One of my pastry goals for 2015 is to start making more Asian pastries. I grew up poring over the Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks on my mom’s shelf, but I also remember the red bean and sesame-filled buns, flaky egg custard tarts, and fluffy breads from the Chinese bakeries and dim sum restaurants we would frequent on the weekends. For years I’ve meant to try my hand making these pastries myself, and this year I’m giving myself no more excuses. So here we go – I hope you enjoy this new side of Dessert First!
Milk bread side view
My first recipe is a true classic of Chinese bakeries: Milk bread, sometimes called Hokkaido milk bread in deference to its origin. This bread has been very popular on Asian food blogs and has been slowly making its way through English language food blogs. I’ve had this wonderfully soft, fluffy bread from many a Chinese bakery, yet never thought about trying to make it myself until recently. (The problem for me with many Asian pastries is that they are so inexpensive – in Hong Kong, bakeries selling milk bread and pineapple buns all for about $1 US are ubiquitous – that it often seems not worth the time or expense to replicate it at home). Milk bread is basically the softest, fluffiest white bread you can imagine – in general the preference in Asia is for very light, fluffy, pillowy yeast breads, as opposed to the chewy baguettes of France or the sturdier, coarser grain of American sandwich breads. Milk bread, with its sweet, milky flavor and, makes an ideal base for all sorts of toppings, makes a stellar toast, and is delicious enough to eat on its own without further embellishment.Whenever I go to my mom’s place, she will always have some of this in the kitchen, and I’ll find myself just snacking on a slice during the day. When’s the last time you did that with Wonder bread?
making of tangzhong
The other reason that milk bread has fascinated me for so long is that it is a prime example of an Asian baking technique called the tangzhong method. This method refers to adding a roux of flour and water (or milk) to your yeast bread mixture, which helps make it lighter and fluffier when it’s baked. The tangzhong method is credited as originating in Japan, but it became widely known to home cooks with the publication of 65°C Bread Doctor, a cookbook written in Chinese by Yvonne Chen in 2007. The 65°C refers to the fact that at 65 degrees C (149 degrees F) is when the starches in the flour gelatinize and the tangzhong comes together into a pudding-like roux.
There’s a lot of great, food-nerdy information on the internet about tangzhong and why it works. Basically, you are making a gel(or a roux) out of a portion of the flour and liquid that goes into any bread. This gel essentially locks in in the liquid throughout the entire rest of the mixing and baking process, so it doesn’t evaporate. The flour in the roux is also sealed away and will not develop gluten during the kneading process. As a result, the baked bread has a higher moisture content, and lower gluten development, which means it’s softer and lighter – and stays that way for longer. One of the more common home breadmaking laments is how quickly your perfectly-textured loaf goes hard in a couple of days. Tangzhong bread is beloved because it stays soft and fresh for longer –thanks to the extra moisture trapped inside. A great Western baking analogue is the pudding cake. Think of those recipes where you add in instant pudding to get a beautifully moist cake. Now that tangzhong method doesn’t seem that strange, does it?
See how elastic the final dough is?
There are a couple translational hurdles I had to overcome when researching and making my first loaf. One is that many of the recipes I found call for instant yeast, which is almost the same but not quite the same as the active dry yeast that I’m used to using. Active dry yeast requires activation in liquid, while instant yeast does not. Although some recipes insist the two yeasts are interchangeable, I chose to follow my own instincts from my experience and I let the active dry yeast bloom in part of the milk before adding it to the bread.
milk bread boules
Here’s a cross-cultural observation: The reason most of the milk bread recipes I found called for instant yeast is because they make the bread in a bread machine. In many kitchens in Asia where space is at a premium (my parents live in a relatively spacious flat in Hong Kong, and their refrigerator is literally half the size of mine – daily grocery runs are a necessity for my mom!) the bread machine, not an oven, is the tool of choice for breadmaking. So most of the recipes I found for tangzhong bread call for dumping all the ingredients straight into a bread machine and pressing the button. However, a bread machine is one of the few kitchen appliances I don’t have, so I had to convert the recipes to work with active dry yeast and my stand mixer.
