Milk Squares

This is one of those recipes which I copied a long time ago and in my 'to-do list'. Finally had the chance to make it last night.


This bread is kneaded and allowed to proof in the fridge overnight. I made the dough close to midnight yesterday and stayed up till around 2.30am for the 1st proofing while I finish up some office work. This morning, after returning the dough to room temperature, it was then shaped and cut into squares and given a final proofing before baking.

The first tray was spoilt because the oven temperature and timing indicated in the recipe was faulty. It stated to bake for 20 minutes at 230 degree C. Looking at the 4cm x 4.7cm cubes of bread, I decided to bake it at half the time. However even before the 10 minutes was up, all the milk square were baked to a burn. As I do not have the source for this recipe, I am unable to ascertain from the orginal blog if it was my mistake to copy the wrong baking temperature or if it was a genuine mistake of the original writer and if she has had the chance to update this error on her blog. Anyway, I lowered the temperature to 180 degree C and baked the second tray for 8 minutes and they turned out perfect.

The bread is soft, fluffy and mildy sweet. Just remember that the dough has eggs, milk powder and condensed milk in it. So please put it in the fridge for the overnight proofing. With our (Singapore) kind of hot weather, the rich dough can turn bad easily.

MILK SQUARES
Ingredients:
210gm bread flour
90g plain flour
3g baking powder
9g instant yeast
27g fine sugar
3g salt
75g condensed milk
9g milk powder
Half a beaten egg (approx 30g)
111g water
21g softened butter

Method:
1) Mix beaten egg, water and condensed milk together
2) Combine all dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl, add the liquid and knead for 9 minutes.
3) Add butter and continue kneading for a further 12 minutes or until not sticky.
4) Form into a ball. cover and let it proof for 1-2 hours or until double in size.
5) Knock out the air and shape into a ball. Place in an airtight container and leave in the fridge overnight.
6) Next morning, put the dough on a table, cover lightly with plastic wrap and let it return to room temperature (approx 30 - 40 minutes).
7) Knead lightly and shape/roll into a rectangle shape measuring 14cm x 28cm.
8) Cut into squares measuring 4cm x 4.7cm.
9) Place on a greased or parchment lined tray and proof for 20 minutes or till double in size.
10) Bake at 180 degree C for between 7 to 10 minutes till light brown.