How to obtain the soft and pillowy texture in bread?

Question

Here's a bread recipe (probably a type of Turkish bread):

1 cup of warm milk (200 ml)
1 tea cup of warm water (150 ml)
1 tea cup of oil
1 tea spoon of salt 1.5 tablespoons of sugar,
half a pack of fresh yeast (21 grams)
1 egg white
5 cups flour
50 grams butter
(glaze: 1 egg yolk + milk)

Preparation: Warm water in a bowl, warm milk, salt, granulated sugar, liquid oil, egg white and fresh yeast, and mix them together. Then knead the dough by incorporating flour gradually. let the dough rest until doubled in bulk, then make 12 equal portions from the dough. put about 5 gr butter on each portion, pat the dough and then roll it and form a spiral out of it. cover and let rest for 20 minutes, then egg wash and bake until golden brown.

The only change I made was using instant yeast instead of fresh, and oat milk instead of regular milk.

This is how it is supposed to turn out like and this is how it actually turned out.

I tried the recipe twice, and it never came out as soft and pillowy as they look in the original recipe. The recipe poster advised that if the final soft texture is desired, cover the tray with a damp towel right when it is done baking and out of the oven for about 5 minutes. I did the same, but alas!

Answer 1

Milk is used as a kind of "tenderizer" in breads. Milk makes a softer crust and otherwise improves the texture of bread, so in this case, I think its your substitution that's giving you a problem. Oat milk may be a reasonable substitute for the liquid required in the recipe, but it just won't have the same effect on the finished product.

If you're not vegan, I would recommend using the regular milk next time. If you are, it may be possible to add a tiny bit more sugar and fat (in addition to the oat milk) to the recipe to compensate for the missing milk sugars and fats, but I'm unsure if that will produce the desired result. You may need to do more research into vegan breads to come up with a substitute for the milk in that case.

Answer 2

I tried the original recipe once more and the texture was almost like the original recipe:

Here are the changes I've made this time:

• I followed the recipe to the letter this time, not substituting oat milk for regular milk and instant yeast for fresh yeast as suggested.
• The other change I made was when rolling and shaping the dough, last time I baked the bread I didn't like the crust it developed and wanted them as soft and pillowy as they were in the original recipe. I realized that when I was shaping them I left them uncovered. This time I tried to do it more quickly. I am not sure that also was any helpful to get the desired texture. Now I have to bake the bread once more with oat milk and instant yeast to find that out! Stay tuned!