milk bread trifold – when making the rolls
Many recipes also call for kneading the dough by hand for the best results; the part of me that went to pastry school agrees, but the part of me that’s also watching an active 2 year old toddler says the stand mixer is a perfectly wonderful and adequate substitute. Because you have to work extra hard to get the gluten developed, kneading by hand can take a while, again probably why most recipes recommend either a bread machine or a stand mixer.
milk bread roll – to get more rise out of the final loaf
After making my first loaf of milk bread, I’ll say it’s not that tricky, even if you’re not a big bread baker (like me!) This bread is enriched with butter, milk and egg, and all that added moisture and fat make it easier to work it and more forgiving than your leaner breads. The tangzhong doesn’t noticeably change the texture of the dough – once you make it and add it in to the mixer, you can practically forget about it – but you’ll realize its presence when you see how high this bread rises in the oven!
The photos above show the traditional sequence of making four separate little rolls that you nestle into a loaf pan – this formation helps the bread rise even higher, and gives it the classic humped top and pretty swirly sides.
One of my other goals for 2015 is to start introducing Isabelle to the world of baking. I’ve been looking forward to when she would be old enough to take an interest in my kitchen activities! Here’s my little kitchen helper brushing some egg wash on top of the bread before baking:
Egg wash for the bread
Out of the oven: a beautiful golden brown domed loaf with a slightly firm exterior, and a delightfully cloud-tender interior. It slices like a dream, and in fact slices have been disappearing from it with increasing frequency. Better save some for myself…
milk bread hokkaido
In conclusion, although the tangzhong method sounds intimidating, it is an easy, additional step that takes very little extra time to do, and it makes milk bread possible: a dreamily soft loaf that is wonderful on its own, or for almost anything else, from sandwiches to French toast. It is also a great bread for little kids – they love the lightness and sweetness, as Isabelle demonstrates below (she calls it “Isabelle bread” now!)
I’ll be exploring other Asian bakery classics throughout the year – hope you enjoyed this inaugural post!
Tangzhong (Water Roux)
- 25 g bread flour
- 100 ml water
Milk Bread
- 125 ml whole milk, lukewarm
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 350 g bread flour
- 60 g sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt
- 1 large egg, plus another for egg wash
- 30 g unsalted butter, room temperature
For the tangzhong:
- Whisk flour and water together in a small saucepan. Place over medium-low heat on the stove.
- Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens into a pudding-like consistency and you can leave lines in the mixture, about 5 minutes. You might be tempted to walk away from the mixture at the beginning when it's taking a while to thicken, but don't - it will come together surprisingly quickly and you don't want it to overcook. If you want, you can check the temperature - it's finished when it reaches 65 degrees C (149 degrees F), but I don't find it necessary.
- Let the tangzhong cool to room temperature before using. You can also store in the refrigerator for a couple days and bring to room temperature before using. If you see grayish spots in the tangzhong, discard it and make a fresh batch.
For the bread:
- The milk should be at 108-110 degrees F to develop the yeast (any hotter and it will kill the yeast). Combine yeast and milk and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in a small bowl and let stand for about 5-8 minutes until yeast is bubbly.
- Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in the yeast mixture, the tangzhong, and the egg.
- With a dough hook attachment, mix all the ingredients until it comes together into a soft, sticky dough, about 10 minutes.
- Add in the butter and mix to incorporate. Continue beating the dough for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. You should be able to stretch the dough out fairly thin without it breaking (the windowpane test). If it breaks right away when you try to stretch, mix it for a couple more minutes.
- Turn out the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let proof for about 40 minutes until dough has doubled in size. The amount of time this takes will depend on the ambient temperature. I like to leave the bowl on top of the stove (no burners turned on) but with the oven turned to 250 degrees.
