Portuguese Sweet Bread - flour

Method

• To make the sponge, stir together the flour, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl.
• Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are hydrated and make a smooth batter.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the sponge gets foamy and seems on the verge of collapse.
• To make the dough, combine the sugar, salt, powdered milk, butter, and shortening in a 4-quart mixing bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer).
• Cream together with a sturdy spoon (or the paddle attachment) until smooth, then mix in the eggs and the extracts.
• Knead by hand (or switch to the dough hook attachment) and mix in the sponge and the flour.
• Add the water, as needed, to make a very soft dough.
• The finished dough should be very supple and soft, easy to knead, and not wet or sticky.
• It will take 10 to 12 minutes with the electric mixer and close to 15 minutes by hand to achieve this consistency.
• (Dough with high amounts of fat and sugar usually takes longer to knead because the gluten requires more time to set up.)
• The finished dough should pass the windowpane test (page 58) and register 77 to 81F.
• Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 2 equal pieces.
• Form each of the pieces into a boule, as shown on page 72.
• Lightly oil two 9-inch pie pans and place 1 boule, seam side down, in each pan.
• Mist the dough with spray oil and loosely cover the pans with plastic wrap.
• Proof at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours, or until the dough fills the pans fully, doubling in size and overlapping the edges slightly.
• (If you only want to bake 1 loaf, you may retard the second in the refrigerator for 1 day, although it will take 4 to 5 hours to proof after it comes out of the refrigerator.)
• Very gently brush the loaves with the egg wash. Preheat the oven to 350F with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
• Bake the loaves for 50 to 60 minutes, or until they register 190F in the center.
• After 30 minutes, check the loaves and rotate 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking.
• Because of the high amount of sugar, the dough will brown very quickly, but dont be fooled into thinking it is done.
• It will get darker as the center gradually catches up with the outside, but it will not burn.
• The final color will be a rich mahogany brown.
• Remove the bread from the pie pans and place on a rack to cool.
• The bread will soften as it cools, resulting in a very soft, squishy loaf.
• Allow the bread to cool for at least 90 minutes before slicing or serving.
• Enriched, standard dough; indirect method; commercial yeast
• 60 to 90 minutes sponge; 15 minutes mixing; 5 hours fermentation, shaping, and proofing; 50 to 60 minutes baking
• In addition to sandwiches and snack bread, one of the great uses for Portuguese sweet bread is French toast.
• It is very addictive.
• It also is ideal for bread pudding.
• Portuguese Sweet Bread %
• (SPONGE)
• Bread flour 14.3%
• Sugar 3.2%
• Instant yeast 1.6%
• Water 25.4%
• (DOUGH)
• Sugar: 19%
• Salt: 1.6%
• Powdered milk: 7.9%
• Butter: 6.3%
• Shortening: 6.3%
• Eggs: 21%
• Citrus extracts: 2.2%
• Vanilla extract: 1.1%
• Bread flour: 85.7%
• Water (approx.
• ): 19%
• Total: 214.6%