A local bakery has a special bread they make just in February; it's a white loaf with a swirl of dried cherries and white chocolate chips. The bread part tastes a little richer than ordinary white bread, but not as rich as challah or brioche. I think maybe it's just made with milk instead of water. I bought a loaf last week; it's pretty expensive but it's good.
I found this recipe that looks about right for the base, but shouldn't the milk be scalded and cooled?
https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Amish-Milk-Bread-9018476 (that's also too much yeast, but that won't really hurt anything it's just a bit wasteful) I've always heard that if you bake with milk w/o scalding it, proteins or enzymes in the whey will inhibit gluten development and will also somehow make the bread gummy.
I bought a bag of white baking chips and I had some old dried-out Craisins already. I have the Craisins soaking in Kirsch (strong unsweetened cherry brandy) and want to give this a try. I'm thinking I'll follow that recipe but will scald the milk. Roll out the dough and sprinkle the chips and the mock-cherries on and roll it up like a jelly roll. Probably bake it free-form on some parchment instead of in a loaf pan.
Or do you think this recipe might be dependent on *not* scalding the milk?
