Portuguese Sweet Bread Iii Food

PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD

Steps:

• To make the sponge, stir together flour, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl. Add the water and stir until all ingredients are hydrated and make a smooth batter. Cover with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 60-90 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, which is what I use). 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) and mix in the sponge and flour (I wait to change out the attachments until most of the ingredients are mixed, as it seems I have a problem getting the dough to grab onto the hook if I switch too early). Add the water, as needed, to make a very soft dough (more than likely you will not need the full amount of water, but it can vary due to factors such as the moisture content and protein percentage of your flour). The finished dough should be very supple and soft, easy to knead, and not wet or sticky. To achieve this will take 10-12 minutes with the mixer and close to 15 minutes by hand, as dough with high amounts of fat and sugar usually takes longer to knead because the gluten requires longer to set up. The finished dough should pass the windowpane test (see note below if you are unsure what this is) and register 77F to 81°F Lightly oil a large bowl, put the dough in the bowl, rolling it around to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap.
• Ferment at room temperature until dough doubles in size, around 2 hours.
• Remove dough from bowl, divide in 2 equal pieces, and form each into a boule. Lightly oil two 9-inch pie pans and place a boule, seam side down, in each pan. Mist with spray oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap.
• Proof at room temerature for 2 to 3 hours, or until the dough fills the pans fully, doubling in size. (If you want to bake only 1 of the loaves, you can retard the second in the refrigerator for 1 day, but it will take 4 to 5 hours to proof after it come 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. The dough will brown rather quickly (please see intro), long before it is done. When done, the loaves 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.
• *Windowpane Test: Cut off a small piece of dough and gently stretch, pulling and turning it to see if it will hold a paper-thin, translucent membrane. It it falls apart before it make this windowpane, continue to knead for another minute or two and test again.

PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD III

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, beat 6 eggs and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the dissolved yeast, the egg and sugar mixture and the cooled, melted butter. Slowly add the milk to the flour mixture until the dough is of working consistency. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until the dough is soft and elastic, about 15 minutes. Place into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to rise overnight.
• The next morning, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease two 10 inch round cake pans. Divide dough in half, shape into round loaves, and place into prepared pans. Brush the tops with beaten egg.
• Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for another 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD

Steps:

• Sprinkle yeast into 1/2 cup warm water and let activate.
• Combine all ingredients and knead well.
• Cover with a dry towel and let rise until doubled.
• Divide into 3 round loaves and placed in greased round cake pans.
• Let rise, brush tops with beaten egg and bake at 350F degrees 30-40 minutes .

PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD

Steps:

• 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 take longer to knead because the gluten requires more time to set up.) The finished dough should pass the windowpane test (see NOTE below) and register 77 to 88 degrees F. 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 two equal pieces. Form each of the pieces into a boule. 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 one loaf, you may retard the second in the fridge 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 egg wash. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
• Bake the loaves for 50 to 60 minutes, or until they register 190 F 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 don't 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.