Condensed Milk Bread

Condensed Milk Bread (using sponge and dough method)

- Sponge and dough method is a two-sted bread making process: in the first step a sponge dough is made and allowed to ferment for a period of time (usually double or triples in size), and in the second step the sponge dough is added to the final dough's ingredients.

Ingredients:

sponge dough: bread flour 280 g, water 168 g, rapid rise yeast 4.5 g
main dough: bread flour 120 g, castor sugar 32 g, salt 5 g, condensed milk 80 g, eggs 40 g, water 10-20 g, butter (softened) 32 g

** note: you may need to adjust amount of water depending on the brand of your flour and humidity of weather.

Directions:
1. Combine all sponge dough ingredients, from wet to dry ingredients and the yeast last. Mix and knead until well blended, cover dough with a plastic wrap, let rise in a warm place until it triples in volume.

** Or you can do what I did. I pre-heated my oven to the lowest temperature (170 F), turn off the oven, place a small pot or cup of warm/hot water inside of the oven, then set your dough in the oven to rise. (pre-heating your oven and the warm water will create a warm and humidity environment for the dough to rise faster) This process usually takes about 2 to 4 hours, it varies.


2. Remove dough from the oven, tear into little pieces and combine it with all the ingredients from the main dough except the butter: from wet to dry ingredients. Knead until fully incorporated and well blended, until dough reaches some elasticity.

3. Add butter, knead until fully incorporated and well blended, continue kneading until complete stage, where you can stretch your dough into a really thin sheet of mask. Let it rest in warm place for about half an hour. (And, this is the time if you want to add any nuts or dried fruits if you wish to)

4. Remove air from dough by rolling and kneading, divide into 3 porportion sizes, let rest for 15 minutes.

5. After the dough have been rested, roll dough out into oval shapes, flip over and roll dough out once more, fold 1/3 of dough toward the inside from both sides to create a long rectangle shape.

6. Roll the edges to very thin, roll dough together from top to bottom, and place it in loaf pan, and final proof the dough in warm place until its almost the level of your loaf pan (when touched, should leave an indentation on it, this is when you know your dough is ready to bake)

7. After dough have reached its final proof, brush the top surface of dough with egg mixture (egg + water), this will gives the bread a shiny coating after its baked (this is optional and you make skip this process)

8. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 350 F for about 35-40 minutues or until the loaf its in a nice golden color.

9. Remove loaf from oven, let cool on a rack.