White Loaf (Wu Pao Chun's Champion Toast)

Remember I said that every beginner baker should start by baking a basic butter cake? The other thing that a beginner baker should learn is a basic white loaf. 

When I first started baking, I was baking only cakes because I was so comfortable baking cakes that I could do it without thinking and I didn't want to fail at making other things like bread, pastry, kuih. Eventually I  learnt that one cannot survive on cakes. I wanted to have more simple things like bread, to have with jam or kaya or make a sandwich out of it. That was when I thought to myself, I should learn how to bake bread.

This recipe is also from Nasi Lemak Lover's blog. It's called Wu Pao Chun's Champion Toast. Wu Pao Chun is a famous chef from Taiwan who has won many awards in baking competitions so don't be afraid to try his recipe.

Prepare your 20cm x 10cm loaf tin. Since we don't use a bread maker at home, everything is done manually - that means by hands! Don't worry, it's not that difficult, I'll walk you through the process and the result is just as good. My parents would say even better.

Ingredients:-
375g high protein flour
30g sugar
3/4 tsp fine salt 
1 tsp instant yeast (remember not to place directly on salt)
20g butter
200g milk (This is a reduced amount. Original recipe calls for 240g milk but may cause the dough to be too wet.)


Method:-
Add flour, sugar, salt, yeast and butter into a mixing bowl and combine well with hands. I would recommend wearing gloves since it will get quite wet and sticky. 

1. Pour in milk little by little and mix flour into crumbs. The mixture will become very wet and sticky once all the milk has been added. 

2. Knead dough until smooth and all the milk has been absorbed. 

3. Place bowl back into the mixing bowl and cover with tea towel. 

4. Proof dough in a warm place for 1 hour or until double in size.

5. Punch down dough and roll it out into a flat rectangle. 

6. Roll up the rectangle and place in loaf tin. 

7. Proof dough.

8. Preheat oven to 170C. Egg wash dough (8). Bake for 20 minutes on middle rack. 

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This loaf bread is so easy to make and it's perfect to have with your favourite spread or you could make a sandwich out of it. I like mine with strawberry jam. Try it out!

Happy baking! xx