rococo.blog

Welcome welcome

Easy Cooking

Bread

Bread is awesome and goes well with everything.

Bread Recipes

Bread Ingredients & Equipment

Bread Machine

I use a Hamilton Beach bread machine. $60-70 bucks new. If you want to go more high end you can get a Zojirushi one but I'm happy with this one (especially since I mostly use it for dough and Zojirushi apparently excels when you bake the bread in the machine).

"Hamilton Beach Bread Maker Machine 2 Lb Capacity Digital, Programmable, 12 Settings + Gluten Free, Dishwasher Safe Pan + 2 Kneading Paddles, Black (29882)" on Amazon.

Other Tools

Measuring Cup: "OXO Good Grips 2-Cup Angled Measuring Cup" on Amazon. Anything is fine it's just a cup.

Dough cutting knife: "OXO Stainless Steel Good Grips Multi-Purpose Scraper & Chopper, 1 Count" on Amazon. Actually not this exact one, I got a random one that I don't remember the name of. But they're all about the same, they're just knives. Get one with a ruler on the edge though.

Apron: Optional, I don't use one. Pour flour with caution.

Paper towels: Lots to keep your workspace clean!

Measuring

I'm not a big stickler on measuring... if it's close enough it's usually going to turn out fine and yummy!

The only important thing is: do not pack your flour down or even wiggle it around to try to level it out as you're measuring it. Scoop it into the measuring cup, and just leave it. Fancy people will tell you to level it off with a knife to be exact, I usually just eyeball it.

An easy way to eyeball things with vague accuracy is to keep in mind what your last measure is going to be. If you need 2 1/2 cups and your measuring cup goes up to 2, then you'll need a 2-cup amount and then another 1/2 cup. So just eyeball your excess and aim for a correspondingly less amount in your final cup. Then, if you go a bit high on your 2-cup, you can simply make your 1/2 cup a bit less.

If you DO want to be exact, do the knife thing, or even better, convert my numbers to grams and measure it out with a scale.

I personally find that the added deliciousness from measuring with great precision is not really worth the time and effort it takes...

Subtitutions & Details

Generally speaking, for ingredients:

Eggs

Any large egg is probably fine.

Milk

Any kind of milk is probably fine, I use 2%. Maybe don't use an entirely non-fat milk. Not sure how well non-cow milks work, I imagine other animals are probably OK, plant-based milks are probably not going to work very well.

Salt

Any kind of salt is probably fine, I use Costco's Kirkland fine grain sea salt.

Instant Yeast

I use Fleischmann's instant yeast. "RapidRise" and comes in a jar.

You can probably use any yeast that's "instant" and doesn't require activation.

Flour

I generally use bread flour, specifically King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour. About $1/lb ($5 for a 5 lb bag). Regular flour is usually fine too, bread flour tastes marginally better to me.

Sugar

I'll generally mention this but if a recipe calls for brown sugar you can use regular sugar too and it'll probably be fine. Light or dark or whatever doesn't matter that much.

Bread Recipes

All of these recipes use bread machines to do the hard work!

I love bread! However, to me, the extra time and effort to make fully handmade bread isn't worth the marginal increase in yumminess. So, all of these recipes involve using a bread machine to knead and rise the dough! Most of the recipes will have require manually shaping, proving, and baking the dough after the bread machine has finished making it.

See the Bread Ingredients page for info on my equipment and ingredients.

Recipes

RecipeTime
Hokkaido Milk Bread3.5 hours

Hokkaido Milk Bread

Summary

This is a Hokkaido-style milk bread. It's soft and a bit sweet. Tears into 9 chunks for easy sharing!

Inspiration: https://omnivorescookbook.com/milk-bread-rolls/

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup (+ a little bit extra) milk
- 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 4 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar 
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast

Substitutions & Details

Regular sugar is fine too.

I use La Lechera sweetened condensed milk.

Vanilla extract is optional. I use the one from Safeway's white label brand.

