Sourdough Hokkaido Milk Bread

If you like soft sandwich bread you will sure love this sourdough Hokkaido Milk Bread. Earlier I have tried Hokkaido Milk Bread with yeast. Now my obsession is towards the sourdough, so I decided to try Sourdough Hokkaido Milk Bread. I did not use any egg in the dough only egg wash if you do not like egg in the recipe you can skip that.

Hokkaido Milk Bread

Hokkaido Milk Loaf is the most classic as well as common and well-loved sandwich bread in Asia. It is enriched with milk, heavy cream, butter, egg, milk power, and quite a lot of sugar - which makes it richer than most Asian soft sandwich bread recipes, pushing toward brioche territory. The finished loaf is very tall, incredibly soft, rather rich tasting.

Hokkaido Milk bread has nothing to do with the place Hokkaido. Nothing. Well, other than the name.  Hokkaido bread is made from a Tangzhong base.  It is an exceptionally light and fluffy bread with a springy texture that is lightly sweetened. Milk bread was developed in Japan in the 20th century, using tangzhong, a warm flour-and-water paste traditionally used in China to make buns with a soft, springy texture and tiny air bubbles.

What is a Tangzhong ? 

Tangzhong literally `means "soup seed" in Chinese although this technique may have been invented in Japan. The Japanese pronunciation is yudane. Tangzhong is an Asian baking technique in which part of the dough is cooked with water ahead of time in a roux., Tangzhong can be used any time after preparation with great results, but 3 to 12 hours in fridge brings out the best in it. The cling wrap must directly touch the tangzhong to avoid skin formation. You need to bring it to room temp before using. Tangzhong can be kept in fridge till you see grey substance on it (approximately 3 to 4 days). Tangzhong works great on any flour, best being white flour tangzhong, whole wheat flour tangzhong, gives the fluffiest bread.

Why dry milk is used in the Hokkaido milk bread?

Dry milk helps to create a tender loaf of bread and boost its flavor.  Hokkaido Milk bread has milk, dry milk powder and heavy cream.

Points to remember

If you want, you can add egg whites or egg to the dough, but I did not add it. I made it egg free in the dough only used egg wash for the color.

If you want to speed up the proofing time you can make a hybrid bread. But I love to create entirely sourdough version. So, the bread has the classic rich flavor and soft texture of Hokkaido loaf, and a slightly tangy taste thanks to SD starter.

Like any other soft sandwich breads, the success of this bread relies on intensive kneading. You need to knead for about 13 to 15 min of mixing at speed 3 or 4 in Kitchen Aid stand mixer. If you do not want to knead it at 3 or 4 then use 2 and kitchen aid stand mixer for 20-35 minutes. "windowpane" is, which is a measurement of how strong the dough is, and how uniformed the gluten structure is.  It needs to be so strong that it does not tear even when you are poking with the finger. Also make sure not to over knead.

If you are doing bulk fermentation in room temperature, then cover and let rise for 6-12 hours depending on room temperature. If not after 2 hours at room temperature refrigerate overnight.

Similarly, for second fermentation you could do it 2-4 hours if you did bulk fermentation in 12 hours room temperature. Otherwise you need to keep it for 6 hours room temperature and bake it.

This is excellent sandwich recipe you will love, it, if you tried it please tag me in Instagram @nidhinikhil  or facebook Zestysouthindiankitchen

Print Recipe

5 from 51 votes

Sourdough Hokkaido Bread

Sourdough version of Hokkaido Milk Bread is incredibly soft and airy bread made with a simple technique involving a roux “starter,” known as tangzhong.

Prep Time14 hours hrs

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time14 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: #sourdoughbread, Hokkaido Milk Bread

Servings: 5 servings

Calories: 201kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

• For the Tangzhong Flour-Water Roux
• ⅓ cup/50g Bread flour
• ½ cup/116g water
• ½ cup/114g milk
• Levain
• 85 g bread flour
• 15 g whole wheat flour
• 100 g water
• 15 g Active Sourdough Starter I used 100% sourdough starter
• For The Dough:
• 3 cups/345 g Bread flour I used King Arthur flour unbleached bread flour
• 3 tablespoon + 2tsp/ 51g sugar
• 1 tsp/6.2g salt
• 2 ½ tbsp/16.8g powdered milk
• ¼ cup/ 57 milk and a little more if needed
• ¼ cup /53g heavy whipping cream 25% fat
• Slightly less than ½ cup /120g tangzhong use HALF of the tangzhong from above
• 150 g levain
• 2 tablespoon /32gm unsalted butter softened at room temperature
• 1 egg + l teaspoon of water for egg wash.

Instructions

• Leavain
• Add both whole wheat flour, bread flour and starter for levain and set aside for 6 hours.
• The Tangzhong (Flour-Water Roux):
• In a medium saucepan whisk together lightly the flour, water and milk in a saucepan until smooth and there are no lumps. Place the saucepan on the stove, and over medium heat, let the roux cook till it starts thickening. Keep stirring/ whisking constantly so no lumps form and the roux is smooth.
• If you have a thermometer, cook the roux/ tangzhong till it reaches 65C (150F) and take it off the heat. If you do not have a thermometer, then watch the roux/ tangzhong until you start seeing “lines” forming in the roux/ tangzhong as you whisk/ stir it. Take the pan off the heat at this point.
• Let the roux/ tangzhong cool completely and rest for about 2 to 3 hours at least. If not using immediately, transfer the roux to a bowl and cover using plastic wrap. It can be stored in the refrigerator until the color changes . Discard the tangzhong after that.
• Dough:
• In a bowl of kitchenaid stand mixer add bread flour, salt, sugar, and milk powder and set aside.
• In a microwave safe bowl heat milk, whipping cream and butter for about 30 seconds and set aside.
• Kitchenaid stand mixer fitted with dough attachment mix in, tangzhong mixture, milk-cream-butter and starter into flour mixture and knead until it become soft and sticky for about 15 minutes on medium speed (3-4) . Once the dough starts leaves the side and knead with hand for about 3 more minutes or until when you pull the dough it will spread without tearing, means it passes window pan test.
• Remove the dough and place it into well oil pan bowl for doubling. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and let the dough rise for about 12 hours or till almost double in volume in room temperature.
• Place the dough on your working surface. About 823g dough divide into 4 equal pieces of 206g. You do not need flour to work or shape this dough.
• Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape, about ⅛” thick. Take one end of the dough from the shorter side of the oval and fold it to the middle of the oval. Take the other end and fold so it slightly overlaps the other fold.
• Roll this folded dough with the rolling pin so the unfolded edges are stretched out to form a rectangle. Roll the rectangle from one short edge to the other, pinching the edges to seal well. Do this with each of the four larger pieces and place them, sealed edges down, in a well-buttered loaf tin. Cover with a towel and leave the dough to rise for about 2-4 hours.
• Carefully brush the tops of the dough with egg wash and bake at 350F for about 45 minutes or it registers an internal temperature of 190-200 F. If the top starts browning earlier, tent the loaf tin with foil to prevent extra burning. Let them cool in the tins for about 5 minutes and then unmold and transfer to a rack till slightly warm or cool.

Video

Notes

This recipe is adapted from  my own Hokkaido Milk bread recipe with Yeast. 

Nutrition

Calories: 201kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 21mg | Potassium: 49mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 362IU | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

If you are looking for Hokkaido Milk Bread with yeast the here is the recipe.

Swathi

This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread.  All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.