Japanese milk bread is the fluffiest and softest bread loaf ever. It’s great on it’s own, with some butter, or a little condensed milk.
Bread is my weakness. Crusty French baguettes, chewy Italian ciabatta, and this oh so fluffy and heavenly Japanese milk bread.
Ever since my high school days, there have always been diets and fads telling me to stay away from breads. It’s not that I couldn’t do it, it’s just that I don’t want to deny myself something so tasty.
I could give up chocolate, espresso, and maybe even whiskey, but refraining from breads…that might be a real tough one.
Table of Contents
Japanese Milk Bread
For most of my childhood, my mom would only purchase two types of bread: Filipino pan de sal and Japanese milk bread.
I grew up eating bread with a slather of salted butter, maybe a piece of hard cheese, or a giant spoonful of sweetened condensed milk (the best!).
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to favor more heartier breads, but to this day, I still cannot enter an Asian bakery without buying a loaf of milk bread.
And that got me thinking…what if I had to move to an area that didn’t have my favorite breads? What would I do?
Naturally, the answer is simple. Learn to make all my favorite breads starting with this Japanese milk bread. (Up next, pineapple buns/melon pans!)
How to make Hokkaido Milk Bread:
Even if you’ve never made bread before (or you’ve been intimidated to try), this will be the bread that will change your mind.
Japanese milk bread (also known as Hokkaido milk bread) is known for it’s distinct slightly sweet flavor and soft interior.
The secret to this fluffy milk bread is it’s use of a starter (water roux). A simple mixture of flour, water, and milk creates this paste that helps to produce the fluffiest bread ever.
Even four days after baking the bread, the loaf will remain soft and springy like the first day.
Combining all the ingredients for the dough is fairly simple and straight forward. Once you’ve let the dough rest and rise for an hour, place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into four equal parts.
Keep the cut dough under plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out or forming an unwanted skin. Roll the dough into balls. Working with one ball at a time, flatten or roll out dough to a length of about 8 inches and width of 5 inches.
Fold in about 1-inch on both sides of the dough. Starting from the end closest to you, roll the dough into a log. Repeat with remaining dough.
Place the logs seam-side down in a buttered and parchment lined loaf pan.
Cover loaf pan with plastic wrap and let rest for 30-45 minutes until dough has doubled in volume.
Lightly brush the top of the dough with heavy cream. Bake in a 350 degree F oven until the top of the bread is a nice golden brown and the internal temperature of the bread is at least 190 degrees F.
If the bread top colors too fast, place a foil tent over it to prevent it from burning.
Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for 5 minutes before unmolding, then allow the loaf to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Once cool, go ahead and slice yourself a piece!
Japanese Milk Bread
Ingredients
Starter:
- 3 Tbsp bread flour , (25 g) or all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup whole milk, (60 ml)
- ¼ cup water, (60 ml)
Dough:
- 2 ½ cups bread flour, (325 g)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar, (60 g)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast, (7 g)
- 1 Tablespoon non-fat dry milk powder, , optional*
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 large egg, lightly whisked, room temperature
- ½ cup whole milk, (120 ml), room temperature
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, (60 g), softened
- heavy cream, as needed for brushing
Instructions
- Starter: Stir together flour, milk, and water in a microwave safe cup. Mixture will be slightly lumpy. Microwave for 20 seconds. (NOTE: this cooking time refers to a 1100 W microwave.) *See notes for directions cooking starter stovetop.
- Remove from microwave and stir mixture together. Mixture will have thickened. Stir and break up any large clumps of flour. Then, return to microwave and heat for another 20 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir together. Heat for another 15 seconds until mixture is smooth and has thickened to the consistency of mashed potatoes. *If needed, return to microwave for another 10 seconds and mix again.
- Transfer mixture to a cool clean bowl. Let mixture sit for 15 minutes to allow to cool before adding to remaining down ingredients.
- Dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together bread flour, sugar, yeast, milk powder and salt. Attach dough hook to mixer. Add in cooled starter mixture, egg, and milk. Knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Scape down bowl to ensure thorough mixing.
- Add softened butter and continue to knead on low speed for 5 minutes until butter is integrated into dough. Increase speed to medium and knead for another 5 minutes until dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour, or until dough is doubled in volume.
- Line a 9 x 4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease and set aside. Transfer dough to a lightly floured working surface. Divide dough into four equal parts and roll into balls. Cover dough with plastic wrap as you work to prevent it from drying out or forming a skin.
