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Hokkaido Milk Bread

With a sweet and rich milky flavour, this Hokkaido milk bread will amaze you with its super soft and fluffy, cloud-like texture. Follow my recipe and learn how to make Hokkaido milk bread from scratch.
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Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 25 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 1 loaf

Equipment

  • 1 Kitchen machine
  • 1 Rolling Pin
  • 1 bread loaf pan (L20cm x W11cm x H11cm)

Ingredients
  

For the Tangzhong

  • 19 g bread flour
  • 95 g water

For the bread dough

  • 300 g bread flour
  • 36 g sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 heap tsp instant dry yeast (about 6g)
  • 1 tbsp milk powder
  • 1 egg beaten (58g)
  • 36 ml whipping cream
  • 36 ml milk
  • 90 g Tangzhong
  • 28 g unsalted butter

Instructions
 

Make Tangzhong in advance

  • In a pot, mix together flour and water at a 1:5 ratio.
  • Heat the pot over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens with a smooth texture.
  • Transfer Tangzhong to a bowl and wrap with cling film. Ensure the cling film sticks to the top surface of Tangzhong to maintain its moisture.
  • Let cool in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Make the bread dough

  • In a mixer bowl, add in Tangzhong and other ingredients for the bread dough, leaving unsalted butter for later use.
  • Using the dough hook, knead the dough on low speed then gradually increase the speed. Knead until the dough forms a ball (about 5 minutes). Do a windowpane test (see Note 1).
  • Add in unsalted butter. Continue kneading for 10 minutes.
  • Do another windowpane test to see if it's ready to rise (see Note 2).
  • Shape the dough into a ball and cover the mixer bowl with cling film or a damp cloth.
  • Proof at room temperature until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).

Make the bread loaf

  • Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Cover with cling film or damp cloth, rest for 15 minutes.
  • Working on one piece at a time, use a rolling pin to flatten the dough and roll into a rectangular shape.
  • Fold both long sides to the centre, then roll up the dough towards yourself.
  • Pinch to seal the ends.
  • Repeat for the other pieces.
  • Place the dough pieces into a loaf pan, leaving some space between each piece.
  • Proof for the 2nd time at room temperature until the dough pieces rise to about 70% height of the loaf pan (about 1-1.5 hours).
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  • Gently brush the loafs with egg wash.
  • Bake at 180°C for 25-30 minutes.

Notes

  1. Do a test before adding in butter by pulling out a small piece and stretching it out gently. The dough should be smooth and elastic at this point, and as it tears apart, the holes should have rough edges.
  2. For the second test, the dough should be more easily stretched out without breaking. You could use a finger to poke a hole and this time, the hole should be smooth without rough edges. This means the dough is ready to rise!