- When the dough looks like it has doubled in size and is puffy to the touch (if you poke the dough it should hold the indent and slowly fill back in), take the dough and split into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Grease a 5"x9" loaf pan. Set aside.
- Roll one piece out on a lightly floured surface into a long oval. Fold the right third of the oval over the middle, then fold the left third of the oval over the middle to make a long, narrow packet. Lightly roll over the seam to flatten and seal.
- Roll the packet up from the bottom to make a fat roll. Repeat with other three balls of dough.
- Arrange the four rolls of dough, seam side down, in the prepared loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Let proof for another 40 minutes until the dough reaches just below the rim of the loaf pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F while the bread is proofing for the second time.
- Brush the top of the bread with a little egg wash. Place in the oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the top is dark golden brown and the bread is firm to the touch and sounds hollow when you tap it.
- Turn out bread onto wire rack and let cool before eating.
Anita Chu, also known as pastrygirl, is a baker, writer, and photographer with a passion for pastry. She trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School and is the author of Field Guide to Cookies, Field Guide to Candy, and Lollipop Love. Anita lives in San Francisco with her husband, baby girl, and rescue cockapoo Snickerdoodle. 
I’m looking forward to more of your Asian bakery classics! 😀 Such beautiful bread and soft crumbs..looks delicious! In Asia, bread must be as soft as possible..LOL! I love reading your blog and often been lurking..:) Your daughter Isabelle is so cute and adorable!
The bread looks great! As far as some of the things I’d love to see you tackle they would include Sun Cake / Tai Yang Bing, Lotus Seed Buns, and Golden Egg Yolk Buns (similar to custard buns, but the filling is much more liquid- sometimes referred to as lava buns).
not only does this look pretty, but it sounds like it tastes great, I’ll have to try it out!
Wow that looks really good! Never had this kind of bread before but I love homemade breads!
What an absolutely gorgeous bread! I’m so glad that you are starting this series…I think it will be very popular!
OMG! This bread looks amazing .. I can’t take it.. looks so good!
This looks delicious! I love Asian bakeries, this would be a great way to make desserts at home 🙂
Can’t wait to try this recipe in the stand mixer! I’ve been using the Food52 recipe and kneading by hand! Thank you!!
I love Asian food and my husband is a bread/carb loving fool! haha That is one beautiful loaf of bread! I know we’ve gonna love this!
I’ve never heard of this bread but I want everything to do with it.
The method is quite intriguing and your daughter has to be the cutest thing ever! That bread is as white as milk and I bet she loves it!
I am so intrigued by the process of making this bread (roux, etc.) and absolutely love the look and your description of the texture and flavor. This was such an interesting post!
This sounds delicious! I want to make some this weekend!
This is the most beautiful bread! It looks complicated but you made it seem pretty easy!
Looks like your bread turned out perfect!! I learned something new with this post and hopefully my bread will look as good as yours:-).
I LOVE Asian pastries and could eat a whole loaf of that bread all on my own!
I’m curious how it tastes. We are a bread loving family.
OMG! Yum! It looks crazy delicious!
What a clever technique, but it makes sense once you explain it. I’ll have to try this, looks wonderful
What a beautiful bread. The color and shine on is is just amazing. Plus, I love the photo of your little girl on the counter, helping mommy. Just precious! I’m pinning your bread and hope to make it one day soon. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
That looks so smooth! I have never tried baking bread, it’s too scary of a process for me!
You wouldn’t believe how easy it is.
That looks amazing. Just saved the recipe to try!
Your little girl is so cute and that bread looks like perfection. I’ve never had milk bread before, but now I have to try it!
This looks delicious! I don’t think I’ve ever had Asian pastry before!
Ooh that looks yummy. I love anything pastry!
The baking food nerd in me is ALL OVER trying this tangzhong method! I love the Asian baking addition to your blog.
