MILK BUN
This bread is the love child of the Jewish challah and the French brioche: it is lighter and smoother than the former without being as rich as the latter. And like both its parents, it provides a feeling of both comfort and luxury, everyday and special occasion at the same time. The plait shape not only looks beautiful but makes it easy to tear a piece with your hand rather than slice, which is just how it should be eaten.
50ml + about 60ml warm milk
20g fresh yeast or 1 tbsp dried yeast
25g sugar
250g strong flour
½ tsp salt
1 whole egg
50g soft butter
milk or beaten egg to glaze
poppy seeds and salt to sprinkle (optional)
Heat 50ml of the milk until it’s warm to the touch, then add the yeast and sugar and set aside until it starts to foam.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, egg and butter. Pour in the foaming milk- yeast mixture and mix to a smooth dough, adding as much of the additional milk as is needed. It should come together to a really smooth dough, and you need to work it until it goes all shiny. You can do this easily by hand, but if you prefer you can use a mixer bowl with a dough hook. Once the dough is all shiny, cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a warm place to prove until doubled in size.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a clean, flat surface – I don’t usually add any more flour, but if it sticks, use a little. Start rolling the dough to a long snake. It is best to roll from the middle outwards, repeating until the dough is approximately 75cm long.
Cut 25cm off one end of the dough snake and set aside. Arrange the remaining length as an upside down letter ‘U’ on a lined baking tray. Lay the 25cm length in
a straight line down the middle of the ‘U’, with one end resting on top of the dough at the centre of the curve (this will form a little top-knot at one end of the finished plait). Now plait the three strips of dough as you would hair or string, but don’t tuck it tight: leave it loose so that the dough has room to prove. Cover loosely with cling film and leave in a warm place until it doubles in size.
Preheat your oven to 220°C/200°C fan/ gas mark 7.
Carefully remove the cling film and brush the dough all over with milk or beaten
egg and, if you wish, sprinkle with some poppy seeds and salt. Make sure your oven is hot and place the plait on the middle shelf for 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6, open the door carefully and turn the tray. Bake for a further 8 minutes, then reduce the heat again to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4 for the last 8 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little before eating. This bread is best eaten as soon after baking as possible, but makes great toast the next day.
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