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Japanese Milk Bread- Leslie Cooks

Milk Bread

Leslie Cooks
Known as shokupan or Japanese milk toast, this pillowy bread has an ultra-soft texture that stays fresh for days. Perfect for sandwiches, French toast, or enjoying on its own, this homemade milk bread recipe is ideal for beginner and advanced bakers alike.
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Prep Time 2 hours 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 40 minutes
Course Breakfast, Lunch
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 2 loaves
Calories 169 kcal

Video

Equipment

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g warm water 2 cups
  • 40 g Sugar 3 ½ tbsp
  • 16 g salt 4 tsp
  • 42 g Honey 2 tbps
  • 2 packets active dry yeast 14g
  • 700 g Bread flour 5 ½ cups
  • 40 g Milk Powder 1/3 cup
  • 50 g softened butter 3 1/3 tbps, plus a bit extra for greasing pans

Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl, combine warm water, sugar, salt, and honey. Stir until honey and sugar dissolves. Sprinkle over yeast. Stir until dissolves. Let stand until foamy.
  • In a larger bowl, combine flour and milk powder. Stir until combined.
  • Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture. Stir until a shaggy dough forms. Dough will be sticky, but do not add additional flour.
    If by hand, Pour dough our onto bench and begin kneading for 2 mins. Spread dough out and add softened butter to center of dough. Cover butter with dough then use bench scraper to cut butter into dough. Keep kneading until dough is a lot less sticky and pass window pane test*. This should take 10-15 minutes.
  • If using Mixer: In a stand mixer with dough hook attachment, mix dough for 2 mins, then add in softened butter. Continue to mix until dough is less sticky and passes the window pane test*(See notes).
  • Grease a large bowl. Add dough to bowl. Cover and let rise in warm place for 40 minutes. Dough should have doubled.
  • Once dough is proofed, punch dough down. Get your kitchen scale and weigh dough. Cut dough into 6 equal pieces by weight. Roll pieces into balls. Cover and let rest on bench for about 15 minutes.
  • Prepare 2 bread pans by greasing them with softened butter. Grease the lids also, if you are making square loaves.
  • To make loaves, take a dough ball. Roll it out into a rectangle. Take one side and fold to the center, then folds the other side onto that fold to make a letter fold. Take the top two edges and fold towards the center. Then roll the dough towards yourself to make a roll. Do this for the remaining dough balls. There should be 3 rolls per loaf pan.
  • Cover the pan with plastic wrap the let rise in warm place for an hour. 30 mins before the bread is done rising in pans, preheat your oven to 400°F.
  • When dough is 70-80% the height up the pan add your lids if you are making the square bread. At the end of the second rise and if you are not using lids, spray the top of bread with water.
  • Bake at 400°F for 20-30 minutes and until golden. (Always check half way through as ovens vary)
  • Enjoy!!

Notes

*Window  Pane Test: Take a small piece of dough and stretch out in your fingers. If you can get dough thin without breaking, you have developed enough gluten and dough is ready for the first proofing. 
 
Proofing: This refers to the process in which you allow the dough to rest and rise.

Nutrition

Serving: 2slicesCalories: 169kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 5gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 336mgPotassium: 64mgFiber: 1gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 82IUCalcium: 25mg
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