See Bread Ingredients page for other details.

Recipe

Total time: Around 3 hours 30 minutes

1. Making the dough

(~2 hours total: ~30 min prep; ~1.5 hr wait)

We'll use our bread machine to make the dough. Just set the bread machine to your dough mode. Preparation takes me about 30 minutes, from the moment I start putting stuff onto my workspace to the moment I've finished washing everything and head back upstairs. My bread machine takes 1.5 hours for its dough cycle - yours may differ.

  1. Measure out [1/2 cup] milk in a measuring cup, then pour the milk into a small bowl and warm for 30s in a microwave

  2. Pour the milk into the bread machine.

  3. Melt the [4 tbsp] butter in a small bowl (can use the same bowl). 1.5 minutes on 30% power followed by 30 seconds on 50% works for me. Add the butter to the bread machine when it's melted. While you wait...

  4. Measure out [1/4 cup] condensed milk (can use same measuring cup). This step can be tedious because that stuff is super sticky and does not flow well. I use a spoon to help scrape it. Once you're done, scrape it out into the bread machine.

  5. Whisk the egg a bit in a small bowl so that it's a uniform color (can use the same bowl).

  6. Add sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. At this point you should've added the following things to the bread machine:

  • 2 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup condensed milk
  • 4 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 whisked egg

  1. Measure out [2 1/2 cups] flour and put in the bread machine. You can use the same measuring cup but wash it out first. The flour should almost entirely cover everything underneath.

  2. Put [2 teaspoons] yeast in the bread machine. Sprinkle it evenly over the top of the flour.

  3. Turn your bread machine on, with the Dough setting. Wait until it's done.

  4. Wait 1.5 hours or however long your bread machine takes.

  5. Wash up! It takes me ~7 minutes to wash everything (which I included in prep time). The measuring cup and buttery stuff take the longest to clean.

Finished earlier than expected? You can just leave the dough in the machine longer if you want (after the cycle is done). This is the best step to wait at.

From the moment you start the dough cycle, the bread will be ready in about 3 hours.

2. Shape and rest

(~1 hour total: ~15 min prep; 45 min wait)

  1. Line a 9x9 baking pan (or any size pan, really) with parchment paper. TIP: tear the parchment paper in the corners so that it sits nicely in the container.

  2. Sprinkle a bit of flour on a bread board or other workspace.

  3. Take out the dough and put it on your workspace. The dough should be kinda poofy with a slightly oily glisten on the outside (from the egg I think).

  4. Smack the dough to get the air out. It should be kinda flat but not completely flat, like an inch in height or so.

  5. Cut the dough into 9 even pieces (cut into 3 strips and then cut each into another 3 rectangles). Remember the corners you cut will likely be smaller because of their rounded edges so make them a bit longer/wider than the middles to compensate.

  6. Shape the dough pieces into balls. You can roll them around in your hands to do this.

  7. Put the balls into the pan as you make them. 3x3 grid.

  8. Cover pretty tightly with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 45 min - they should poof up to be about double the original size, mostly filling up your container.

  9. Wash up! Not much to wash this time.

After about 35 minutes you may want to pre-heat your oven for the next step. Preheat to 350F (175C).

3. Bake

(~30 min total: ~5 min prep; ~25 min bake)

  1. Remove the plastic wrap from your container.

  2. Pour a small bit of milk into a bowl and brush it onto the top of the dough. This'll create a nice texture on top.

  3. Bake in the middle rack of your oven for 20-25 min, until the top turns golden brown.

  4. Let bread rest in pan for 5 min then move it to a cooling rack. Or just leave it in the pan, not a big deal.

TIME TO EAT

Dip the bread in your leftover condensed milk for extra deliciousness! Very unhealthy though, it is SUPER sweet...

Storage

It lasts pretty long in the fridge. Reheats well too, just toss it in the microwave.

Healthiness

There's quite a lot of sugar and salt in this, so probably not very healthy. Yummy, though!

Results


yum yum