Buttery Bread

This is the first time I made really really good bread. The first time I made bread my mom said, "this bread is so hard that if I throw it against the wall, the wall would have a dent." Now my mom didn't say this in English but she said something to that effect. But that bread was really hard. The several times I made bread afterwards wasn't that great either. It doesn't help when you get this feeling that making bread is so complicated.

Ok, I made bread today and it was really good. The only thing I want to fix is that the bread has a very strong yeast odor. I know you need yeast to make bread but I can do without the smell. The issue with this bread has nothing against the issues that I had with the breads I made previously. It seemed like lacking the understanding of making bread was the issue. At first, I realized that activated yeast is very important for a fluffy bread. Next, I realized that letting the dough rise was very important as well. Letting the dough rise a second time finally hit me today. It wasn't until today that I finished perfecting bread. It only took a couple of years. But anyways, without further ado, I present bread... buttery bread to be exact.

What makes this bread so buttery? A lot of butter or olive oil brushed on the dough while it's rising the second time and more brushed while it's cooking.

Buttery Bread

1 cup warm water
1 packet of active dry yeast
1/4 cup milk
6 tsp sugar
5 tsp butter
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Mix the water, sugar and the yeast. Set the mixture aside and let the yeast activate.



Once the yeast starts frothing up, it should take ten minutes, place it in a bowl. Add the salt, butter and milk. Add the flour one cup at a time. On the third cup, sprinkle more flour and use some of that flour to dust a working area where you can knead the dough. The dough will be very sticky and soft so use the leftover flour knead the dough. Use either the same bowl you used or use another but grease the bowl and place the dough. Cover with either a wet towel or wet paper towel. Set aside until it doubles.



Once the dough doubles in size, beat the dough for ten minutes or so. When I did this part, the dough was very airy but when I beat all the air out of the dough, it was pretty tough. Not as tough as the bread I've done before but the elasticity was pretty strong. I have a feeling it has something to do with all the glutin but I have a feeling this is the reason why you have to beat the dough for ten minutes.

You can do two things with the dough, you can roughly roll the dough flat, roll it and tuck the edges. Place the dough in a loaf bread pan and let it rise again. Or, you can divide the bread into smaller pieces and let rise for another hour.



Brush the dough with olive oil or butter. Regardless, preheat the oven 350 degrees F 10 minutes or however many minutes to preheat the oven before you make the bread. As you can see, the bread did grow but now you can see why most people would put this dough in a loaf pan. The dough does grow but it spread out when it has nothing to cling on. But, seeing how it works now, I think next time, I'll just use the individual large cupcake tins that I have to make these rolls. Or, not butter the bread the second time it's doubling so that it doesn't spread on the pan.



Bake the bread in the oven until the outer side of the bread is brown or the inside is cooked. Don't forget to brush the bread with butter at least twice during the cooking process. Wait until the surface of the bread can withstand the brush. I brushed the dough while it was still soft and it was a little difficult. I was a little scared of deflating the dough but it was good. It was good though.

Have fun!