Asian Milk Bread or Hokkaido milk bread has become the typical staple in Japan. It is as light as a feather and can tear apart like cotton when it is fresh from the oven.
Imagine a loaf of white milk bread that has a feather-like texture, so soft and fluffy. You can literally tear a piece off the bread to see the texture. Both avid and beginner home bakers are searching for an ultimate milk bread recipe and there are quite a few recipes out there.
Most milk bread recipes use Tangzhong, a kind of roux, to get the soft and fluffy texture. This recipe is an easy milk bread without Tangzhong.
What Is Tangzhong?
Tangzhong is a paste of flour cooked in water or milk, which is used to improve the texture of bread, making it soft and fluffy. It is widely used in most Asian style milk breads or rolls. Tangzhong makes the bread softer and stay fresh longer.
Milk Bread Recipe Without Tangzhong
Needless to say, Tangzhong makes the Asian Milk Bread soft and fluffy. But I came to realize that you can still make a feather-like milk bread without Tangzhong. Heavy whipping cream in this milk bread recipe brings a beautiful loaf of bread that has ultimately soft, tender, and moist texture. It is much easier and quicker than the traditional method, and your bread will stay fresh up to 3 days.
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Asian Milk Bread (Hokkaido milk bread)
Course: BreadCuisine: AsianDifficulty: Medium4
servings30
minutes25
minutesIngredients
2/3 cup 2/3 heavy cream, at room temperature
1 cup 1 milk, plus 1 tbsp; at room temperature
1 1 egg, at room temperature
1/3 cup 1/3 sugar
1/2 cup 1/2 cake flour
3 1/2 cups 3 1/2 bread flour
1 tbsp 1 active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp 1 1/2 salt
egg wash
simple syrup (2 tsp sugar dissolved in 2 tsp hot water)
Directions
- In the bowl of a mixer, add ingredients in the following order: heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt. Use the dough hook attachment, and turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together. If you’re in a humid climate and the dough is too sticky, feel free to add a little more flour ¼ cup at a time until it comes together. If you don’t have a mixer and would like to knead by hand, extend the kneading time by 5-10 minutes.
- After 15 minutes of kneading, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. We proof the dough in our oven (We turned on our oven’s rapid proof setting for 5 minutes, turned the oven off, and then closed the oven door). The dough will grow to 1.5 times its original size.
- In the meantime, grease two baking vessels on all sides with butter, such as 2 standard loaf pans or even a loaf pan and a 9-inch round cake pan.
- After the hour of proofing, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface, and cut it in half. You can make a loaf with one half of the dough by cutting it into 3 pieces and placing them in the loaf pan. With the other half of the dough, cut it into eight equal pieces and make buns. You can really shape the dough however you like. Once shaped, let the dough proof for another hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush the risen dough with egg wash. Bake the loaves for 23-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the buns with sugar water to give them a great shine, sweetness, and color.
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