1 cup of scaled milk with 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter – allowed to cool down enough that it won’t kill the yeast
1/4 cup sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons sea salt
3 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil
Mix well. Leave sit until the mixture is bubbling
Add 5 cups of bread flour and mix with your hands until a wet dough forms.
Add up to 4 additional cups of flour until the dough is soft and elastic.
Knead with your hands until the dough starts to build up gluten.
Take a break and allow the dough to rise in a bowl greased with olive oil, then knead it again.
After the second rise, separate the dough into equal halves.
Dust your countertop with bread flour. Roll out each portion of dough, roll them up like a jelly roll and leave each portion to rise in greased loaf pans.
Preheat over to 400 degrees.
Allow the dough to rise until doming over the loaf pans.
Melt 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter with the same amount of half-and-half.
Slash the top of each loaf lengthwise to control the rise while baking.
Brush the top of each loaf with the butter and half-and-half mixture.
Bake 30 minutes. Internal temperature should be 200 degrees.
After removing from loaf pans, brush the crust with melted salted butter.
Wait 30 minutes before slicing to maintain the bread’s texture.
