Ease of Preparation: Medium
Yield: 3 loaves
What’s the best thing since sliced bread? Vanessa Gianfrancesco’s Breakfast Bread, of course! This Gusto TV ‘Let’s Brunch’ recipe is purpose built for those times that you want freshly baked, best quality bread in the comforting style we remember from our childhood. The search ends here for the perfect breakfast loaf, crusty outside, fluffy, white, and soft in the middle, and engineered specifically to make amazing toast every time… pass the butter!
Ingredients:
- 2 ¼ teaspoons (7 g) active dry yeast
- 1 ½ cups (375 mL) lukewarm milk, divided
- ⅓ cup (80 mL) honey
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) salt
- 3 tablespoons (45 mL) butter, melted, plus more for greasing bowl and pans
- 3 eggs, beaten, divided
- 5 cups (1.2 L) all-purpose flour
Method:
In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in ¼ cup of warm milk, add the honey, and allow to foam for 5-10 minutes. Add the salt, butter, remaining milk, and 2 eggs. Add 5 cups flour and mix until incorporated. Transfer to a clean work surface and knead the dough, adding more flour if necessary, until dough is stiff and slightly tacky, about 10 minutes.
Grease a large bowl with butter and turn dough out into the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and set in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Generously butter two 8-x-5 loaf pans.
Press down dough with your hand to expel the air. Divide dough in half and shape into two logs, for a better shape, use a bench scraper to remove the ends to make a perfect rectangle. Brush tops of loaves with remaining egg.
Cover and allow to rise until just above the tops of pans, about 1 ½ hours.
Heat oven to 400 F (205 C). Bake bread for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 F (150 C) and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped, the tops are brown and the internal temperatures are 200 F (95 C). Remove loaves from pans and let cool on wire racks.
