Pan de Leche (Colombian Milk Bread Rolls)

Name: Colombian Milk Bread Rolls (Pan de Leche)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 100 min
Ingredients: 315 g wheat flour (about 2½ cups); 1 egg (keep a little back for brushing the tops); 2 teaspoons powdered milk (this is what makes them taste of milk rather than just contain it); 1 teaspoon salt; 1/4 cup butter, melted (cooled, or it will kill the yeast); 2 tablespoons sugar (one spoon goes to the yeast, the rest to the flour); 2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast (one standard sachet); 3/4 cup warm milk (180 ml; warm, not hot and not cold)

Soft enriched rolls made with milk, powdered milk, butter and egg. They rise for an hour, bake in twenty minutes, and go with both sweet and savoury. Makes ten.

Total: 1 40

JUMP TO RECIPE

Soft enriched rolls made with milk, powdered milk, butter and egg. They rise for an hour and bake in twenty minutes, and they are what turns up next to a cup of hot chocolate in a Colombian house.

Two kinds of milk, on purpose

The recipe uses liquid milk and powdered milk together, which looks redundant and is not.

Liquid milk provides the water the dough needs. Powdered milk adds milk solids without adding more water, and those solids are what make the crumb soft and give the rolls their flavour. Leave the powder out and you get a perfectly good bread roll that does not taste of milk.

Temperature, three times

Yeast is the fragile part of this recipe and it gets handled three times:

The milk must be warm, not hot. Blood temperature, comfortable on the inside of your wrist. Hot milk kills the yeast outright.
The melted butter has to cool before it goes in, for the same reason.
The rising place should be warm but not near a radiator or an oven, where the outside of the dough dries into a skin.

If the yeast mixture has not foamed after five minutes, it is dead and the dough will never rise. Start again rather than carrying on hopefully.

An hour is a guide

What matters is that the dough has doubled, not that sixty minutes have passed. In a warm kitchen it may take forty minutes; in a cold one, closer to two hours.

Press a finger into it: if the dent stays, it is ready. If it springs back immediately, give it longer.

The egg wash

Keep a little of the beaten egg back and brush it over the rolls before they bake. It is the only reason they come out glossy and golden rather than pale and matte, and it takes ten seconds.

More bread

Homemade bread — the plain loaf.
Cheese bread — with cheese in the dough.
Almojábanas — cheese rolls, no yeast.
Colombian hot chocolate — what these are for.

Milk Bread FAQ

Why does it use both liquid and powdered milk?

Liquid milk provides the water the dough needs; powdered milk adds milk solids without adding more water. Those solids are what make the crumb soft and give the rolls their flavour. Without the powder you get a good roll that does not taste of milk.

How warm should the milk be?

Blood temperature, comfortable on the inside of your wrist. Warm activates the yeast, hot kills it, cold leaves it dormant. If the mixture has not foamed after five minutes, the yeast is dead.

How do I know when the dough has risen enough?

It should have doubled, and a finger pressed into it should leave a dent that stays. If it springs straight back, give it longer. An hour is an average, not a rule: a cold kitchen can double that.

Do I have to brush them with egg?

Only if you want them glossy and golden. Without the egg wash they bake pale and matte. Milk works as a substitute and gives a softer, less shiny finish.

Can I make the dough the night before?

Yes. After kneading, cover it and put it in the fridge overnight instead of leaving it in a warm place. The slow rise develops more flavour. Bring it back to room temperature before shaping.

📖 Recipe

Colombian Milk Bread Rolls (Pan de Leche)

No ratings yet

Imprimir Pin Comentar

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 20

Rising: 1

Total Time: 1 40

Course: Breads

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: milk bread

Servings: 10

Calories: 190kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

▢ 315 g wheat flour (about 2½ cups)
▢ 1 egg (keep a little back for brushing the tops)
▢ 2 teaspoons powdered milk (this is what makes them taste of milk rather than just contain it)
▢ 1 teaspoon salt
▢ ¼ cup butter, melted (cooled, or it will kill the yeast)
▢ 2 tablespoons sugar (one spoon goes to the yeast, the rest to the flour)
▢ 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast (one standard sachet)
▢ ¾ cup warm milk (180 ml; warm, not hot and not cold)

Notas

Powdered milk alongside liquid milk is not a duplication: it concentrates the milk solids without adding more water, which is what gives these rolls their softness and their flavour. Watch the temperature of everything that touches the yeast. Warm milk activates it, hot milk kills it, and melted butter poured in while still hot does the same. Warm here means blood temperature, comfortable on the inside of your wrist. The hour of rising is a guide: what matters is that the dough has doubled, which takes longer in a cold kitchen.

Instructions

In a bowl, mix the warm milk with a spoonful of the sugar and the dry yeast. Leave it for 5 minutes, until it foams.
Mix the flour with the salt, the powdered milk and the rest of the sugar, and set it aside.
Add the egg and the melted butter to the milk and yeast mixture and beat well.
Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir until a soft dough comes together.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until it looks shiny and smooth.
Put the dough in a bowl, cover it with cling film and leave it somewhere warm for about an hour, until doubled.
Knead it again, divide it into equal pieces, roll each into a ball and set them in a greased tin.
Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F), brush the rolls with the leftover egg or a little milk, and bake for 20 minutes until golden.
Serve warm, with coffee or hot chocolate.

Nutrition