Sharing with you my favorite white bread loaf that is super fluffy, smells amazing and tastes amazing.
Ingredients:
For the sponge (first dough):
156 g all-purpose flour (1 and 1/4 cups)
21 g honey (1 tablespoon)
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
184 g room temperature skimmed milk (3/4 cup)
For the dough:
35 g room temperature water (2 tbsp + 1 teaspoon)
174 g all-purpose flour (1 and 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoon)
½ teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
71 g soft butter (5 tablespoon)
Butter to grease the pan
5-6 pieces of ice for baking
Tips:
The sponge could be kept at room temperature (about 22°C/72°F) for 2-4 hours to ferment without placing it in the fridge, but if you want an irresistible taste of bread, it is better to store it overnight in the fridge (about 12 hours)... The next day take it out of the fridge 1-3 hrs before mixing the rest of the ingredients depending on your kitchen temperature. If it is warm inside your kitchen then bring it out for 1 hr but if it is cold them leave it a bit more.
You can replace the milk with powdered milk (2 tablespoons) dissolved in an amount of water enough to have 3/4 cup to use in the sponge. And if you use powdered milk, you don't need to heat it.
After you take the bread from the oven, you can brush the top with melted butter.