Isabelle is right – perfect bread for everyone; she is one lucky little girl having warm milk bread on hand just like that.
The loaf is so beautiful- wow just amazing and I would love to give it a try (very nervously so) but – here is the really big question – my kids cannot eat milk do you think unsweetened almond milk or similar non-dairy choice would work?
hi Bea,
Thanks for the kind compliments!! I have not tried making this without milk, but here is a blogger who made a vegan version, perhaps this will help? Good luck!
http://www.mydiversekitchen.com/2013/03/we-knead-to-bake-3-hokkaido-milk-bread.html
That is just…OMG! First of all, that cutie!! Oh I love that picture where she’s taking a bite! Adorable!!
Theeeen, this bread! This is why all Asian pastries are amazing!
wow this is so interesting! i’m passing it on to foodie friends!
and your little kitchen helper is GORGEOUS!! =)
Very nice consistency and final product, I can almost smell and taste it!
I love home made bread always have, my mum taught me and my siblings when we were kids how to bake cakes and bread and i love it
looks amazing thanks for the inspo. will definitely be trying it out
rosie
Oh yum, this looks amazing!
It looks so perfect. It almost doesn’t look real. You have the cutest little helper. 🙂
I will be making this next weekend. I have been baking bread almost 50 years and this really rings the bell. Darling daughter.
Yum, I would love to make this! It looks absolutely amazing!
One of my favorite discoveries in Japan was being introduced to the selection of not-too-sweet sweets in many light, fluffy and delicate forms. I’m really looking forward to this series!
i just have to say, i’ve always been afraid of baking, as i don’t have much confidence in what i create. i decided to try this recipe out after a few stagnant months away at college, anyway, to challenge myself after a difficult semester. to my relief and my family’s satisfaction, the bread came out wonderfully. i’m so happy with the result, and your easy-to-follow instructions have definitely provided the help i need. it was as difficult as i had imagined without a mixer and with inexperienced hands, but i’m really, really pleased with the results. thanks so much for the recipe. i’ll be sure to make more loaves during my free time, and to check out more of your blog as well!
Angie,
I’m so glad that the bread turned out well for you! Thank you so much for your kind words and I’m very happy that my blog can give you more confidence with your baking! Good luck with your future pastry-making!
Angie, your comment gives me courage to try to make this today as I also will be working with no machinery and inexperienced hands. I’m glad that the loaf worked for you and hope that it will for me as well!
Thanks to your meticulous and precise recipe, I have successfully baked my first loaf bread ie Hokkaido Milk Bread. Am grateful and will be looking forward to trying out your other recipes. Thanks again !
Genie,
Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m so glad it worked out well for you. I wanted to figure out the Hokkaido bread for a long time myself. Thanks and happy baking!
Thank you for this excellent recipe. I kneaded by hand entirely and the bread is better than any other bread which I have bought before. So delicious and fresh. I actually don’t have much experience baking bread, hand kneaded this dough for about 15 to 20 minutes, and it still turns out great. I don’t feel like buying bread again. Home made bread is the best!
I never comment on any blog but I had to this time. I tried this recipe down to the T but I doubled it because I have 3 boys who loves bread and I have to say I’m amazed that I can finally make hokkaido bread. I’ve been trying hokkaido recipe from other sites for a year or so and it has never turned out. I made pigs in a blanket, 1 loaf, and some mini buns and soon as I took out the breads, its gone. I’m making more tomorrow. This is by far the best recipe and its a keeper!
Hi Gaosheng,
Thank you for leaving such a lovely note! I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you, hope you continue to keep making it!
