This is the best yeasted, easy Japanese Milk Bread (or shokupan) recipe. With no need for a yudane or a tangzhong, it's super easy and ready in four hours!
Light, fluffy, even-crumbed...it's simply ideal for all your milk bread needs: sandwiches, french toast, normal toast, whatever!
My Sourdough Japanese Milk Bread recipe is so popular that I decided to make a yeasted recipe. There are just some days that I want a milk bread loaf ASAP! Because sometimes, milk bread is just necessary to have in a few hours. Whether I want a loaf ready for an egg salad sandwich lunch or for our five year old's PB & J, the yeasted recipe has really come in handy.
Now, this bread is amazing with both savory and sweet options for sandwiches or toasts. On top of egg salad and PB & J, I've used it for so many other things. Pulled pork sandwiches, egg breakfast sandwiches, tons of cinnamon toast, you name it!
The trick here is to use heavy cream because it'll give the milk bread the richness it deserves for ultimate fluff, texture, and taste. Other than that, this recipe is straight-forward, easy, and should pose no trouble even for beginner bakers, especially if they own a stand mixer.
Easy Japanese Milk Bread: Notes on the tin
I make this recipe as a larger loaf (13 inches long) but you can make two smaller loaves with it (9 inches each). Feel free to use any 9 inch loaf pans you have. A lot of the loaf pans in the US are 5 inches wide, but you'll get higher and straighter results by using a 4 inch wide one. The ones I linked in the next paragraph are 4 inches wide.
If you want to use the pan I used, the pullman pan I use comes with a lid! It is 4 inches wide. I used the 13-inch one for this recipe. The 9-inch also come with a lid and I love those pans as well.
This recipe can also be made with no lid, and that's noted in the recipe, with optional egg wash if you decide not to use a lid.
Happy Baking!
Easy Japanese Milk Bread
Equipment
- One 13-inch bread tin (pullman or regular, lidded or not) OR two 9-inch bread tins
Ingredients
- 210g whole milk
- 130g heavy cream
- 40g unsalted butter
- 454g all-purpose flour
- 75g sugar
- 7g instant yeast
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
egg wash (optional)
- 1 egg
Instructions
- In the microwave or on the stovetop, heat the milk, heavy cream, and butter until about 90F.
- Add the mixture to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Then add the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt to the bowl.
- Mix in a stand mixer on medium speed for 14 minutes or combine and knead by hand until the dough passes the windowpane test.
- Place the dough in a large oiled bowl and cover to rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours, or until doubled in size.
- When done rising, oil a 13-inch bread tin. Separate the dough into 3 sections. Roll one section out into a long rectangle.
- Fold the sides in.
- Stitch the edges together.
- Roll into a cylinder.
- Set seam side down into the tin (so the spirals are touching the sides of the tin). Repeat with the other two sections.
- Cover the tin and place in a warm place to proof for one hour. And don't forget: halfway through the proof, you'll preheat the oven to 375F. When the proof is over, your loaf should be hovering at about ½-1 inch from the top of the tin.
- If your tin is not lidded, you can whisk one egg and brush the top of the proofed loaf with it. If your tin is lidded, place the lid on top. Bake for 32-35 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 190F.
- When done, remove from the tin onto a cooling rack to fully cool before slicing. Enjoy!
Notes
If you liked this recipe and want something crazier and fancier, try out my Peach Marzipan Sourdough Milk Bread!
Comment below if you make this recipe! Thanks for baking.
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