Hokkaido Milk Bread Recipes

HOKKAIDO MILK BREAD

Steps:

• In a small saucepan over medium heat, combined the ingredients for the starter. Stir continuously for 4-5 minutes or until the starter thickens to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit until the starter gets to room temperature.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together bread flour, sugar, yeast, dry milk powder, and salt. Once mixed, add in milk, starter, and beaten egg.
• Using the dough hook attachment, beat on low for 5 minutes. Add in butter and beat 5 more minutes. Turn the speed up to medium and beat for a final 5 minutes.
• Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
• Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 equally sized pieces. Roll each out to be 8"x5" and then fold each of the long sides in 1". Starting on one of the shorter edges, roll up and then place in a greased 9"x4" pan. Repeat with each piece of dough.
• Cover and let rise an additional 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once the dough has risen, brush the top of the dough with heavy whipping cream. Place into oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the inside is 190 degrees.
• Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes before removing bread from pan. Let cool on a cooling rack.

HOKKAIDO MILK BREAD

Steps:

• Make the tangzhong by heating up milk in a small pot. Stir in bread flour until a thick paste forms. Pour paste into a medium bowl. Add 1/2 cup milk and beaten egg; mix well.
• Place flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Mix with a spatula or by hand. Pour in tangzhong mixture. Stir well with a spatula until no dry spots remain. Gather dough in the middle of the bowl. Cover with a damp towel. Let rest for 20 minutes.
• Add salt to the dough and knead until incorporated. Repeat with sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Knead until dough is smooth, about 10 minutes. Add butter; keep kneading until evenly incorporated and dough is smooth.
• Form dough into a ball and place into a well oiled bowl. Turn dough to grease on all sides. Let proof at room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Turn dough out onto a clean work surface and deflate it. Press gently into a rectangle; roll up into a cylinder and transfer to a loaf pan. Let loaf proof until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Place loaf pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing.

JAPANESE MILK BREAD

Steps:

• Place the water in a small saucepan. Add the bread flour and whisk until you have a smooth mix with no lumps. Add the rest of the milk and whisk to combine.
• Heat over medium heat while whisking constantly until the mixture thickens. The resulting mixture should have a thick, pudding-like consistency.
• Scrape the mixture into a bowl and then cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap is touching the surface of the tangzhong to prevent a skin from forming on top.
• Allow the tangzhong to cool to room temperature.
• In your mixing bowl, place the lukewarm milk and dissolve about 1 tsp of the sugar in the liquid. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and stir gently to mix. Allow the milk + yeast mixture to stand for about 10 - 20 minutes until the yeast is activated. The mixture should become bubbly and frothy on the surface.
• Once the yeast is activated, add the milk powder (if using), the rest of the sugar, tangzhong, the egg, flour, and finally the salt.
• Using a spatula, mix the dough to combine the ingredients and to help form a scraggly dough.
• With the dough hook attached to your mixer, knead the dough for about 5 minutes on a low speed (speed 2 or 3). The dough will be very sticky and stick to the sides, but continue mixing and the dough will start to come together.
• After 5 minutes of kneading, add the butter in 3 - 4 additions, mixing for about 20 seconds in between. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl to make sure the dough mixes well.
• Once all the butter is incorporated into the dough, turn up the speed to 4 - 5 (medium speed) and knead for a further 5 - 7 minutes. Scrape the bowl once or twice while kneading.
• The dough should become smooth, satiny and pull off cleanly from the sides of the bowl.
• Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and shape the dough into a ball. Then place the dough back in the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
• Keep the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to double in size (about 1 - 2 hours, depending on the weather/ambient room temperature).
• When the dough has proofed in a warm place, you can transfer it to the fridge for a couple of hours just to make it a little easier to handle. THIS IS AN OPTIONAL STEP.
• Alternatively, place the bowl in the fridge and let it slow proof for about 12 hours. The dough will also be easy to handle when chilled.
• Once the dough is proofed and you're ready to shape the dough, prepare the loaf pan. Butter 1 - 4.5 x 8.5 inch loaf pan and dust the pan with flour. If making dinner rolls, butter a 9 or 8 inch square cake pan, and dust the sides with flour. Set aside until needed.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press all the excess air out of the dough.
• Weigh the dough, and divide it into 4 equal portions.
• Roll out each dough portion into a six inch (approximately) square.
• Fold the opposite corners of the square in towards the middle.
• Roll up this piece of dough, starting from the pointed end. Make sure you roll up the dough firmly, and a little tightly. If it's too loose, you may end up with large holes in the baked bread.
• Once you've rolled up the dough to the top, fold the pointed edge in and pinch the seam to seal.
• Place the rolled up dough in the dough pan, seam side down. There will be 4 rolls per loaf pan.
• Repeat with all the dough portions and place them in the loaf pan.
• Cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap and let the dough proof in a warm place, until doubled in size. This can take about 1 - 2 hours depending on the ambient room temperature. The dough should rise to just below the top of the loaf pan.
• Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces.
• Roll each piece into smooth, round dough balls and place them in the square baking pan, with about ¼ - ½ inch of space between each ball. Each square baking pan should have 9 rolls each.
• Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap and let the dough proof in a warm place, until doubled in size. This can take about 1 - 2 hours, depending on the ambient room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Once preheated, AND the bread is proofed, brush the top of the bread dough with a milk wash (for a more matte crust), or an egg wash (for a glossy crust). Bake in the preheated oven for 30 - 35 minutes (for the loaf), or 20 - 30 minutes (for the bread rolls). If the bread starts to caramelize too much in the oven, place a piece of foil over the surface of the bread to prevent it from burning.
• If you have a thermometer, bake until the internal temperature is about 190 - 205°F (88 - 96°C).
• Remove the loaf pan / baking pan from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a wire rack and let it cool down further.
• This bread is easier to slice when at room temperature, but can be enjoyed warm too.

