Need some rolls for your Thanksgiving table? These Hokkaido Milk Bread Rolls are wonderful.
The original recipe for these rolls comes from the King Arthur Baking site (here), although King Arthur Baking gives credit to Yvonne Chen, author of the cookbook 65 Degrees C. Bread Doctor, for the technique that makes this recipe work.
Chen popularized the use of a roux starter called tangzhong in baking bread—a bread-baking technique believed to date back to WWII when rice was rationed in Japan and many bakers turned to the development of recipes using wheat.
At the decided risk of sounding a bit wonky, here is what is so special about the tangzhong method of bread baking. Japanese bakers discovered that by precooking a slurry of a small amount of flour and water until the starches gelatinize (and then adding the slurry to their bread ingredients) they could enhance the ability of the gluten in their dough to stretch and develop. This increased the amount of water the bread dough was able to absorb, increased the activation of the yeast in the recipe, and kept the bread from drying out during baking. The result was a bread with a remarkably softer mouthfeel and a longer shelf life.
You’ll enjoy this recipe. Slather one (or many) of these rolls with marmalade and give some serious thanks.
Japanese Milk Bread Rolls
Ingredients
- Tangzhong Starter
- 3 T. water
- 3 T. whole milk
- 2 T. unbleached bread flour
- Dough
- 2 1/2 C. unbleached bread flour
- 2 T. non-fat dry milk powder
- 1/4 C. sugar
- 1 t. salt
- 1 T. instant yeast
- 1/2 C. whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 4 T. unsalted butter (melted)
Directions
- Step 1 To make the tangzhong: Combine water, milk and unbleached bread flour in a small saucepan. Whisk the ingredients until there are no lumps. Put saucepan on you stove and heat mixture at the low setting to no more than 150 degrees F., whisking for 3 to 5 minutes until the mixture is thick and the whisk leaves lines in the thick mixture on the bottom of the pan.
- Step 2 Spoon the tangzhong into a small mixing bowl and let it cool to room temperature.
- Step 3 To make the dough, put the room temperature tangzhong into a mixing bowl with all of the dough ingredients. Mix to combine. Knead (by hand, in a stand mixer with the dough hook, or in your bread maker) until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Step 4 Shape the dough into a ball. Grease a bowl and let the dough ball rest (covered) in the bowl for 60 to 90 minutes. You want the dough to puff up so that it is close to doubled in size.
- Step 5 After the dough has rested and risen, gently deflate the dough ball. Divide the dough into eight pieces, shaping each piece into a ball.
- Step 6 Place the dough balls in a lightly-greased 8 or 9 inch round cake pan. Cover the pan and let the dough rest on your counter for 40 to 50 minutes. You want the dough to rise a bit.
- Step 7 While you dough balls are resting, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the rolls with an egg wash (1 large egg beaten with 1 T. of cold water).
- Step 8 Bake rolls for 25 to 30 minutes. You want them to be golden brown on top. You can check the doneness of your rolls with a digital thermometer. The thermometer should read 190 degrees F. when the rolls are properly baked.
- Step 9 Remove the rolls from the oven and let them rest and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Finally, transfer the rolls out of the pan and onto a rack to cool completely.