Hi Anita,
I just had to try out your Hokkaido/Milk Bread today, but I also was going to try out my brand new Assistent mixer from Sweden…so with all these new things coming at me at once I realised (a bit late in the game, around the time of the first rising) that I had forgotten to add the egg to the dough….OMG…but BUT hold on, we’re sitting here right now enjoying this wonderful bread with almond butter and yogurt and it looks like the omission did not interfere with the fluffy texture or the taste of the bread – although it’s difficult to say not knowing what it would have tasted like…but rest assured, I will give it another go and this time follow your recipe to the ‘T'(what do they mean by ‘T’?). Thank you for sharing, especially Isabelle’s smile while enjoying her slice of the Isabella bread 🙂
Hi Sabina,
Thank you for your kind e-mail and I’m so glad the bread worked out for you! I think if you add the egg in it will simply be richer and perhaps a bit denser, but I’m glad that it came out nicely without the egg! Now I’m curious to try it without egg! Thanks so much for visiting my site!
I made this bread. It turned out to be perfect. I couldn’t believe I made it. Even a beginner could make it without any hassle Very clear instructions no troubleshooting. thank you so much. Where I can your other bread recipes. Hats off to your efforts
Padma,
Thank you so much and I’m so glad it came out well for you! Look under my “Recipes” tab in the “breads” category, I will be working on adding more Asian bread recipes in the next few months! Thanks!
I love ASIAN milk bread and am dying to make it right now! I don’t have bread flour at home … can I use all purpose flour instead?
Hi Carmen,
I think you can use all purpose, but the bread may not be as fluffy since all purpose has less gluten than bread flour. Give it a try and if you’re not happy with the results, try using bread flour next time. Good luck!
Your instructions on this recipe are fantastic! I haven’t baked bread in years, and somehow managed to pull this off PERFECTLY with your detailed instructions. We don’t drink milk at home, so I substituted with almond milk instead, which didn’t seem to have any impact on the finished product which was dense yet soft, fluffy, and just the right amount of sweet. I don’t have a bread maker or mixer, so I kneaded the bread – tried to get the texture you mentioned (window pane test), but didn’t happen, so I stopped kneading after about 20 minutes. Next time round, I might try with full cream milk and see if there is a difference, but otherwise, I’m actually very very happy with how this turned out! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Hi Shimona,
Thank you for leaving such a wonderful comment! I’m so happy that it worked out well for you, and thanks for the tip about the almond milk. Hope you continue to have happy baking in your kitchen! I’m planning to do more Asian-style breads in the new year!
Hello Anita,
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe! Found the page while searching for a tangzhong milk bread recipe. Cant wait to try this out! I have a quick question though. If I intend to knead by hand instead of using a stand mixer for 10mins, any recommendation on the kneading time?
Cheers 🙂
Hi Miss H! Thank you for visiting my page! I haven’t tried making tangzhong bread by hand, but from talking to others and reading other blogs, it can be tricky to knead by hand because the dough is very sticky. You may need to knead it for 30-45 minutes to get it in shape. You can use a little flour to try and keep your hands from sticking but not too much. Good luck!
Anita!
I tried this recipe 🙂 Went ahead with hand kneading, and as another hand kneading commentor above, I “gave” up kneading – after about 25mins (?) haha. It almost passed that windowpane test at the point imo. Very thoughtful of you to remind me of using a little flour on my hands to keep dough from sticking to my hands while kneading! My loaf pan is 9×3 as I usually like to bake 2 loafs (always wholemeal with sprinking of various seeds. I prefer pots and pans when it comes to creating foods and trying new or adapt/come up with recipes all the time while cooking. Baking is alot more of an exact science which my madscientistwhimsicalcookingstyle cant seem to manage too well haha, hence the ‘boring’ repeats of just that 1 type of bread) at the same time and dimensions of my oven does not allow for a bigger loaf pan if I am to use 2x of it. Halving the dough after 1st proofing by eyeballing amounts to fill both pans somehow worked out alright. “Smallish” pieces of this milk bread is really addictive I must say! I’ll definitely start alternating this milk bread with my regular homemade loaf. Thank you once again!
