Japanese Milk Bread
I went out to lunch a few weeks ago and had a caesar salad that blew my mind. The greens were fresh, the dressing was flavorful, but this salad had some of the most phenomenal croutons that I have ever had in my life. They were crunchy to the touch, but they melted in my mouth like literal cotton candy. I was bound to my phone for a few hours later that night trying to find out how I could replicate that texture. The closest thing that I could find was someone on Reddit explaining in detail that it’s not the method for making croutons that matters, but the type of bread that is the most important. They listed Japanese Milk Bread as their best contender for that melt-in-your-mouth type of crouton. I had some free time yesterday, as I am still home on sick leave from work - I got down to business. Unfortunately for me, this recipe was so darn good that I don’t even think it’ll make it to the next business day. We might never know if I can recreate those croutons.
This recipe makes two loaves of bread. It took me about 3.5hrs to complete - so worth it btw!
Ingredients:
40 g all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
540 g all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
6 tbsp powdered milk
4 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
½ cup warm whole milk (110-115 degrees)
6 tbs butter, room temperature
1 large egg whites (fresh)
Splash of tap water
Directions:
Prep:
Combine milk and flour in a small pot over low heat.
Continue stirring as the mixture thickens and resembles pudding.
Remove from heat and do 1min of extra stirring to remove large lumps - small lumps are ok!
Let it cool to room temperature.
Dough:
Add all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl (flour, granulated sugar, powdered milk, yeast, salt), wisk lightly to ensure everything is combined.
In a separate small bowl, mix pudding mixture from the prep step, eggs, and warm milk and mix together.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the larger mixing bowl.
Using the dough hook attachment for your mixer, mix the ingredients for two minutes.
Add the softened butter to the bowl and continue mixing.
Mix on low speed for about 15 minutes until bread becomes smoother, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Your dough should look elastic and sticky.
Shape dough into a ball and cover with a cloth or plastic wrap. Let it rise for 1 hour, until it has doubled in size.
Add a bit of flour to your bowl to make the transfer easier, and then move the dough to a floured work surface. Cut into 2 equal portions and work with only one portion at a time.
Now cut the portioned dough into 3 chunks.
Using a rolling pin dusted with flour, roll one dough portion into a rectangle.
Fold the rectangle into 3rds lengthwise. Think of folding a letter, or how you’d do a layered fold for puff pastry.
Flip it over so the seam side is down.
Flatten with a rolling pin and then tightly roll the dough from the short side until you end up with a short roll. Tuck the ends.
Place the roll into a parchment lined loaf pan, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining two dough chunks.
Cover the loaves with a towel or plastic wrap and let them rise for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Brush bread dough with egg wash (egg white and splash of water).
Bake for 20 minutes.
Let it cool for 10 minutes, grab a nice slab of butter and go to town. Enjoy!
