Cream Cheese Bread

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I read from a book that wet dough will yield soft bread, so I was careful to ensure I do not get over-zealous in adding flour when kneading it... It was sticky and took me 30 min of hard work before the dough becomes smooth and elastic. The level of "stickiness" should be like touching the post-it pad; just enough tack but does not stick to your finger when you pull away. Sprinkle some flour on the worktop and your hand when the dough gets unmanageable but just bear in mind to use it sparingly.

After I left the dough to proof, I suddenly realised that I did not add any sugar. Sugar feeds the yeast, and hence an important ingredient to ensure a successful fermentation!

So how??? What I did was to quickly take out the dough and knead another few minutes to incorporate the sugar. Whoosh, that reminds all of us to always read and re-read the recipe to ensure you have all the ingredients. A good way is to assemble all the items on a table, and put them aside once you are done. This is a good baking habit and I ought to ensure I do not boo-boo again!

RECIPE

Ingredients :
250g bread flour
10g powder milk
15g sugar
3g salt
3g dry yeast (original recipe calls for 2.5g)
20g butter
50g cream cheese
160g water

Method
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.

2. Add in the wet ingredients to form a dough.

3. Knead dough until dough is elastic and smooth.

4. Place it in a large greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or cling-wrap and leave it to proof in a warm place till double in size (about 1 hr).

5. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.

6. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle with the shorter end to be the same length as the length of the loaf pan. Starting with the shorter end, roll up the dough swiss roll style and place it into the loaf pan to proof until double its size again (about 30-45 minutes).

7. Bake in preheated oven at 170C for 30 minutes.

8. Remove bread from loaf pan to cool completely.




Baker's Note:

• I have made mine into the individual roll so that it is easier for my son to bring to school. My son who does not usually likes bread finished up the entire roll. Happiness!



• I am not sure if it is the cheese content, it turned sour on the 2nd day. So what I will the next time is to freeze all the dough until it is required. After the proofing, shape it into roll or any shape you like, wrap it individually with cling film before putting into the freezer.
  When you need, just take out the amount you required, thraw it at room temperature and bake as usual. This way, you can have fresh, warm and fluffy bread all the time!