Hi Miss H,
Thanks for the helpful insights! Yes, from what I’ve read it is one of the more challenging breads to make by hand and I have not been brave enough to attempt it myself! Baking is a lot of exact science but it never hurts to experiment once in a while, that’s how you come up with great new techniques or tricks! Thanks for writing in and happy baking!
Hey again \♡/
Ever since this Hokkaido Milk Bread kickstarted a bread making craze (gotta thank you/your recipe for that hee! It aint just wholemeal all the time now!), I have made more breads in the past 5 months than I ever thought I would; from rustic boules that took forever to handknead and proof @_@, baked with a Corningware standing in for Dutch Oven, Choc Marble loafs, SOURDOUGH even, homemade versions of “supermarket plastic white breads” and of course, various tangzhong Hokkaido Milk breads out there…I always return to your recipe 🙂 [I scaled it up to 550g flour/193g tangzhong for 2 taaaall proper loafs in my two 9″x4″s though instead of 2 “half height” loafs lol]
Want to say that after trying close to 15 other Hokkaido Milk bread recipes out there, yours is by far the most preferred. Its an equal balance of simplicity vs complexity and taste superior at the end of the day! Plus I like that it didnt need cream in the recipe.
I also got around to using Danish and French butters instead of Aussie butters for this and the pale yellow EU butters really took this to another level! You were using French butter all along right? 😛 Your bread was very ‘white’ looking. The various Aussie butters that were ‘common’ here where I stay (or maybe I didnt know any better~) all yielded slightly yellowish shades, from very very very pale yellow to sliiiggghtly yellow. My OCD eyes just could tell and it bothered me. I was pretty sure it wasnt a lighting/photo-postedit issue haha. And I wondered why! Then I kinda found out why…hahaha. Its the butter?! Cos I subbed the milk around too, from lowfats to wholes…even tested out using actual Hokkaido Milk-oh this is another story! tldr-Hokkaido Milk for Hokkaido Milk Bread? Duh me, the bread is called hokkaido milk bread for a reason…
Oops I rambled! Baking is quite fun afterall. To be exact, breadmaking!
Pssst: I now machine knead all my milk bread doughs too. You got the right idea from the get go! Handknead this? Pfft..I r so lazy now! Saving the handkneading for artisanal breads which somehow demands it… but if I do handknead this, I find that coating my hands with butter requires less recoats compared to using flour. Just a bit of butter will do and it last very long! Wont change the flour ratio too, one do get overzealous with flouring hands and work counter haha.
(trying out your Polo Buns recipe next 🙂 Once again, thanks very much. Keep up the good work!)
Hi Miss H,
What an amazing and lovely comment! Thank you so so much! It makes me so happy to know that other people are having success with this recipe, and I’m really flattered with your opinion of how it fared against 15(!!) other breads!
Definitely the kind of butter you can use makes a difference! I usually use Plugra, a European butter. I haven’t used Australian butters so that’s a really interesting observation on your part. I did not color correct my photos to make the bread “whiter”, so you’re probably right on that the butter can affect the color. Usually I will tell people to just use the butter that gives them the results they like – there are so many butters out there obviously one can’t test them all, so if one works better for you, then stick with it!
Thanks so much for sharing your enthusiasm for baking! It really makes my day. Good luck with the bolo baos, and I am hoping to get some more Asian bread recipes up soon!
best,
Anita
Tired this recipe today. Turned out good! And was enjoyed by kids and adults. Thanks for the detailed instructions with pictures. 🙂
hi Anita – love this recipe, but tired of making by hand when i got a great bread machine! you mentioned “most of the recipes I found for tangzhong bread call for dumping all the ingredients straight into a bread machine and pressing the button”. i’d like to try to make this in my bread machine – how do i adjust the recipe for the bread machine? (breakdown the time to kneed & proof for each stage?) i know it won’t look as pretty if i let it bake in the machine (without shaping by hand), but i think it will still rise, and more importantly, still taste pretty darn good. suggestions welcome – thanks!
hi Sanny, thanks for visiting my site! I don’t have a bread machine myself so I’m not sure how to adjust my recipe to work in one. There are lots of tangzhong bread recipes on other sites specifically designed for bread machines – try Christine’s recipes. If you want to still use my recipe, I’m sure you can use the guidelines from other bread machine recipes. Thanks and good luck!
