Hokkaido Milk Bread

A couple weeks ago, I tried to make Sweet Red Bean Milk Bread.  It was a FAILED attempt.  Yes, I did make the bread and it was edible.  However, it was not fluffy and soft.  It was so dense that it was just nutritious.  I didn't knead enough and did not let it rise long enough.  Basically, I was hungry and impatient.  

Anyways, I did some more research, gathered more patience and compiled a recipe for Hokkaido Milk Bread (Japanese Milk Bread). 

I adapted my recipe from Ellie’s Blog Home Cooking in Montana and Mika’s The 350 Degree Oven.   Both were great resources.  Ellie’s Blog utilized a kitchen aid and Mika’s method was using a breadmaker.  In my recipe, I used the kitchen aid.  If you do not own one, then you will be doing quite a bit of kneading. 

So what makes milk bread so delicious?  And why should you spend time making it?  It is the softest and fluffiest bread, but at the same time has all these complex textures and the flavorful is so delicious.  YUMMO!  Frank and I consumed half the loaf like it was nothing.  This is my all time favorite bread.  It has similar texture to a brioche but with a lot less egg and butter. 

The secrets to achieving soft and fluffy bread are:

• utilizing a method known as tangzhong
• kneading it just right (15 minutes kneading)
• giving it time to rise (85-135 minutes)

I’ll warn you now that this will take quite a bit of time to make.  So you have to be very patient if you want that soft fluffy delicious bread. 

What is tangzhong?  Simple put, it is a water roux originated by the Japanese to create soft and fluffy bread without the need for artificial preservatives, allowing bread to stay fresh longer.  This method of bread making was introduced in the 1990s by Yvonne Chen, author of The 65° Bread Doctor.  Tangzhong is a mixture of flour and liquid (either water, milk or a mixture of both) heated until 65°C (149°F) to make a smooth paste with pudding like consistency. 

Hokkaido Milk Bread Recipe Print

(Makes 1 loaf) I used about a standard 1.5-quart bread pan.

Ingredients: 

2½ cups bread flour

4 tbsp sugar  

½ tsp salt

2 tsp active yeast (1/4 oz packet)

1 egg

½ cup milk, warm 

½ cup tangzhong, room temp

3 tbsp unsalted butter (cut into small pieces, room temperature)

1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp of milk (optional)

1 tbsp melted butter (optional)

Tangzhong (water roux): make ½ cup of tangzhong

1/6 cup of bread flour

¼ cup milk*

¼ cup water*

*Alternatively, you could just use ½ cup of water instead of the 50:50 liquid ratio that I used. 

Let’s make some bread!

1. First, make the tangzhong.  In a saucepan, whisk bread flour, milk and water well.   Heat over medium-low heat.  The mixture will thicken.  Stir consistently to prevent it from burning.  Swirly lines will appear and when you have a pudding like consistency (ideally the temperature here is 149°F), take it off the heat.  You can transfer it into a small bowl.  Set aside and cool to room temperature. 

2.  In your stand mixer bowl, combine bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.  Quickly mix using a dough hook, just to combine.  

3. Add warm milk, egg and tangzhong to the dry ingredients.

4. Knead on medium (6 on the stand mixer) for 5 minutes to let the gluten develop. 

5. Decrease to speed to 4 and add in the butter while mixer is still kneading.  Continue to knead for an additional 10 minutes. 

6. Once the dough is done kneading, form into a ball and place into a greased bowl.  Cover and let sit in a warm place for 40-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

7. Divide dough into four equal portions and form into the shape of a ball.  This will deflate the dough. Cover and let rest for another 15 minutes.

8. Prepare loaf pan by lightly greasing.  This will make it easier for your loaf to come out.  This is an optional step.  (I actually forgot to do this and got lucky because I was using a glass pan and my loaf came out smoothly.)   

9. Now it’s time to form the rolls!  Flour a nice clean working area. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into an oval.  Then fold 1/3 from the top to the middle and 1/3 from the bottom to the middle.  Rotate 90 degrees; roll out with the rolling pin.  And roll dough like a jellyroll.  Place the roll with seam side down into loaf pan.  Repeat with the remaining dough. 

10. Let sit for another 30-60 minutes in a warm place, or until the dough doubles in size.  We want the dough to rise some more.  Be patient.  (I live in Chicago and it is not warm here in the winter, so I had to wait 60 minutes for mine to double in size.  If you live in warmer climates, it will double in size much faster.)

11. Preheat oven to 350°F.

12. Brush loaf with egg wash and bake for 30 minutes on center rack.  Rotate halfway through and if the bread browns before it is done, loosely cover it with foil. 

13. When done, place on a wire rack and brush the top with melted butter.  This will soften the crust and add some deliciousness.  After 5 minutes, remove from loaf pan and cool completely on a wire rack. 

Enjoy!!!  This is absolutely delicious!!!  It’s much easier to cut when it has cooled completely.  But after all that waiting, we couldn’t wait and dug in.  We ate half the loaf already.  We are such piggies. 

It was pretty rewarding making this once you have the end product.  There is just a lot of time that you have to wait while it doubles in size.  I reside in Chicago and making this in the winter, it’s cold out here.  Finding a warm place isn’t easy.  My microwave is where I put it, but it still takes a while.  Perhaps, in the summer, it will rise faster since it is so hot here.  But summer baking isn’t as fun because of the heat.