How to make perfect enriched bread
Regular bread dough has simple ingredients – yeast, flour, water, salt. Enriched bread dough adds fats such as milk, butter, and/or eggs.
What is enriched bread?
The first step towards perfect bread - mix with precision. Read and measure before starting the recipe. A food scale is key!
Mixing dough
Use the window pane test – when you can stretch the dough out thinly enough so that light shines through and the dough doesn’t break, the gluten has developed sufficiently.
Kneading Dough
First Proof
Proofing speed will differ depending on the day. It’s important to let your bread rest and grow sufficiently. A rule of thumb is to let it double in size.
Now's the time for beautiful shapes and add-in ingredients. You want to be firm but gentle so you don’t squeeze out too much of the air you just gained on the first proof.
Shaping
Worried about over or under proofing? A good test in the poke test. When you poke the loaf with your finger, the indent should fill back slowly to about halfway.
Second Proof
Baking
To check if your bread has baked for the right amount of time, tap the top with a spoon – a hollow sound indicates that the middle is cooked through.
Ready to bake the perfect loaf?
Read the full guide below!