Brown Sugar & Dried Longan Nourishing Loaf ❤️ Direct Method

I haven't posted as much lately since work and daily life have been busy 😊. As a devoted carb lover, though, I'm still baking bread, usually squeezing in tried-and-true favorites late at night like Japanese shio pan (salt bread) or direct-method Pullman loaves ☺️. Today I had some free time to share a recipe I haven't posted before. Whenever the autumn breeze picks up, I crave the warm flavor of brown sugar, so let's bake a brown sugar loaf 😊.

🍞 Ingredients: Makes one 450g Pullman loaf

Bread flour 250g, brown sugar 50g, salt 3g, egg 25g, cold milk 150g (hold back 15g to add gradually), instant dry yeast 3g, butter 20g, 1 handful of dried longan (soaked in water until soft and chopped into small pieces).

🍞 Method:

1️⃣ Place all ingredients except the butter and dried longan into the stand mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until a dough forms; if it feels a bit dry, add the reserved milk as needed. Mix on medium speed until it reaches the thick membrane stage, then add the room-temperature softened butter and mix to the full windowpane stage.

2️⃣ Add the chopped dried longan and mix on low speed just until evenly distributed. Do not overmix or the fruit will tear the gluten network.

3️⃣ Shape the dough into a tight ball, cover, and proof until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

4️⃣ Gently degas the dough, divide into 3 equal pieces, shape into balls, cover, and bench rest for about 10 minutes. Roll out, coil, and place into the loaf pan. (See my loaf shaping post for details.)

5️⃣ Proof in a warm, humid spot until the pan is 80% full.

6️⃣ Bake at 190°C for about 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 180°C and bake for another 15-17 minutes. Adjust the temperature and time based on how your oven runs, and shorten the baking time if using a low-sugar Pullman pan.

🌼 If you don't care for dried longan, simply leave it out for a classic brown sugar loaf, as shown in Photo 4. Today I doubled the recipe to make one brown sugar longan loaf and one plain brown sugar loaf.

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