Success!!! Puerto Rican Ginger(ed) Bread

Here's the recipe:

Puerto Rican Ginger Yeast Bread

1-3 days before baking:

Make pâte fermentée as follows: (this makes about 914 g. pâte fermentée--so you have some left over to freeze and use later)

           282 g. unbleached bread flour

          282 g. unbleached all-purpose flour

          10 g. salt

          1 tsp. instant yeast

          340-400 g. room temperature water (about 75-80 degrees F.)

           Put dry ingredients into a bowl and stir to blend.  Add the water (holding back about ¼ cup) and mix until the dough forms a ball (use remaining water if needed), then knead for about 4 minutes in mixer.  I used all the water.

           Oil a bowl, put dough in and flip to oil both sides, then cover; mark the volume.  Put bowl in the microwave that's been preheated by boiling a cup of water in it.  Let it rise for about 1 hour until it's 1 ½ its original volume.  DON"T MICROWAVE THE BREAD--put a sign on the keypad of microwave so nobody uses it and ruins the dough.  Turn it out and knead briefly to de-gas.  Return dough to is container and cover, keep refrigerated for 1-3 days.  Take it out on baking day and cut into fourths or fifths and let it return to room temperature (covered) for an hour or two before using.

 Day of baking (1-3 days after making the pâte fermentée) :

 Assemble ginger(ed) bread ingredients-

           580 g. bread flour

          480 g. pâte fermentée (which has warmed up outside refrigerator for an hour or two, covered--see above)

          20 g. ground ginger

          2 eggs

          200 ml. warm milk (about 90 degrees F.)

          12 g. yeast

          180 g. sugar

          2 tsp. salt

          4 g. ground Chinese 5-spice

          ¼ cup of King Arthur's dry milk powder (optional but helps texture of bread)

          ¼ cup oil

 Dissolve yeast in warm milk and let sit while preparing other ingredients.  Mix all dry ingredients together well, add eggs and yeast/milk mixture and oil.  Mix and knead for about 8 minutes in mixer.  Remove and shape into four balls of equal size, cover and let rise until doubled.  Brush with an egg glaze and bake at 390 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 360 degrees-if browning too fast, cover with foil at this point and finish baking until loaves sound hollow when thumped, about 30 minutes or less.  (I did have to cover these loaves with foil after about 15 minutes to avoid them getting too dark.)

 Turn out to cool on a wire rack.  Sliced thin and toasted with butter--yum!!!!