HOKKAIDO MILK BREAD

Steps:

• In a saucepan, dissolve the flour in milk and water (mentioned under the roux ingredients). Place it on the gas stove and cook till until the flour thickens whilst stirring continuously.
• Once thickened, take it off the flame and immediately add the remaining milk and cream. This is done to reduce the temperature of the roux quicker.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer, add rest of the ingredients (except for butter) - salt, flour, yeast, sugar, milk powder and egg.
• Add the roux.. before adding the roux make sure that it is slightly cooled and not hot as if it is too hot it would kill the yeast.
• Attach the dough hook and combine everything on med. speed for 2 mins until it comes together as a dough.
• Then start feeding the dough with butter a little at a time. Once incorporated knead the dough for 8 mins.
• After which take the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
• Give the dough a round shape making the top smoother.
• Grease a bowl with some oil. You can use the same bowl in which you kneaded the dough
• Place the dough in the bowl and dab the remaining oil from your hands on top of the dough so that it doesn't dry out while proofing.
• Cover it with a tea towel and allow it to proof in a warm place for 1 hour.
• Grease the inner pot of your instant pot with some oil.
• Place the dough into it and dab the top of the dough with the leftover oil so that it doesn't dry out.
• Place the iiner pot into your Instant Pot and choose the Yogurt Setting.
• Set the time to 30 mins.
• Once proofed, punch and tip the dough onto your work top and divide into 3 equal portions. Either eyeball or use a kitchen scale and divide it into 3 portions of 205 gms each
• Roll it into a round shape by tucking the sides to the base.
• Cover the 3 balls with a tea towel and allow for an intermediate proofing of 10 mins.
• Meanwhile grease the baking pan with some butter and set aside.
• After 10 mins, take each portion and roll it lengthwise. Fold it into thirds.
• Roll again lenthwise and then starting from the corner near you roll it like we roll for a swiss roll cake. (Refer the step by step pictures in the post from above paragraph or refer the video in the recipe card).
• Place it in the greased baking pan, cling wrap and allow it for second proofing.
• Allow the dough to rise in the baking pan for around 1 to 1.5 hours.
• What you are looking for is that the bread dough should have doubled in size and reaches the brim of the baking pan.
• Bake this in a preheated oven of 180°C (355°F) for 30-35 mins until the top is golden brown in colour and the bottom sounds hollow.
• Allow the bread to cool in the pan itself for 5-8 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.