Japanese Milk Bread Recipes

SHOKUPAN

Steps:

• Make Yudane the night before. Place bread flour in a bowl and add boiling water and mix well. Put cling wrap and refrigerate overnight. *4
• Pour the room temperature milk into a stand mixer bowl.
• Add sugar,butter and yeast to the bowl then add the yudane as you tear it into small pieces.
• Add the bread, flour and salt.
• Attach the kneading hook onto the stand mixer and combine all ingredient on low speed 1.
• When all ingredients are combined, turn the speed up to 5 or 6 and knead the dough for 20 min.
• Roll the dough round and place the dough into a greased bowl. Wrap with cling wrap to rise for about 45 min to 1 hour at about 86°F(30°C) or until double the size.
• Use your finger, to test if the dough has risen by dusting your finger with flour and poking the dough. If the dough doesn't bounce back and the hole you poked stays there, it is ready.
• Punch the dough down and cut the dough into two equal parts with a scraper and roll them.
• Cover the rolled doughs with a wet cloth and stand it for 20 minutes bench time.
• Roll out each dough to about 5.9x7.8inch (15 x 20 cm) rectangle with a rolling pin.
• Fold the dough tightly not letting any air in towards the centre from left and right.
• Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll it from one end.
• Spray one loaf bread tin lightly and place the rolled dough in the end of the tin facing the centre.
• Cover it with a wet cloth and let the dough rise for a second time until the dough rises to the size of the bread tin about 30 min.
• Start to preheat the oven to 365 °F(185°C).
• When the dough has risen to be level with the tin, it's ready to bake.
• Bake the dough for about 25 -30 minutes in preheated oven.
• Remove the bread from the tin and cool it down on a rack. * 5
• Whisk an egg, rightly brush over the bread dough.(Optional)

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.

JAPANESE MILK BREAD (SHOKUPAN)

Steps:

• Starter:Whisk together milk, 1/2 cup water, and flour in a small saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking frequently, until thickened slightly but still pourable (it should have the consistency of loose pudding), 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl; let cool until warm to the touch but no longer hot, about 10 minutes.
• Dough: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, milk powder, sugar, salt, and yeast. Make a well in center of mixture. Add milk, melted butter, and starter to well; stir until a dough forms. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic and springs back when lightly pressed, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl brushed with butter; brush top of dough with more butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in volume, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush two standard 9-by-5-inch loaf pans with butter. Punch down dough. Transfer to a clean work surface and divide in half. Roll each half into an approximately 9-inch log; transfer to prepared pans. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise until more than doubled in volume (doughs should rise about 1 1/2 inches above tops of pans), 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Whisk egg white with 1 teaspoon water and gently brush onto tops of dough. Bake until puffed, golden brown, and a thermometer inserted in centers registers 200 degrees, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack 15 minutes. Flip loaves out onto rack; let cool completely before slicing and serving, or store, unsliced and wrapped in parchment-lined foil at room temperature up to 3 days, or sliced and frozen up to 3 months.

CHEF JOHN'S MILK BREAD

Steps:

• Whisk bread flour, water, and milk for starter together in a small saucepan until very smooth. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often, until very thick and just about to bubble. If you want to check, it should be at least 150 degrees F (65 degrees C). Pull off the heat and transfer into a measuring cup; you will need exactly 1/2 cup. Let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
• Prepare dough: Combine bread flour, cooled starter, salt, sugar, yeast, warm milk, and egg in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Beat on low speed until dough begins to form a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl, scraping down the sides as needed, about 5 minutes.
• Stop the mixer and scrape dough off the hook and into the bowl. Add butter and knead on low speed until dough is slightly tacky but very smooth and elastic, scraping down the sides as needed, 10 to 12 more minutes.
• Remove dough from the bowl and shape into a smooth ball. Transfer into a lightly buttered bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Very generously butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
• Transfer dough to a work surface (you don't need flour.) Press and knead out all the air and shape into a 9-inch wide rectangle. Starting at one 9-inch side, roll dough lengthwise into a log. Transfer log into the prepared loaf pan with the seam down. Press on dough a bit to be sure it's evenly distributed. Cover the pan and let dough rise until it comes to just about the top of the pan, 35 to 45 minutes.
• Brush the top of the loaf with just enough milk to lightly coat the surface.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until the top is golden brown and the load is beautifully puffed up, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for 10 minutes. Very carefully remove bread and place on a wire rack to cool all the way to room temperature before slicing, about 1 hour.