Liquids For Old Fashioned Sandwich Loaf

Our answer

Nigella's Old-Fashioned Sandwich Loaf (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a white tin loaf that is good for sandwiches and for toasting. It has a soft, fine crumb that is partially due to the spoilt milk that is added to the dough. The fat and acid in the milk act on the glutens in the flour to weaken them and give a tender texture to the bread. Spoilt milk is milk that has turned sour. Sometimes milk that has been open too long will turn sour and rather than throwing it away it can be used to make bread. Buttermilk is a slightly different product as it is the liquid left over after butter has been churned, though nowadays most buttermilk is made by adding cultures to low fat milk. But it can also be used in the bread.

The recipe calls for 125ml (1/2 cup) spoilt milk (from full-fat/whole milk) and 45g (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter. If you use buttermilk instead then use 125ml (1/2 cup) plus 45g (3 tablespoons) butter. Full-fat (whole milk) Greek yogurt is another alternative and if you use this then reduce the butter to 30g (2 tablespoons) and the salt to 1 teaspoon. If you use sour cream for the loaf, instead of spoilt milk, then use 125ml (1/2 cup) sour cream and don't use any butter in the dough (just use a little butter to grease the loaf tin). You can also make the loaf vegan by replacing the milk with 125ml (1/2 cup) of plant-based unsweetened low fat yogurt (Nigella likes unsweetened almond-soy yogurt) and the butter with 45g (3 tablespoons) vegetable shortening, but here reduce the salt and sugar to 1 teaspoon each.