Milk Bread Recipes

SIMPLE MILK BREAD

Steps:

• Combine bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer using the dough hook on low speed; mix in eggs until fully incorporated. Mix in warm water and milk until fully incorporated. Add butter and mix until fully incorporated.
• Continue mixing until dough holds together. Take a piece of dough between your fingers and pull them apart. If the dough stays connected and becomes translucent, it is ready. Add milk or flour if needed to reach this consistency.
• Allow dough to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Divide dough into 4 or 5 loaves and shape into greased loaf pans. Rise again until edges are roughly 1 inch below the top of the pan, 30 to 60 minutes. Create a 2-inch vertical slit across the top of each loaf using a knife or scissors.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until bread reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees F (93 degrees C), about 20 minutes.

JAPANESE MILK BREAD

Steps:

• Make the starter: In a small heavy pot, whisk flour, milk and 1/2 cup water (120 milliliters) together until smooth. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often, until thickened but still pourable, about 10 minutes (it will thicken more as it cools). When it's ready, the spoon will leave tracks on the bottom of the pot. Scrape into a measuring cup and lightly cover the surface with plastic wrap. Set aside to cool to room temperature. (You will have about 1 cup starter; see note below.)
• Make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt and mix for a few seconds, just until evenly combined.
• Add egg, milk and 1/2 cup starter. Turn the mixer on low speed and knead 5 minutes.
• Add soft butter and knead another 10 to 12 minutes (it will take a few minutes for butter to be incorporated), until the dough is smooth and springy and just a bit tacky.
• Lightly butter the inside of a bowl. Use your hands to lift dough out of mixer bowl, shape into a ball and place in prepared bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes.
• Punch the dough down and use your hands to scoop it out onto a surface. Using a bench scraper or a large knife, cut dough in half. Lightly form each half into a ball, cover again and let rise 15 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In the meantime, generously butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
• Using a rolling pin, gently roll out one dough ball into a thick oval. (By this time, the dough should be moist and no longer sticky. You probably will not need to flour the surface, but you may want to flour the pin.) First roll away from your body, then pull in, until the oval is about 12 inches long and 6 inches across.
• Fold the top 3 inches of the oval down, then fold the bottom 3 inches of the oval up, making a rough square. Starting from the right edge of the square, roll up the dough into a fat log, pick it up and smooth the top with your hands. Place the log in the buttered pan, seam side down and crosswise, nestling it near one end of the pan. Repeat with the other dough ball, placing it near the other end of the pan.
• Cover and let rest 30 to 40 minutes more, until the risen dough is peeking over the edge of the pan and the dough logs are meeting in the center. Brush the tops with milk and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven until golden brown and puffed, 35 to 40 minutes.
• Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and let cool at least 1 hour, to let the crust soften and keep the crumb lofty. (If cut too soon, the air bubbles trapped in the bread will deflate.)

EASY MILK BREAD

Steps:

• Spray a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and sprinkle the cornmeal all over the inside of the pan. Tap out any excess.
• Add the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and yeast to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Set the dry mixture aside.
• Add the milk and butter to a small saucepan and attach a candy thermometer. Turn the heat on low and bring the mixture up to 125 degrees F. If the mixture gets too hot, let it cool to the correct temperature before continuing.
• Pour the warm liquid over the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to mix until the dough comes together, but is still shaggy. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until the dough is soft and elastic, 2 to 3 minutes. Form the dough into a log and transfer it to the prepared loaf pan, seam-side down. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise in a warm area until it's puffed up and almost doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Bake the loaf until the top of the bread is golden and the internal temperature is 190 degrees F, 25 to 30 minutes. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

MILK BREAD

Steps:

• Whisk together the bread flour, milk, and 1/2 cup (120 grams) water in a small saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Whisk for 6 to 8 minutes, until the mixture comes together and forms a smooth, doughy paste. It will start out completely liquid; after it comes to a boil it will get thicker and thicker until it finally leaves a trail in the pan and is more like a soft paste. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
• In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, place the tangzhong, cream, milk, whole eggs, and yeast and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes, until combined. Add the bread flour, sugar, and salt and mix on medium-low for another 4 to 6 minutes, until the dough has come together and is starting to feel a bit elastic.
• Add the butter bit by bit and mix on medium-low for another 8 minutes. The dough should be supple and smooth and a little tacky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lint-free towel and let the dough proof for about 1 hour at warm room temperature.
• Punch the dough down by literally punching it in the middle and bringing up all of the edges into the center. Scoop the dough up and turn it over. Re-cover and let proof for another 30 minutes at warm room temperature.
• Generously flick flour over the work surface. Generously butter two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans or spray with pan spray. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and divide it in half. Divide each half into 4 equal pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll each piece into a rough oval about 5 inches wide from side to side and 8 inches long from top to bottom, with the narrow end facing you.
• Fold the right side of the dough into the center and the left side of the dough into the center so it meets the right side. Press down so you now have a long skinny piece of dough.
• Starting from the bottom, roll the dough upward away from you so you have a little jelly-roll piece of dough. Place it seam side down in one of the prepared pans. Repeat this with 3 other pieces of dough so the rolls are lined up crosswise in the loaf pan, nestled next to one another. Repeat with the other 4 pieces of dough and the second loaf pan.
• Cover the loaves with plastic wrap or a lint-free towel and let proof at warm room temperature for 60 to 70 minutes, until the loaves are puffy and jiggly when you poke them.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Whisk the egg yolk for the egg wash in a small bowl with a fork. Use a pastry brush to brush the egg wash evenly on the tops of each loaf. Bake the loaves for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pans midway through the baking time, until the breads are golden brown and sound hollow when you thump them on top.
• Remove from the oven and let the loaves cool in the pans on a wire rack until they are cool enough to remove from the pans, about 15 minutes. Tip them out, place them directly on the wire rack, and let cool until room temperature.