Portuguese Sweet Bread

Adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, the bread baker's apprentice (by peter reinhart), this recipe makes lovely sweet, light loaves. Prep time includes time for fermentation and proofing of the sponge and the dough. This bread will start browning rather quickly, due to the high sugar content, but don't be alarmed - it will get even darker as the center catches up with the outside, and the final color will be a rich mahogany brown.

Steps

To make the sponge , stir together flour , sugar , and yeast in a small bowl.

Add the water and stir until all ingredients are hydrated and make a smooth batter.

Cover with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 60-90 minutes , or until the sponge gets foamy and seems on the verge of collapse.

To make the dough , combine the sugar , salt , powdered milk , butter , and shortening in a 4-quart mixing bowl.

Cream together with a sturdy spoon until smooth , then mix in the eggs and the extracts.

Knead by hand and mix in the sponge and flour.

Add the water , as needed , to make a very soft dough.

The finished dough should be very supple and soft , easy to knead , and not wet or sticky.

To achieve this will take 10-12 minutes with the mixer and close to 15 minutes by hand , as dough with high amounts of fat and sugar usually takes longer to knead because the gluten requires longer to set up.

The finished dough should pass the windowpane test and register 77f to 81f light.

Ingredients

bread flour, granulated sugar, instant yeast, water, salt, powdered milk, unsalted butter, vegetable shortening, eggs, lemon extract, orange extract, vanilla extract, egg