Japanese Milk Bread {Easy White Bread}

4.67 from 6 votes

Japanese Milk Bread {Easy White Bread}

Soft, pillowy Japanese Milk Bread is perfect for slicing and toasting or serving as sandwiches. It has the soft white bread texture you know and love!

Prep Time2

Cook Time35

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: apple breakfast, bread, brunch

Servings:

Calories: 233kcal

Author: Julie Clark

Ingredients

For the Starter (Tangzhong):

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup half and half
¼ cup water

Dough:

2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (or 1 yeast packet)
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 ½ cup all-purpose flour (spooned into measuring cup and leveled off)
1 tablespoon dry milk powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup half and half (room temperature)
1 large egg (beaten, room temperature)
¼ cup salted butter (softened)
1 tablespoon salted butter (melted)

Instructions

Whisk starter ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Stir constantly for 4 minutes until it is thick and the whisk leaves lines in the pan.
Put starter on a separate plate or bowl and let cool. I like to spread it thinly on a plate in order for it to cool faster.
Add the yeast, sugar, flour, dry milk, and salt in that order into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Whisk together and then add in the cooled starter, ½ cup half and half and beaten egg.
Put on dough hook attachment on the stand mixer and beat on low for 5 minutes.
Add in butter and beat for an additional 5 minutes on low (you may need to knead it by hand to incorporate the butter so that the dough hook can pick up the bread. It’s supposed to feel very oily and greasy at this point).
Turn up the speed one notch on stand mixer and beat for an additional 5 minutes.
Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let it rise for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.
Transfer dough to a clean surface and divide it into 4 equal sections.
Roll each piece out into about 8x5 inches in diameter.
Fold the long sides into the center and then roll it up like a cinnamon roll (see pictures above for this step).
Place each piece into a lightly greased 9x4 inch pan.
Cover and let rise for an additional 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Brush bread with 1 tablespoon of melted butter.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. The inside should be 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove bread from the oven and allow it to sit in pan for 5 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Cut or pull apart bread to serve.
Store in an airtight container.

Notes

The calories shown are based on the recipe being cut into 10 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of bread. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**

Nutrition