- Working with one ball of dough at a time, flatten or roll out dough to a length of about 8-inches and 5-inches wide. Fold in about 1-inch of the sides. Starting from the end closest to you, roll the dough into a log. Place log seam-side down in prepared loaf pan. Repeat with remaining dough balls. Cover loaf pan with plastic wrap and let sit for 30-45 minutes until dough has doubled in volume.
- Lightly brush the top of the dough with heavy cream. Bake dough in a 350° F oven for 35-40 minutes until the top of the bread is golden brown and internal temperature of bread is at least 190 degrees F.
- Let cool in loaf pan for 5 minutes. Unmold bread from loaf pan and allow to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Once cool, slice bread accordingly.
Notes
- Milk powder provides additional flavor. It is optional and can be omitted.
- RECIPE SLIGHTLY ADAPTED FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
Stovetop Starter:
Double the amounts listed in the starter ingredients for stovetop. It is difficult to cook a very small amount in a pot.- In a medium pot, whisk together bread flour, milk, and water. Set over medium heat and stir often, making sure to stir the bottom edges of the pot. Cook for about 5 minutes until mixture has thickened to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, allowing wrap to lay directly on top of starter mixture. Cool to room temperature. Use 1/2 cup of starter in the recipe. Discard remaining starter.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!What do with this Japanese milk bread?
This milk bread tastes great on it’s own. I mentioned that I enjoy milk bread with butter or condensed milk, but my MOST favorite way to eat milk bread… is this cinnamon sugar milk toast.
I like to cook this in the morning. Bread is my hobby. Very delicious and nutritious
Japanese milk bread is the best! So simple and delicious. I’ll have to make a version of this recipe soon!
I baked this for a bread competition at my workplace and won first place! I followed the directions and used the same ingredients listed. A few notes and tips that might be helpful to other bakers: it took me about six hours total, from prep to taking the bread out of the oven. I would give yourself at least 20 minutes for the starter to cool before adding it to your dry ingredients. I put the dough in the oven to rise; I did not turn the oven on but I did put a cake pan with three cups of boiling water on the bottom rack to keep the oven humid. The dough rose well during the first and second rise. Lastly, it is easiest to slice the loaf between the “logs,” and then for small pieces, slics with the grain (for me, lengthwise), depending on what you plan to do with it. Great recipe that’s easy to follow with exceptional results.
Hello Maryanne， I didn’t read the recipe correctly and made a full portion of the roux. Do you know if it’s possible to chill the roux for use the next day etc? I m trying a gluten free version of the bread and that bread flour is quite pricey… so not trying to waste anything.
Love your recipes by the way. Thank you for sharing.
I just made this bread (my first time making bread, by the way!) and it turned out amazingly!! It’s so soft and fluffy, with just a hint of sweetness. I can see myself eating it with some butter or jam (or fruit with whipped cream) on it! I am not a novice baker, but I am a novice bread maker and I found it easy to make and the recipe was easy to follow. I can definitely recommend it! :)
Made this again yesterday at the request of my daughter-in-law for her birthday. Such a forgiving recipe! I had added the butter with the other ingredients by mistake. So, I only ran it in the mixer for a total of ten minutes. It still turned out perfectly. Thank you thank you thank you.
I found this recipe to be very wet, but knowing how dough is suppose to look, I continued to add bread flour until it came off the sides of the bowl. After that, it was very easy to control and they came out perfectly. Now we still have to do the taste test, but I am confident they are perfect. I wish I could attach my picture.
Thank You for this recipe.
I think so
Hi,
I’ve just been struggling with this recipe as it produced a very wet dough and I just realized why, I was only meant to use half the starter that was prepared in the beginning. I think it would be an improvement on the way the recipe is written of this information was added in the section about the starter and not just at the very end.
Thanks :)
I found it wet too. But the note about the starter at the end (using half) is preceding by a note saying double the quantity is making on the hob, so it’s the same amount. I did find it wet and had to add quite a bit of flour, so it’s a bit of a mystery. Some people have found the same, others not by the looks of it. I’ve cross referenced with other recipes for this and found the quantities to be similar.
What a forgiving recipe. This is the 2nd time I’ve made it in a week. I made a mistake today and put the dough to rise on a warm spot on my stove. Too warm – it rose way too much and actually caked on the bottom. Separating it into balls was nuts because it was so goopy. Didn’t matter. Bread came out just as fabulous as the first time. Thank you.
Can you explain why you make twice the starter than what is required?
If you try to make a starter with just the right amount for one loaf, it’s a bit difficult to mix together. I make double the amount simply for the sake of easier mixing, but also because I tend to make more than one loaf of bread at a time.