Japanese Inspired Milk Bread with Magic Dough Enhancer
by Jewelie B
This Japanese inspired milk bread recipe is soft, pillowy, light, and slightly sweet. Great with just a touch of butter or a drizzle of honey, but I also like to pair it with a thin slice of cheese. A few weeks ago, I a craving for a slightly sweet and fluffy bread began. I remembered the recipe for Japanese milk bread that I made. The base of it was created from making the King Arthur's recipe several times and adding my own spin on it. While this is amazing and no one complains when I make it, I needed it to be a little lighter and fluffier. I decided that finally trying a dough enhancer might be the answer to my cravings. I looked in several stores locally, and couldn't find any. Amazon to the rescue! While there were several, I decided on the Scratch brand to support a small business, and because of the great reviews I saw. On my first few tries, I simply added the enhancer to the dough, then as I made more loaves, I figured out that swapping it with some of the bread flour in the recipe worked best for me. Find the dough enhancer here: https://a.co/d/1b7Waqq
Japanese Inspired Milk Bread with Magic Dough Enhancer
Fluffy, slightly sweet bread inspired by Japanese Milk Bread. The tangzhong/water roux and dough enhancer really make a bread that is perfect every time! This recipe is mostly by weight, because that is the most accurate way to achieve perfect bread every time. A kitchen scale is always a good investment for any cook.
Whisk tangzhong ingredients together thoroughly in a small sauce pan (Remember to use a silicone whisk, if your pan is teflon.)
Cook over low heat, continuously whisking until a thickness close to ranch salad dressing is achieved.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes (Transferring to a bowl speeds the cooling process up, but I leave it in a sauce pan to minimize dishes I have to wash.)
Dough Instructions
Add dough ingredients and room temperature tangzhong to bowl of stand mixer. Mix on low speed using dough hook attachment for 10 minutes, or until dough is elastic, slightly sticky, and well combined.
Transfer dough to a large greased bowl and cover with saran wrap or a damp tea towel.
(I transfer the dough to a small saucer, grease the mixing bowl it came out of, and transfer it back. This adds another saucer to the dishes to wash, instead of a whole other bowl.)
Place bowl in a slightly warm area and allow to rise for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Punch risen dough down and divide into 6 even pieces (Use a digital kitchen scale for this.)
Roll dough out to 1/8 inch thick, and about a 5x8 in rectangle onto a well-floured surface.
Fold dough onto itself length-wise, like a letter going into an envelope (Fold one short end to 2/3 length of dough and fold other short end on top.)
Tightly roll and add to 2 greased bread loaf pans.
Cover with damp tea towel or loosely with oiled foil and allow to rise for 1 hour.
Whisk together egg wash ingredients and brush lightly over loaves.
Bake in oven for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and immediately brush with butter.
Remove from pans and place on cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before cutting.
Recipe Note
Suggested Toppings:
Sliced Gouda
Honey Cinnamon Butter
Butter
Honey
2. For extra soft bread, allow bread to chill on rack for 25-30 minutes, then wrap tightly with saran wrap and allow to steam for 1 hour or keep wrapped until ready to eat.
