I use:

1 egg (52 grams out of the shell is a LARGE egg here in Canada)
Egg white from a carton to take the total egg weight to 100 grams
184 grams 1% milk
42 grams shortening
(Crisco, Safflower Oil, Corn Oil, Butter... take your pick)
50 grams sugar
8 grams salt
412 grams bread flour
6 grams yeast

I use a bread machine and use it to do the kneading and the first rise
and punch down. THEN I let it rest 15-20 minutes, punch it down and
shape it into a 9*5 loaf pan, let it rise IN my oven at 100°F or about
37°C until it is an inch over the top of the loaf pan, turn the oven
up to 375°F [185°C] and bake for about 25-30 minutes.

Temperature equalisation time is 15 minutes
Kneading time is about 25 minutes
First Rise is about 50 minutes
Punch down
Rest is about 15-20 minutes
Punch down and shape into loaf or braid into loaf
Second Rise is about 35-40 minutes, in loaf pan or on cookie sheet
Baking is about 25-30 minutes - judge by colour

[You CAN coat the dough with watered down egg white via a pastry brush
just as you start the BAKING stage below, if you choose.]

The amount of sugar and fat both seem higher than in your recipe, and
the FAT and Milk [which was NOT in your recipe] are what make the
bread softer. I usually use Crisco simply because it is simple to use.
Otherwise I use Safflower Oil and simply pour in as below, to the
correct weight mark. Note that I do not use measuring spoons, cups,
etc. Everything is by weight!

Method...

Put bowl or bread machine pan on scale
Turn on scale and it should Tare at 0
Crack egg into Bread Machine pan
Pour in egg white to 100 grams
Pour in Milk to 284 grams
Add shortening to 326 grams
Add sugar to 376 grams
Add salt to 384 grams
Add flour to 796 grams and level top
add yeast to 802 grams
Turn off scale and remove pan (or bowl)

If using a bread machine, put pan into machine and use sweet bread
cycle or use dough cycle.

If doing otherwise, use hands, mixer, food processor or your method to
knead this into a dough, then let rise in a relatively warm and draft
free location. Use timing suggested for the various stages.

Check dough after everything is blended in and the liquid is totally
disbursed and absorbed in the flour, to see if it is too dry (add a
bit of water, a teaspoon full at a time) or too wet (add flour a
teaspoon full at a time)... since the amount of moisture in the flour
as it came out of the bag in the first place is always an unknown, and
you need to get the dough to just the right degree of tackiness.

That's it...

RsH
------------------------------
On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 09:53:14 +0900, "Rona Y."
> wrote:

>I've been taking bread baking classes at a school in Japan. This is a
>school geared towards single women hoping for husbands and newly married
>women who can't cook. I'm neither, but I digress... I mention the typical
>clientele because I think it influences the bread-baking techniques used at
>the school (primarily the fast rises).
>
>I've been finding that my breads from this place must be eaten while hot or
>they end up hard and tough--even after just one night. Almost all the
>breads use some butter and many of them use egg, as well. For example, last
>night I made the Japanese version of challah. The recipe included
>
>250g flour (about 12.6% protein)
>2 T sugar
>1.5 tsp yeast
>1/2 tsp salt
>40g butter
>110cc water
>52 g egg (about 1 medium)
>
>IME with American bread recipes, these recipes tend to use more yeast (in
>proportion to the amount of flour).
>
>The way the breads are made--a very soft dough is kneaded until it begins to
>take shape (form a ball), then kneaded again (in a different manner), then
>allowed to rise. At this school, because they require a high turnover of
>classes, they use proofing boxes set to 40C. For the Challah recipe, the
>dough was allowed to rise for about 30 minutes. After punching the dough
>down, it is allowed to rest--in this case 15 minutes, usually about 10
>minutes. Then the breads are shaped and placed in the proofing box--usually
>for 20-30 minutes, depending on the recipe. Finally baked--at the school I
>currently attend, we use small gas/convection ovens. The challah was baked
>in a braided ring shape, at 180C for 12 minutes.
>
>Is there anything about the recipe and/or technique that seems to point
>towards making tough breads? I would like to take these recipes but make
>them at home with slower rises--would that help? Also, I was thinking of
>reducing the amount of yeast, which would also help with slowing the rise, I
>would think (I'm not a very good bread baker, however, so feel free to
>correct me). Could we be over-kneading?
>
>I should also mention, that because of the high turnovers we generally pack
>up our goods to take home while they're still hot--we usually only get about
>15 minutes cooling rack time. They provide us with plastic bags to do so.
>I'm thinking of bringing my own paper bags. Would that help, at all?
>
>(note: this may be reposted to e-Gullet in some form, just in case you also
>read that group)

================================================== =====
>
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