The Best Homemade White Bread

Original Recipe 

Preparation time: 25 minutes;  Proofing time: 3 hours; Baking time: 30-40 minutes Makes: two 8 x 4 inch loaves

Ingredients

• 700g 5 ½ cups (approximately) all purpose or bread flour (I used 625g (5 cups)
• 1 ½ teaspoons Fleischmanns instant yeast 

• 2 teaspoons fine salt

• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 50g (3 tablespoons) butter
, melted 
• 2 cups lukewarm whole milk

Instructions

1. Grease two 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pans and line with overhanging parchment. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) ten minutes before using.
2. Sift or whisk 3 cups (375g) flour, yeast, sugar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Make a well in the centre.
3. Add the melted butter and warm milk. Using the paddle attachment beat the mixture 4-5 minutes until smooth and free of lumps. (At this point it’s a pourable consistency)
4. Switch to the dough hook attachment and slowly incorporate the rest of the flour until a soft dough forms and the sides of the bowl are clean (I used 625g/5 cups) . Knead the dough for ten minutes either using the dough hook or your hands..
5. Remove the dough and knead a few times on a lightly floured surface to lose it’s stickiness. Form into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and let rise for 1 hour.
6. Knock back the dough and knead it for a few minutes then let it rest another 10 minutes, covered.
7. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and form each portion into a ball. Place 3 balls of dough in each loaf pan. Cover with a polythene bag  and allow the dough to rise until it is about 2 inches above the rim of the pan. This will take about 2 hours depending on room temperature.
8. Bake 30-40 minutes. The loaves should have a golden crust and sound hollow when tapped at the bottom when fully baked.
9. Turn loaves out onto a wire rack to cool. Brush the tops with melted butter if desired to soften the top crust.

Points to Note

1. The dough weighed 1243g (2.74 Ib) so the pieces were about 206g (7.2 oz) each
2. After dividing the dough into 6 pieces and placing in the pans, they can be cold proofed overnight in the fridge. Cover the pans with a clean tea towel. Remove from the fridge the next day and allow them to finish rising to about 2-inches above the pan rim. This can take 1-2 hours.
3. I made this bread in a 9 x 5 pan but it did not rise above 2-inches as said in the recipe. My dough started collapsing and I had to quickly bake it. I think for this dough to rise to the said height it must be baked in an 8.5 x 4.5 inch pan.

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