Why It's Important To Warm Milk Before Adding To Bread Dough (2024)

There's nothing quite like homebaked bread. Though it might feel intimidating (especially if you're makingsourdough), it's worth the effort. Choosing water, milk, or some combination in your breadmaking is just one of the variables you'll face.Using milk instead of water in your yeasted bread is an easy way to add a touch of sweetness, making it ideal for challah, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, and hot dog buns. Milk sugars not only add a hint of sweetness but also result in a softer, more uniform crumb and ensure a nicely browned crust. But is it that important to warm your milk before adding it to the mix? The short answer is yes.

Warming your milk is essential to the body of a good loaf (or roll), not only to activate your yeast and allow your bread to rise properly (cold slows yeast down, while warm temps speed them up) but also to ensure the breakdown of whey proteins in your milk, which can inhibit the formation of gluten and stymie your rise, lengthening rising times and resulting in a less springy and more dense texture.

Milk-based recipes add fat, making them enriched doughs (as opposed to water-based recipes that yield a lean dough like sourdough or ciabatta or combination-based recipes like some sandwich breads that yield slightly enriched doughs). Enriched doughs usually contain things like milk, sugar, and eggs. These added fats lend tender textures but can weigh down not only the breadmaking process, but also, the final loaf.

Read more: 20 Popular Canned Soups, Ranked Worst To Best

Why Yeast Matters When Adding Heated Milk To Bread Dough

Why It's Important To Warm Milk Before Adding To Bread Dough (1)

To get the most out of your enriched dough and end up with a nice fluffy outcome, it's important to match the temperature of your milk to the type of yeast you're using. It's also important to note that too high a heat -- around140 degrees Fahrenheit -- can kill your yeast, ruining your loaf. The three types of yeast commonly used in bread making are dry, live, and instant. Depending on which one you're working with, your milk temperature might be slightly different.

Dry yeast and instant yeast are both lying dormant, awaiting a bit of warm liquid to wake up.To activate dry yeast, it should be proofedin its liquid first at a temperature of 105 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, while instant yeast is designed to be added directly to your flour with the liquid added secondarily.For this reason, instant yeast tolerates higher temperatures, activating in a range between 120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit.Lastly, live/fresh yeast (also called baker's yeast), is already active and does not need to be activated, it just needs to be combined with a liquid to instantly start blooming. This means milk temperatures can be lowered to about 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

One final note, while some still adhere to scalding milk before adding it to their dough mix, it is advised to let the temperature cool down to those mentioned above before adding the milk to your yeast of choice.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.

Why It's Important To Warm Milk Before Adding To Bread Dough (2024)

FAQs

Why It's Important To Warm Milk Before Adding To Bread Dough? ›

Warming your milk is essential to the body of a good loaf (or roll), not only to activate your yeast and allow your bread to rise properly (cold slows yeast down, while warm temps speed them up) but also to ensure the breakdown of whey proteins in your milk, which can inhibit the formation of gluten and stymie your ...

What happens when you add milk to bread dough? ›

In the dough stage, milk increases water absorption. Consequently, dough made with milk should come softer from the mixer than dough made with water. Other aspects of milk in yeast doughs include: Dough may be mixed more intensively.

Why do you heat milk for bread? ›

It ensures that milk-based breads rise. The whey in milk can actually prevent yeast from doing its job — causing bread to rise. But scalding milk weakens whey, allowing yeast to work.

Why does warm water need to be added to a yeast dough? ›

Firstly, the yeast in your dough work better to produce gas and rise your dough in a warmer environment. Yeast are living organisms and like to be treated just like we do – given food, water and warmth, they start to work well.

How to warm milk for dough? ›

Practical Tips for Heating Milk
  1. Use a Thermometer: Heating milk to the precise range of 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit is crucial. ...
  2. Gentle Heating: Heat the milk slowly and gently, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. ...
  3. Consistency is Key: Make heating milk a consistent part of your baking routine.
Mar 15, 2024

What happens if I use water instead of milk in bread? ›

Using water as a replacement leads to a "cleaner" taste as the it doesn't obfuscate the taste of the other ingredients which were used. So basically: add liquid to your dough, which kind can usually be ignored 2.

Why is heating milk important? ›

Thus, you don't have to boil milk for safety reasons unless it's raw, unpasteurized milk. In that case, bringing it to a boil or near a boil will significantly reduce most bacteria levels sufficiently ( 1 ). People often boil milk when they use it in cooking. You can boil raw milk to kill any harmful bacteria.

Why do you need to heat up your milk? ›

Warming stored breast milk before serving it to your baby is a personal choice. Many babies like breast milk warm if they take it from a bottle, since breast milk is warm when babies nurse. Warming up breast milk also helps the consistency after it's been stored.

Which of the following reasons is adding milk to bread beneficial? ›

It adds nutritional value to baked goods. Mainly protein, calcium, and vitamin B12 which are all necessary for a heathy diet. But we don't only look for the nutritional benefits when using milk in our bread dough. The fat and lactose in milk help with tenderizing the crumb of the bread making it softer and sweeter.

What does hot milk do to yeast? ›

Warming your milk is essential to the body of a good loaf (or roll), not only to activate your yeast and allow your bread to rise properly (cold slows yeast down, while warm temps speed them up) but also to ensure the breakdown of whey proteins in your milk, which can inhibit the formation of gluten and stymie your ...

How to proof yeast for bread? ›

To proof yeast, place yeast in a warm liquid (100 to 110 degrees F – it should be warm but not hot) with a little sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. Once it's foamy and creamy looking, you know the yeast is active and viable for baking.

What happens if I put instant yeast in warm milk? ›

No matter which type of yeast you're using, its optimal temperature for growth is between 80° —90° fahrenheit. But if you're activating yeast with water (or milk) and sugar, adding the liquid at less than 110°F will cause it to release a chemical called glutathione.

What kills instant yeast? ›

2 tsp instant yeast (or 1 tbsp fresh yeast)

Water 48°C / 120°F and above will kill the yeast.

What temperature kills bread yeast? ›

Too Hot to Survive. Regardless of the type of yeast you use, if your water reaches temperatures of 120°F or more, the yeast will begin to die off. Once water temps reach 140°F or higher, that is the point where the yeast will be completely killed off.

What happens if you use cold water for bread? ›

Keeping the dough cold during mixing—especially when friction from a food processor is involved—allows the yeast to ferment gradually when the dough is refrigerated. During this proofing period, the yeast develops complex flavors and creates just enough gas bubbles to make the dough pliable.

What is the effect of dry milk in bread? ›

The added sweetness and protein helps bread dough rise—particularly enriched dough like brioche. It lends a more tender crumb, and actually helps these breads last longer. High-heat milk powder might be a little trickier to find, but it's certainly worth the search for its impact on baking breads.

What does milk and butter do to bread dough? ›

Why do people use milk or melted butter in bread dough as opposed to water? Fat, as in butter, lard, olive oil, helps tenderize the bread by coating the particles of flour, preventing them from forming a stronger gluten network.

Can you knead dough with milk? ›

But knead dough with milk if you want crispy And fluffy parathas . I would say using milk around 20 percent along with water around 80 percent, or even by using curdled milk (without the water) will make the chapati softer than mixing wheat flour just with plain water. You can use both to keep varying taste.

What does egg and milk do to dough? ›

besides the nutritional benefits there are a few other good reasons to use egg in breadmaking. It makes the bread lighter and fluffier. The reason for that is the fat in the yolk that inhibits gluten formation just as any other fat would. This results in a looser dough that can expand and puff up more.

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