Hi, Thanks for sharing the recipe. I tried it last night and turned out beautiful. Light and fluffy. Would you mind if I share your recipe on my blog?
Thanks again! Memory Lane!
Hi,
Thanks so much for visiting my site and I’m so glad the recipe turned out for you! I am happy for you to link to my recipe from your blog. I prefer not to have it reproduced in full on another site besides mine. Thanks for understanding!
Hi Anita,
Thanks for your reply. I just posted your recipe on my blog but not re-blogged your entire post. I am sharing your recipe and acknowledge your recipe but in my own post. Would you check my post to make sure it’s OK, otherwise I will remove your recipe from my post. Thanks a lot!
Here is the link: https://clumpsybaker.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/hokaido-milk-bun/
Cheers! 🙂
Thanks so much for a great explanation of the origins of Tangzhong and how it works in breads. I have added a link to one of my blog entries, where I have talked about Anpan which uses this technique. http://noellemace.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/in-bread-bin-something-for-myself-and.html
Thank you. It is still soft at the third day. I made double recipe two times already. Using 60 gram of milk powder and water. I mixed the water roux with milk, wait about five minutes and mixed with sugar and yeast. I do not want to wait too long for the tangzhong to cool down. It is the best bread recipe I have ever tried. It just takes more time and effort to knead the mixture.
This recipe is a keeper.
Feb,
Thank you so much for your comment and I’m so glad it worked out! I think the only reason to let the tangzhong cool down a bit is so it is not so hot it kills the yeast, but it sounds like you waited long enough and the bread turned out great. Congrats and hope you keep enjoying it!
Hi. I tried this recipe using my bread maker. Made the roux, left it to cool, then transferred it and the rest of the ingredients into the bread maker. And it worked! My family loves it. Thank you for the recipe! I shall definitely be making this again.
Hi Mien,
I’m glad to hear it worked in a bread machine! Thank you for passing on that info. Hope you and your family continue to enjoy! And thanks for visiting!
could you use part wholemeal or rye and use the tangzhong to lighten that too?
Hi Leona,
Thanks for writing in! Yes, I believe you can use tangzhong and wholemeal (I think that is the same as whole wheat?) to make a bread. I have not tried it myself, but I think it would make more sense to use a tangzhong bread recipe and substitute whole wheat flour, experimenting with how much you substitute in, instead of using a whole wheat bread recipe and adding in tangzhong. It’s important because the ingredient ratios in the recipe are calibrated to work with the amount of tangzhong, so you can’t just put tangzhong into any bread recipe and have it work the same. Does that make sense? Good luck and let me know how it works out!
Would like to try your hokkaido milk bread using fresh yeast. Please let me know the quantity in gms to be used
Hi Linda,
Based on conversions try 4.5 tsp or 13 g of fresh yeast. I have not tried using fresh yeast in my recipe so hope it turns out well, good luck!
I made this twice so far. It was great! It’s actually not bad and since my first foray into bread making was sourdough (which takes pretty much two days with a starter) this is a lot easier in a way. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Natalia,
Thanks so much for letting me that the bread worked out well for you! It’s such an interesting alternative to using a starter, I agree! thanks for visiting my site!
Hi! A co-worker of mine gave me a recipe before for Hokkaido Milk bread. My kiddos loved it! Of course that was a few years back and between us moving houses I have lost the recipe ? but I was so glad when I found your site online. I would love to try your method and hopefully I get lovely results like yours ?
