Nutella Milk Loaf

I made another loaf again! I will be trying out different bread recipes for the next few weeks so that I can get one that's easy to make, with little shaping, with the use of minimal ingredients and most importantly comes with the "right" texture and taste.

This is supposed to be a plain, milk loaf...a recipe from the same Japanese cookbook as the butter loaf I made two days ago. What attracted me was the photo of the finished loaf...it's in the shape of a nice rugby ball. With very nice, clean slits on the surface. It's very obvious that I didn't do a good job in shaping the dough and cutting the slits. My loaf looked more like some strange-looking melon than a rugby! Anyway, I added in nutella spread as filling in the loaf as I wanted the bread to be able to be eaten on its own.


I used the bread machine to do the kneading and proofing. When the dough had risen, I added in the nutella and shaped it before baking it in my oven. Unlike the loaf baked by the bread machine, this loaf was not evenly browned. The top was darker, and the bottom was not fully browned. The bread machine did a much better job in getting an evenly browned loaf than the oven.

The bread is a little dense, and taste better when served warm. The nutella spread certainly enhanced the flavour of an otherwise plain bread.

Ingredients:

250g bread flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
3 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
170ml milk
30g butter (softened at room temperature)
Nutella spread as filling
15g butter (for decoration)
egg wash

Method:

1. Assemble the pan and kneader blade in the bread machine. Add in milk and butter, followed by sugar and salt. Spoon in the flour and make a slight indentation in the centre of the flour. Add the yeast in the indentation.
2. Shut the lid and set to the "Dough" function. The machine will do the mixing, kneading and proofing within 1 hr 30mins (The setting and timing vary among different brands of bread machine).
3. At the end of the programme, remove the dough from the pan. The dough should have doubled in size.
4. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and and punch to deflate it.
5. Flatten the dough and roll out to form an oval shape (about 25cm by 18cm). Spread nutella evenly on the dough. Roll up tightly like a swiss roll. Close up all gaps and place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Shape the dough to form an oval-shaped ball.
6. Cover with cling wrap and let it proof for another 30 mins, or until double in bulk.
7. Remove cling wrap, and make 5 long cuts (length-wise) on the dough. Slice 15g of butter into thin, long strips. Place strips of butter onto the slits of the dough. Brush with egg wash and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 30mins. The bread should be well risen, golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on wire rack before slicing.