June Kitchen Bootcamp

For this month, the kitchen boot camp theme is yeast breads.  If you are a follower of my blog, I tend to have a strained relationship with breads, especially yeast breads.  Sometimes it just works beautifully and there are times that it just hates me.  When Jen presented this recipe, the first thing I thought of was milk bread.  For those who don't know what milk bread is, it's very similar to a regular white bread with a very smooth and soft texture.  The first time I had this type of bread was in a Japanese grocery store.  I just called it "Japanese bread" and it took me a while to find a recipe.  I found a bunch of recipes and one of them I wanted to explore was from Corner Cafe. 

Japanese-Style White Bread Loaf (Milk Bread)
(Adapted from Corner Cafe)
350 Grams of Bread Flour
1 Tbl of Milk Powder
30 Grams of Sugar
5 Grams of Salt
7 Grams of Instant Dry Yeast
150 mL Lukewarm Water
30 Grams of Butter, Cubed

Water-Roux Paste (also referred as Tangzhong)
20 Grams of Bread Flour
100 mL Water

Directions

1. First, mix the bread flour and water to create the roux in a small saucepan and cook at a medium heat. 
2. Once the roux forms, remove from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
3. Sift together the bread flour, milk powder, sugar, and salt into a large KitchenAid mixing bowl.
4. Add the yeast and mix well on medium speed. 
5. Add the roux to the dry ingredients.
6. Once it is well incorporated, slowly add the water until the dough forms a slightly sticky and soft dough.
7. Remove from the mixer and knead the dough by hand until it is smooth and elastic.  During the kneading process, throw the dough onto the work surface a few times to remove the air. 
8. Than knead in the butter until it is well incorporated. 
9. Let it proof in a greased bowl for about an hour.
10. When the dough doubles in size, punch out the air and than divide it into 5 equal portions.
11. Form into balls and let them rest for 15 minutes.
12. Prep 23 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm pan, I used a Pullman pan. 
13. When the dough has properly rested, form it into 30 cm logs and place into the prepared bread pan.
14. Let it rise again about an hour. 
15. Cook the bread at 350F for about 25-30 minutes until it is a golden brown.