Dan Lepard’s simple milk loaf

Another Dan Lepard recipe, this time of a delicious milk loaf for sandwiches, with an exquisite buttery aroma and a wonderful flavor. I bake it for my children, to prevent them from eating the nasty sandwich comercial loaves. Have you ever read the ingredients list? Do it, you’re old enough. Why on earth does it need so many strange ingredients? When a loaf can last several weeks in the fridge like any uncorrupted saint´s relic, there can be no good in it… This bread is fairly easy to make and keeps very well for several days, just long enough for the children to eat it all.

Dan Lepard’s simple milk loaf (from the book «The handmade loaf»)

• 250 g strong flour
• 250 g all-purpose flour (you bet I used spelt)
• 350 g whole milk at ambient temperature
• 20 g golden or maple syrup (I used maple)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons good sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh yeast (I used dried yeast, one package)

Mix everything in a bowl, except the salt. Knead it lightly on a floured counter and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Then add the salt and start kneading. In case you don’t know, this Lepard man does a series of short light kneads, 10 to 15 seconds, three times every 10 minutes ending with a half an hour rest, until the dough is smooth, elastic and soft like a baby’s cheek. In this case I used the traditional kneading method, 8-10 minutes, watch this video. Then I made a ball, I put it in an oiled bowl, covered it with a plastic shower cap and left it to proof. As I used the super quick granulated yeast, it took less than an hour to rise.

Once the first proofing is done, deflate the dough beating it on the counter or flattening it with you hands (be rough on it!) and divide it into two balls. Butter and flour a loaf pan and put both balls inside. Leave them to proof for the second time till almost doubled. Brush the top with some milk and to the oven, preheated at 210 ºC. Bake for 15 minutes at that temperature and then lower the temperature to 180 ºC and bake the bread for another 20-25 minutes. I think I overbaked it a little, that’s why the crust looks to brown. The smell in the whole house made me dizzy.

In the picture of the cut the bread was still a bit warm (I’m impatient!), that’s why the crumb looks a bit «dragged» by the knife, but the cut looked better when completely cold. The crumb is dense for a sandwich loaf because of the spelt, which has less gluten than normal bread flour. That’s why you can cut thinner slices, they don’t need to be thick because this bread is a lot more flavorful than normal sandwich bread… well, if you call that normal. This beautiful bread goes to this week Yeastpottings!

By the way… don’t you think my butter dish is really cute?