English Muffin Style Loaf

A cross between a traditional muffin, brioche and a soft milk bread, this moist, chewy bread is great sliced as bread on day one and makes brilliant toast for 3-4 days afterwards.

1. 1

   Mix the flour, yeast, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl.
   Gently heat the milk to 37-42 degrees C (just warm to the touch). Pour into the bowl and mix together for a couple of minutes. You can do this with your hands with a wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment or dough hook or a mixer. It doesn't need a lot of kneading and will be a very sticky dough.
   Grease the insides of a standard loaf tin (900 g- 1 kg / 2 lb) with butter then dust the base and sides with semolina, turning it to make it stick, and tapping out any excess.
   Tip the dough into the tin, cover with a shower cap or place in a large bag*. Leave in a warm place (preferably 25 - 30 degrees C) for 45 minutes (it will need longer if cooler), until the dough has almost doubled in size and is about 1 cm from the top edges of the tin.
   Remove the cover, prod the dough several times with your fingers to deflate (so that it fills approx. 3/4 of the tin) then dust the top with a little semolina and cover again. Return to the warm place for about half an hour until the dough has risen to just above the top edges of the tin.
   Meanwhile, reheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Once risen, place the tin on the middle shelf and bake for 35 minutes.
   Turn out of the tin* and leave to cool for 2 hours.