Basic White Loaf

I've only chosen the easiest and most convenient recipe, a white basic bread using the breadmaker. Basic ingredients and not much fuss :)

For my past experiences with the breadmaker, it did not yield me very soft bread when I was following the recipe from the breadmaker. The bread normally dried up after only a few hours eventhough I have clingwrapped it. Most of the loaf always ended in the bin and I hate wasting food like this.

I've done some read up recently and found that the main reason of bread drying up too fast can be due to insufficient butter/ oil used. This time around, I modified the original recipe a little bit by adding additional of 1/2 tbsp of butter to the ingredients.

Ingredients:

(yields 1 1lb loaf)

2/3 cup water

2 cups bread flour

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp dry milk (I used full cream milk powder)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp butter

1 tsp yeast

Method:

1. Put in ingredients into the baking pan according to the list above or follow breadmaker's instructions.

2. Select "basic bread regular" and press "Start"

3. Unmold immediately from the baking pan once it is done.

4. Cool the freshly baked loaf on a rack completely or at least for half an hour before cutting.

Results:

I am very satisfied with the outcome. The bread does not dry up so easily. The texture is still soft even after 24 hours. I just stored the slices of bread in an airtight container after it has cooled down. Actually, it is best stored with ziplock bag. Previously, I did try adding butter up to 2 tbsp in the ingredients but I found it a little too dense. 

I've successfully made wonderful loaves following this modified recipe. Now, I do not have to throw away bread that is unfinished within few hours!