/3 cup honey
5 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey.
2. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine.
3. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly. Be careful though, this can bubble over your bowl.
4. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt.
5. Stir in 2-3 cups whole wheat flour.
6. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel.
7. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
8. Punch down, and divide into 2-3 loaves.
9. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch. If you want taller bread, just do two loaves, if you're ok with bread that isn't as tall as store bought bread go with 3 loaves. Make sure when you divide it up you don't stretch it out longer than your pan. You want the dough to rise to the size of the pan, if it's already longer or wider you'll get un-pretty bread, it'll still taste good though.
10. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes; do not overbake.
11. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely.

Now if you are craving something sweeter follow the steps above except after it has risen roll it out. Again, make sure you don't make it longer than the width of your pan, but roll it out long. Then brush the dough with about 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Then make a simple cinnamon mixture of about 1 tablespoon white sugar, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Just make it taste good to you. Sprinkle that over the dough covered with butter. Roll up the dough and place in the pan to finish rising. A great treat!



I should also say that you can freeze this bread. Since homemade bread will only stay fresh for about 5 days it's a good idea to freeze your extra loafs. Simply pull it out of the freezer and let it thaw overnight to eat the next day.