Anyway I have my own blog site as well and was planning on sharing my results there. (I would of course reference your site back). I hope this is ok with you ?
Hi Christina,
Thanks so much for visiting my site and I hope the bread works out for you! I’d love for you to share your experience on your blog – if you wouldn’t mind referencing my site for the recipe instead of reproducing the recipe on your site, that would be much appreciated. Thanks again and happy baking!
Just recently went to Japan. Omg! I went nuts with it’s softness and taste. I will never forget that bread. They have one of the best breads I’ve ever tasted to be honest. My wife doesn’t bake so I’m looking where to buy here in Dubai so I ended up here. Maybe I’ll share this to my friends who bake. Thank you looks delicious. Keep up the good work!
Hi Anita,
I have seen some people using different ration for the Tanghong . Would it be important?
Hi Davina,
The ratios in my recipe are the ones that worked best for me. Different people may get different results with their own kitchens and ingredients, so I would definitely encourage to try a few different ones or experiment on your own to find what you like best! Good luck and happy baking!
Hi! I tried this and it was lovely. Came out perfect and fluffy in 25 min. (my oven may be too hot even at your instructed temp.). Thanks a lot! I want to post this in my blog for pics and results and paste your blog link for recipe, if ok with you? 🙂
Hi K-Zelle,
So glad that this worked out well for you! Yes, I would love for you to share the results on your blog! Look forward to seeing it!
Looks so nice and delicious, I just wanna ask if I must use bread flour or I can use all purpose flour?
Thanks Doaa. You will get the best results if you use bread flour. I haven’t used all purpose flour in my recipe so I don’t know how differently it will turn out. Thanks and good luck!
I have never heard of this type of bread before but it sounded good. I love to bake so I tried it and it was THE best bread I ever baked. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Hi Sophia, thanks for visiting my site and I’m so glad you liked the bread! It’s a revelation isn’t it? Thanks so much for your kind words!
I made your recipe completely by hand and apart from the amount of kneading, it was really easy to follow. Only negative would be that it is highly addictive ? Thank you for the brilliant recipe.
Hi Caroline, thanks for visiting my site and I’m so glad the recipe worked well for you! Yes, it is a lot of kneading by hand, I’m impressed by your effort! I definitely use a mixer when I’m feeling lazy 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind words!
Anita, thank you very much! I like this bread! Wonderful combination of ingredients. It look so yummy!
Olga, thank you so much for writing in and I’m so glad that you enjoyed it!
Hi ? may i know the height of the loaf pan you used? ??
Hi Q,
The pans are about 3″ high. Thanks for writing in!
Hello! I’m still in the middle of making this, and I’ll still give it a shot, but I’ve been kneading the dough in my stand mixer for about an hour and it has yet to reach windowpane stage. Your pictures show an elastic dough (which mine was closer to the start), but I can’t tell if this is meant to be a bona-fide, see-through windowpane or not. My dough is no longer stick either, which makes me think I’ve done something wrong. Do you have more exact settings for the standmixer? Maybe the speed you used to knead?
Hi Ashley,
Was your dough no longer elastic? Was it dry and crumbly? I don’t think any dough needs kneading for an hour so I’m not sure what went wrong. I would say the 10-15 minutes I gave in the recipe is all you need. I usually have it 6 or 8, the next to highest settings. If it is very elastic go ahead and use it. I think I was able to get a windowpane, but as long as it is elastic and it doesn’t tear and break immediately when you try to stretch it, that should be what you’re looking for. Hope this helps!
Yup – you’ll have to melt the butter. Excited to see how they turn out!
What setting on the mixer did you use?
Hi Mia,
I usually start at low when I’m just combining the ingredients and then I move to low-medium (about 4-6 on my KitchenAid) to knead it. Hope that helps!
Wow that bread looks really good. So soft and flavorful. I will definitely save this recipe and give it a try. My family would love this bread for breakfast.