Hi Pat - forget what they said about the sugar - it's the rising that did you in - alwys use a LARGE bowl that has been lightly oiled, turned your dough to lightly coat and cover with clean lint-free towels. If you have a really large bowl - cover with plastic wrap before towels and place in a draft free place - never a heated oven. The oven's heat did it to you. I've been making breads and sweet breads for 50+years. I proof in a draft-free spot on my cupboad, undisturbed and I use towels to cover my large bowl - I don't even use the plastic wrap. Sometimes I add sugar while proofing - sometimes I don't. Using milk is no problem at all. You can check out my blogs and look under BREADS - TheFamiliaKitchen a/k/a The Family Kitchen OldFashionedHomeCooking RecipesByIngredient Any questions - just give me a holler -
thanks for getting back about bread dough won't rise for second time. flour is only 2 weeks old. proofed in oven and after 6 hours it rose almost double size. It's supposed to have second rise and I punched it down it was still so hard I don't think it should take 6 hrs for first proof. I also warmed oven just a bit for the first proof, but maybe it cooled off and then it was too cold? I have all fresh ingredients. someone said to omit milk, but I feel it gives richness. they also said I don't need a lot of sugar. I only added 1 tsp into proof milk mix, the rest of the 2/3 cup is mixed into the flour/salt/butter mix. i don't know if they were talking about removing sugar from the proof mix or entire recipe. It's supposed to be a sweet bread so I can't take sugar out. if you have any idea or want to ask me some more questions about my process, then just let me know. I would really like the help. thanks, Pat.
