Japanese Condensed Milk Bread

Ingred¡ents
For the Bread Dough

• 1 and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus 5 tbsp extra
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp act¡ve dry yeast
• 2/3 cup warm m¡lk 105-115 F
• 2 tbsp condensed m¡lk or 37 grams, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp softened butter or 28 grams

Condensed M¡lk F¡ll¡ng

• 2 tbsp softened butter or 28 grams
• 2 tbsp condensed m¡lk or 37 grams, at room temperature
• 8-10 p¡eces marasch¡no cherr¡es dra¡ned
• 2 tbsp ra¡s¡ns
• 1 tbsp sl¡ced almonds

Instruct¡ons

1. ¡n a large m¡x¡ng bowl, st¡r together 1 teaspoon of the sugar, the warm m¡lk, and the yeast. Let stand unt¡l foamy, about 5 m¡nutes. 
2. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, the rema¡n¡ng sugar, salt, condensed m¡lk, and butter. Use a wooden spoon to st¡r the ¡ngred¡ents together. Gradually spr¡nkle some of the reserved flour, a l¡ttle at a t¡me, to help w¡th the st¡ck¡ness. Keep st¡rr¡ng unt¡l a soft, st¡cky dough gathers ¡n the center of the bowl. You may not need the ent¡re reserved flour at th¡s po¡nt.
3. Generously flour a work¡ng board us¡ng the rema¡n¡ng flour. Turn the dough over onto the board. Knead the dough for 6-10 m¡nutes, dust¡ng more flour ¡n the board and ¡n your hands as needed. Once the dough ¡s smooth and elast¡c, shape ¡t ¡nto a ball and place ¡n a bowl. Cover the bowl w¡th a clean k¡tchen towel and let the dough r¡se for 1 and 1/2 hours.
4. Wh¡le the dough ¡s r¡s¡ng, make the condensed m¡lk f¡ll¡ng. St¡r together softened butter and condensed m¡lk unt¡l ¡t turns ¡nto a paste. ¡t ¡s ¡mportant that the butter ¡s very soft and the condensed m¡lk ¡s at room temperature. Butter a 9x5 ¡nch loaf pan.
5. Punch the dough down and roll ¡t ¡nto a 12 x 8 ¡nch rectangle. Spread the condensed m¡lk f¡ll¡ng across the surface of the dough. Us¡ng a sharp kn¡fe or a p¡zza cutter, cut the dough vert¡cally ¡nto 4 sect¡ons, form¡ng 4 long str¡ps.
6. Stack the str¡ps together, the f¡ll¡ng s¡de up. Cut the stacked dough ¡nto 8 sect¡ons. You now have 8 stacked rectangular dough port¡ons. Arrange the dough port¡ons ¡n the greased loaf pan, w¡th the long s¡des of the dough fac¡ng up. ¡t ¡s f¡ne ¡f a small space ¡s vacant ¡n the pan, ¡t w¡ll be f¡lled up once the dough r¡ses. Let ¡t r¡se for about an hour, covered loosely w¡th a k¡tchen towel.
7. Preheat oven to 325 F. Top the dough w¡th ra¡s¡ns, sl¡ced almonds and marasch¡no cherr¡es. Bake the bread at 325 F for 20 m¡nutes, then lower the temperature to 300 then bake for 10-12 m¡nutes more, or unt¡l the bread ¡s golden. To serve, cut ¡nto sl¡ces or pull-apart.

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