Portuguese Sweet Bread (Bread Maker Recipe)

My previous roommate, Christa, brought home some Portuguese bread home with her from New England. It was beyond delicious and before we knew it, all of the bread she had brought home was gone. I started hunting for a recipe that would work, and this has finally filled need. It’s definitely a sweet bread, and is very good with salad fillings – especially chicken salad! Yum!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons margarine
1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS:
Add ingredients in order suggested by your manufacturer. Select "sweet bread" setting.

NOTES:

• Depending on your altitude and humidity level you may need to add more yeast or flour. My east coast friends use 1 standard package of yeast (2&1/4 tsp) instead of 2 & 1/2 teaspoons called for in the recipe.
• I will sometimes use this bread as a base recipe and add in 1/4 c. of finely chopped coconut, 1 teaspoon of coconut extract and use coconut milk in place of the milk to make a coconut variation. Another twist I use with this bread is to add 1/4 c. of crystallize ginger and 2 tsp. of Lemon juice to the recipe.
• If you’re a real sugar lover, (or just like your bread sweeter than it already is) add about six packets of aspartame (Sweet 'N Low) to the recipe. I know that might sound funny, but if you just add more sugar, the bread crust becomes really dark. Don't use NutraSweet; NutraSweet doesn't hold up under high temperatures and therefore is not useful for baking.

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