17 Hours White Bread Loaf - White Loaf Week # 2

I made this loaf twice.

Being a new bread baker and attempting such recipes is a bit daunting. I do not even recognise when the bread is kneaded enough. I wasn't daring to knead it long and was doing a few silly mistakes like adding too much yeast or putting in sugar when I shouldn't be. In the end, my first attempt with this recipe flopped. It still became a loaf, but I added in a lot more flour due to the pre-ferment dough has overfermented causing a lot of liquid to be produced. I had Bee Bee on my 911 and I knew where I had gone wrong. I told myself, don't give up and try again.

The next day, I made another batch. Woah, I finished one large loaf in a day? To make one loaf, it needs almost one day to ferment, so basically the next loaf came out 2 days later. LOL, to finish up a loaf of not so nice bread, I made club sandwich for dinner and everyone had to eat it by hook or by crook. I also used it to make croutons for a salad the next day and no one knows it's from that loaf of not so tasty bread.

I followed it to a T the next time around, and viola! Perfect sandwich bread came out of the oven. But... will I make this again? Hmmm.. don't think so. The result is fine, but not worth the effort put in. Not to say like it's super good with so many hours of waiting and long time standing there to throw in lumps of pre-ferment dough to knead. It's good but I don't have the patience with this, not with the proofing time, but the kneading process, lump by lump..... I wished to throw in the whole thing instead, but dared not.

17 Hours White Bread Loaf

Recipe source: Honey Bee Sweets
Makes: One 5X5X13 inch Pullman tin, lid on and another small loaf. If lid is off, can fit all into the pullman tin itself 


Pre-ferment Dough
480g bread flour
274ml water
14g fresh yeast ( I used 8 g instant yeast)
7g sea salt
14g skim milk powder (I used full cream milk powder)

Dissolve the yeast in water. Add bread flour, sea salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft. Cover the dough in cling wrap or a big zip log bag. Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.

Note: The dough will expand in the fridge. So whatever container you put the dough in, do give some allowance for growth.

Main Dough:
206g bread flour
7g sea salt
69g caster sugar
199ml water
3g fresh yeast (I used 3g instant yeast)
48g unsalted butter, room temperature

1. Knead all ingredients of the main dough together, except the butter.
2. Add pre-ferment dough piece by piece. Knead after each addition until soft and smooth.
3. Add butter. Knead until stretchable consistency (window pane test)
4. Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for 30minutes till double.
5. Punch down and divide dough into 3 pieces.
6. Roll out each piece and roll up again.
7. Arrange rolled up dough into a greased pullman tin.
8. Let dough rise until 2/3 full. Place the lid on.
9. Preheat the oven at 170(fan)/190C and bake for 35 minutes.

Verdict: Not manual kneading friendly. Taste like an ordinary white sandwich loaf, but very soft and fluffy,  smelling better than store bought due to the use of butter. The crust is perfect for crust lovers, smells great. Bread should stay soft for 3 days, but mine was finished before that.