How to make the ultimate white bread: Japanese milk bread
Baking Japanese bread is an extremely precise job. Get in touch with your inner scientist, prepare everything carefully, weigh the ingredients down to the gram and follow the instructions with concentration. Because baking bread is no child’s play as it is, but this recipe for the perfect Japanese milk bread is truly advanced-level baking.
Japanese milk bread is similar to our half loaf of white bread with milk, but even lighter and softer. It is used for the most expensive sandwich in the world, the Wagyu Katsu Sando. Two slices of that super-light milk bread are combined with a breaded piece of wagyu – for the modest sum of 180 dollars.
Bread ears
The much-praised Japanese breadcrumbs, panko, are also made from this famous bread. From the end pieces, that is, which are called the bread’s ‘ears’ in Japanese. The bread becomes so wonderfully light and airy because it doesn’t start with yeast, but with a kind of roux, a flour paste. Want to give it a try?
How to make the ultimate white bread: Japanese milk bread
- First, make the starter: whisk 45 grams of flour and 120 ml of milk with 120 ml of water until smooth. Heat it in a small saucepan until it has thickened slightly. Cover it and leave it to cool to room temperature (so not in the refrigerator).
- Now mix 325 grams of flour, sugar, yeast and salt together—just stir them briefly.
- Then add one egg, the lukewarm milk and half of the starter. Knead in a stand mixer on low speed for five minutes. (Note: you won’t need the second half of the starter for this recipe!)
- Add the softened butter. Let the machine knead for another 10 to 12 minutes, until the dough is soft and elastic, and slightly sticky.
- Knead the dough by hand into a nice ball. Place it in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 40 to 60 minutes—until it has doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough and divide it in two. Shape each half into a ball again, cover and let rise for another 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Grease a loaf tin.
- Using a rolling pin, roll one of the two balls into an oval 30 cm long and 15 cm wide.
- Fold the two sides of the oval inward, until you have something resembling a square. Then roll it up into a thick log and place it on one side of the loaf tin. Shape the other half of the dough in the same way and place it on the other side.
- Cover and let rest for about half an hour. The two dough balls should now touch each other, and the dough should reach the rim of the loaf tin or sit slightly above it. Brush the bread with a little milk, place it in the oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.
- Bread ready? Let it cool in the tin for ten minutes, then transfer it to a rack. Wait at least an hour before slicing.
Also read:
- Recipe: Japanese cheesecake with 12 million online fans
- These Japanese rice balls are almost too cute to eat
- 6 common mistakes made by beginner bread bakers
Recipe: New York Times
