Japanese Milk Bread

Recipes

Mar 24

Japanese Milk Bread

Have you had Japanese milk bread? To me, it feels like eating a cloud—a perfectly sweet, fluffy cloud of bread. I’m not kidding.

I ended up making some yesterday because one of my friends made some at home and shared the images in our group chat. Upon seeing the bread, I could smell the bread, and I knew then that this was what I was going to have to use my only remaining packet of instant yeast on (#quarantine-problems).

As a kid, I used to hate bread. I’m looking at you, Orowheat buttermilk bread from Costco. It was just this standard, dry, not particularly flavorful bread. And to make matters worse, it was from Costco. As a kid, you knew that if something came from Costco, it meant that you were stuck eating whatever it was that you bought from Costco… forever. It’s usually a great thing because those spinach-cheese ravioli were bomb; however, when it came to the double-pack of Orowheat buttermilk bread, shopping at Costco could not have been more disappointing. One of my favorite memories revolving around this bread was unsurprisingly not eating it but actually feeding it to the geese at the lake with my grandma, which is actually seriously bad for the geese, the environment, etc. But, I honestly didn’t know any better and I digress.

My point was, one day in middle school, my dad brought home bread from Sheng Kee. He brought home that insanely thick-sliced, plain toast. If you’ve ever seen it, you know that a single loaf of that bread is huge! I was so confused. Why did my dad bring home so much bread when bread wasn’t even that delicious?! I had one bite of it, and I knew I could never look at bread the same.

After watching Season 1 of The Great British Bake Off, I became obsessed with bread. I was making bread for three months straight. However, nothing really compared to milk bread—it’s easily the most versatile since you can shape it into round rolls for pull-aparts or even stuff them with Chinese BBQ pork to make baked chasiu buns!

Don’t trust the people who say that you don’t need to make the stovetop starter (tangzhong)—it only takes a matter of minutes at the stove and results in the most amazing crumb. King Arthur Flour’s introduction to tangzhong article is very informative and provides an explanation as to why this technique is critical for softer, more tender bread.

This bread is incredibly easy to make especially with a stand mixer and has a crumb that is just otherworldly. I have tried so many different milk bread recipes; however, the one I keep coming back to is the NYTimes Cooking recipe. It’s soft, fluffy bread—what more can you ask for?

Quick notes/tips before starting

If this is your first time making bread, just know that weighing everything is the key to success. However, don’t bother weighing things that are on the scale of teaspoons, because most home scales don’t have that level of precision, in my opinion.

Regarding the starter

The NYTimes starter recipe produces enough starter to bake TWO loaves, but this recipe is just for a singular loaf. They’ve done this because it’s difficult to cook a smaller amount of starter easily, so either (1) discard the extra starter, (2) double the recipe and bake two loaves, or (3) ceramic wrap the starter and refrigerate for up to a week but be sure to bring it back up to room temperature when ready to use.

From the NYTimes Cooking’s recipe for Japanese milk bread

Ingredients

Starter

45g (1/3 cup) bread flour
120mL (1/2 cup) whole milk
(usually the higher the fat content, the better, however, for the lactose-intolerant, lactose-free milk still works)
120mL (1/2 cup) water
(the NYTimes left this out for some reason, and it screws everyone over)

Dough

325g (2 1/2 cups) bread flour
60g (1/4 cup) sugar
2 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 egg
120mL (1/2 cup) warm whole milk—plus extra for brushing on the unbaked loaf
(again, lactose-free milk for me)
60g (4 tbsp) salted butter, softened and cut into pieces—plus extra for buttering bowls and pan

Items

small heavy pot
whisk
rubber spatula
9x5” loaf pan
rolling pin
working surface/cutting board
bench scraper

Instructions

Make the starter

King Arthur Flour’s Introduction to Tangzhong

Sift the flour into the pot off the stove.
Not necessary, but I find that it helps with creating a smoother tangzhong.
Add milk and water.
Turn stove setting to low, place pot on, and whisk until there are no flour clumps
Turn the heat up to medium-low, and use the rubber spatula to stir continuously until the starter is thickened but still pourable. When it’s ready, the spatula will leave tracks at the bottom of the pot.
Set aside 1/2 cup of starter in a measuring cup and allow the starter to cool to room temperature.

Make and proof the dough

Up to the first proof

Fit a stand mixer with a dough hook.
Add flour, sugar, yeast, and salt to the mixing bowl.
Turn the mixer on and allow it to stir at the lowest speed setting for a few seconds until the dry ingredients are evenly combined.
Add egg, milk, and 1/2 cup starter.
Turn the mixer on low/stir speed and knead for 5 minutes until the dough comes together.
Scatter cubed soft butter around the bowl.
Turn the mixer on low/stir speed and allow the machine to knead the dough for 10-12 minutes until the dough is smooth, springy, and just a bit tacky. It takes a few minutes for the butter to be incorporated.
Meanwhile, butter the inside of a bowl and the loaf pan.
When the dough is ready, lift the dough out of the mixer bowl, roughly shape into a ball, and place it in the prepared bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or ceramic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for 40 to 60 minutes until it has doubled in size.

Up to the second proof

Lightly flour a flat surface or a cutting board.
After the dough has doubled in size, punch the dough down and scoop it out onto a surface.
Using a bench scraper, cut the dough in half.
Lightly form each half of the dough into a ball. (Here’s a good video demonstration)
Cover again and let rise for 15 minutes.
Using a floured rolling pin and very lightly floured surface, gently roll out one dough ball into a thick oval that is about 12” long and 6” across.
Using a bench scraper, divide the oval in half.
For each half, fold a letter fold—bottom third up, then top third over.
Starting from the right edge of the square, loosely “roll” up the dough into a fat log, place seam side down and crosswise at the end of the buttered pan.
Repeat 8-9 with the remaining half of the oval and place next to the other log.
Repeat 6-10 with the remaining dough ball.

At this point, you can either put the dough in the fridge for an overnight proof, or you can do the room temperature proof. For both proofs, at the end of the proof, what you’re looking for is the dough to just be peeking over the edge of the pan.

I personally prefer the overnight refrigerator proof for fresh bread in the morning.

Room Temperature Proof

If doing a room temperature proof, you want to ceramic wrap the pan and let it rest for 30-40 minutes more.

Overnight Refrigerator Proof

If doing an overnight proof, you want to ceramic wrap the pan and leave the pan in the back of the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.

Bake

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
While the oven is heating, brush the top of the dough with milk.
Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 33-37 minutes until golden brown and puffed.
Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the bread to a wire rack and let it cool for at least 30-45 minutes.
This lets the crust soften and keeps the crumb lofty. If you cut it too soon, the air bubbles trapped in the bread will deflate, and the crumb will start to stick to each other as the knife moves through.