« Japanese Milk Bread

Prep

Set out to soften:

• 28g Butter (2 Tbsp)

Make paste

Mix up and heat over low until paste-like (1-2 min)

• 90g Water (6 tablespoons)
• 18g Bread Flour (2 tablespoons)

Then scape into Large metal bowl (stand mixer bowl!) to let cool

Wake up Yeast

Stir to disolve, set aside till small bubbles form, about 5-7 min.

• 1/2 Cup (34 g) milk — Warm it up to about 100°F
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast — Sprinkle over

Combile dry ingredients

In a medium bowl, wisk together:

• 320g bread flour (2 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

Make shaggy dough

In the large bowl with the paste, add:

• Yeast mixture
• 1/3 cup milk (or heavy cream if ya got it)
• 1 large egg

Wisk until smooth.

Then, add flour mixture and stir with a spatula till shaggy dough forms

Knead

In stand mixer, set to low until it comes togehter.

Add in softened butter little by little.

Knead till it's completely smooth, about 5 minutes.

Move dough to a buttered bowl, cover it, and let rise till doubled in volume. (1.5-2.0 hours)

Shape dough

Preheat oven to 350°F

Coat a loaf pan with butter, and line with parchament paper.

Then, follow these shaping directions:

• Punch down the dough and transfer it onto a work surface.
• Divide the dough into 4 pieces.
• Using a rolling pin, roll one piece of dough into a 8x5-inch rectangle.
• Fold a third of the dough lengthwise over toward the center, then do the same thing from the other side. Starting at a short end, roll the dough up into a tight coil.
• Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.
• Place the coils seam-side down in the loaf pan with the spirals against the long side of the pan.

Let rise uncovered in a warm place until doubled in volume. (30 to 40 minutes).

Bake up

Brush a beaten egg onto the dough.

Sprinkle with flaky salt.

Bake 25-30 min until top is golden-brown and shiny.

Cool 10 min in loaf pan, then move to wire rack for at least 45 min

Notes

• The original recipe calls for hand-kneeding, which was hard because the dough was so sticky.
• The first time we had to add a lot more flour to get the dough workable.
• Second time we made this we tried the stand mixer. We added 30g more flour while it was mixing, but it never got to a shiny ball, and we let it rise as a shaggy dough.