richard Here we have another superb and satisfyingly time-consuming recipe from Dan Lepard. This one caught my eye because two of the ingredients are cream and golden syrup.
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 4 – 6 hours proving
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Skill level: medium
Recipe: Dan Lepard
Ingredients
For the sponge
- strong white flour – 175g
- whole milk – 225 ml
- double cream – 50 ml
- dried yeast – 1 tsp
For the dough
- strong white flour – 200g
- golden syrup – 1 tbsp
- unsalted butter – melted – 25g
- salt – 1 tsp
Pour the milk and cream into a pan and bring to the boil. Pour into a jug and cool until tepid. Stir in the dried yeast until dissolved.
Pour into a bowl, add the flour and stir until smooth.
Cover and set aside for 2 – 4 hours until frothy.
Next add the Golden Syrup, flour, melted butter and salt and mix to a sticky dough.
Give the dough three light kneads over the next 30 minutes, then cover and set aside for a further 30 minutes.
Drop out onto a floured surface and roll into a rectangle. Roll up tightly and place seam side down into a well oiled 2lb bread tin.
Lightly cover with oiled cling film and leave in a warm place for 1 – 2 hours until doubled in size.
Bake for 20 minutes at 220C, then turn down the heat to 200C and cook for a further 20-25 minutes.
Turn out onto a cooling rack.
Verdict: Soft, spongy and slightly sweet – delicious.
Drink: K4e with UHT.
Entertainment: News Quiz on R4
What’s the point of boiling the milk and cream for the sponge? You only have to cool it down again before you can add the yeast. I guess this will work with milk at room temperature, but will just take a little longer for it to ferment properly.
Good question there NickB
Dan Lepard says: ” Boiling milk before using it in baking kills off an enzyme in the whey protein that can make the crumb of the bread very heavy. The pasteurisation that all milk goes through isn’t enough: you need to scald the milk and let it cool before you use it if you want the crumb extra light and fluffy.”
Who are we to question the god of baking?
R
Interesting. Well that’s me told! I think I’ll try this next time I bake bread with milk. Thanks for you blog, by the way. I’m really enjoying the recipes. (Yuckblog just made me sad about the state of our food industry.)
Hi Nick
Glad to be of service … thanks for the kind words.
R