A non-Korean recipe from Maangchi that lives up to its name as a fluffy bread! I have been making sourdough recently so this was a nice change in both flavor and technique.
Here's the cast.
I melted the butter in a large pan.
I removed the pan from the heat and added the sugar and milk.
Stir until the sugar dissolves--talk about enriched dough: sugar, milk and butter!
I stirred in the yeast and let it sit for a bit.
Once the yeast was activated and foamy...
...I added the eggs and salt.
And once the eggs were incorporated,
One thing that is cool about Maangchi is how she often uses pans in ways I would not have thought of. Because this pan is so wide and shallow, it could be used to knead the dough in.
Once I started handling the dough I got concerned though. It's supposed to be a soft dough because it's enriched and it's going to make a very soft-textured bread but this felt too soft. I tried working it but it would not get any firmer. I ended up adding nearly a whole extra cup more of flour and even then, the dough stayed soft. It was very humid that day and that definitely affects the consistency of bread doughs--some more than others.
The dough should have gotten smooth and elastic but it refused so I did the best I could.
After an hour it had definitely risen.
And after the required two hours, it had definitely more than doubled in size.
I had to flour the bench, my hands and the scraper pretty generously to get it flattened out and then divided into two.
Fortunately I was pretty happy with my portioning this time!
Each dough ball is flattened and patted into an oblong.
The dough is rolled up to form a loaf.
Then I placed it in a greased loaf pan with the seam-side down.
Repeat the shaping process for the second dough ball and leave the loaves to rise until they are about an inch over the top of the pans.
Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned. I think I need to check my oven temperature because it seems pretty hot. The bread was looking lightly browned at the 15 minute mark.
I let the loaves cool for a few minutes and then removed them to a rack.
You're supposed to wait till the loaves cool before cutting them. Supposed to. The smell was so tempting--even though there wasn't a significant amount of butter, it did smell buttery. The texture was indeed fluffy and the taste was reminiscent of our local sweet bread.
The family (and extended family) loved the bread. I liked it, too. The only thing I wasn't satisfied with was I felt deprived of a really good knead! There'll be other breads...
Here's the promised link:
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