Soft Milk Bread Loaf
Cloud-soft, faintly sweet, and it pulls apart in strands.
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Before You Start
This is the loaf sold as shokupan or Hokkaido milk bread, and the softness comes from a tangzhong: a paste of flour and milk cooked for two minutes before it joins the dough. It lets the dough hold far more liquid than it otherwise could, which is why the crumb stays feathery for days instead of going stale overnight. Do not skip it. It is what makes this bread different from a standard white loaf.
Instructions
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1
Make the tangzhong: whisk the 24 g flour into the 122 g milk in a small pan with no lumps. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens to a loose paste and the whisk leaves tracks, about 2 minutes. Cool to lukewarm.
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2
In a mixer bowl, combine the 350 g flour, sugar, yeast, powdered milk and salt. Add the tangzhong, the lukewarm milk and the egg. Mix with a dough hook until it comes together into a shaggy mass.
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3
Knead on medium for 8 minutes. Now add the butter a cube at a time, letting each disappear before the next. It will look like it has broken. Keep going, and after 8 more minutes it will be smooth, glossy and pulling clean off the bowl.
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4
Check the windowpane: stretch a piece thin enough to see light through without tearing. If it tears, knead 3 minutes more. This dough needs more gluten than you think.
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5
Cover and prove somewhere warm until doubled, about 1 hour. Knock it back gently, divide into 3 equal pieces, and roll each into a ball. Rest them 10 minutes.
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6
Roll each ball into an oval, fold the long sides into the middle, flatten, then roll it up into a tight cylinder. Sit the three rolls side by side in a greased 900 g loaf tin.
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7
Cover and prove again until the dough domes just above the rim, 45 to 60 minutes. Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. Brush with a little milk and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until deep gold and hollow-sounding underneath. Tent with foil if it colours too fast. Cool in the tin 5 minutes, then fully on a rack.
💡 Baker's tips
- Add the butter after the gluten has formed, not with the flour. Fat coats the proteins and stops them linking up, and you will never get the strands.
- This dough is meant to feel slack and tacky. Adding flour to make it easier to handle is the single most common way this loaf gets ruined.
🔀 Make it your own
- Roll cinnamon sugar into each cylinder before shaping for a swirled loaf.
- Shape into 9 balls and prove in a square tin for pull-apart dinner rolls, baking 22 to 25 minutes.
📦 Storing & freezing
Airtight at room temperature for 4 days, which is the whole advantage of the tangzhong. Never the fridge, which stales bread fast. Freezes well sliced for 2 months.
❓ Frequently asked
What is tangzhong and why does it work?
It is a cooked paste of flour and milk. Heating the starch lets it absorb several times its weight in liquid and hold onto it, so the baked crumb stays soft and moist for days.
Why is my milk bread dense instead of fluffy?
Usually underkneading or extra flour. The dough needs a full windowpane test before shaping, and it is supposed to stay tacky, so resist flouring it into submission.
Baking in a different unit? Use the cups ↔ grams converter or the recipe scaler to halve or double this recipe.
