Author Topic: Enriched-dough breads, scald the milk?  (Read 780 times)

zxcvbob

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Enriched-dough breads, scald the milk?
« on: February 14, 2021, 12:57:11 AM »
A local bakery has a special bread they make just in February; it's a white loaf with a swirl of dried cherries and white chocolate chips.  The bread part tastes a little richer than ordinary white bread, but not as rich as challah or brioche.  I think maybe it's just made with milk instead of water.  I bought a loaf last week; it's pretty expensive but it's good.

I found this recipe that looks about right for the base, but shouldn't the milk be scalded and cooled?  https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Amish-Milk-Bread-9018476  (that's also too much yeast, but that won't really hurt anything it's just a bit wasteful)  I've always heard that if you bake with milk w/o scalding it, proteins or enzymes in the whey will inhibit gluten development and will also somehow make the bread gummy. 

I bought a bag of white baking chips and I had some old dried-out Craisins already.  I have the Craisins soaking in Kirsch (strong unsweetened cherry brandy) and want to give this a try.  I'm thinking I'll follow that recipe but will scald the milk.  Roll out the dough and sprinkle the chips and the mock-cherries on and roll it up like a jelly roll.  Probably bake it free-form on some parchment instead of in a loaf pan.

Or do you think this recipe might be dependent on *not* scalding the milk?
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K Frame

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Re: Enriched-dough breads, scald the milk?
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2021, 08:08:00 AM »
Scalding the milk was necessary when you were getting your milk from Bessie. Scalding killed bacteria and yes, it deactivated an enzyme that could mess with the bread's overall quality.

But... your milk has already been scalded (unless you just went and milked Bessie).

The pasteurization process does the exact same thing. So, you don't need to do it twice.

But, warming your milk to about 105 deg F. does help dissolve the sugar and kick start the yeast.
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