Hokkaido Milk Bread (北海道土司）- for dummies

Hokkaido milk toast is asian-style soft bread. It gets the name from the pristine nature of Hokkaido, where high quality milk is produced. The bread is great on its own or slightly toasted with a bit of butter spread to enhance its taste. Wanna try? Here is the recipe for dummies.

Picture 1. ingredients 

Tools

Food scale - here

Bread maker (for kneading and rising) - here

Square loaf pan - suggest here

Ingredients (two small loafs - as I did here, or one 13''by4''by4'' loaf)

bread flour 540g (高筋面粉）

cake flour 60g (低筋面粉）

dry active yeast 10g 

dry milk powder 30g (you can find it in the baking section)

sugar 80g

salt 9g

large egg * 1 (and an extra for egg wash)

milk 250g

heavy whipping cream 150g

Steps

1. Add all of the ingredients (except yeast) in the pan of the bread maker, and add dry active yeast in the yeast dispenser. If your bread maker doesn't have a yeast dispenser, you need avoid the direct contact between yeast and sugar / salt. 

2. Use the 'dough' function to knead and rise (about 45 minutes). The dough should be smooth and not sticky.

picture 2:  after 45 minutes kneading and rising

3. Take the dough out from the pan. The dough should be stretchable. You should also easily pinch a hole in the dough.

Picture 3:  at the step 3, the dough should like this...

4. Divide dough into 8 equal portions and shape each into a ball (I made two small loafs). Let these balls rest for 20minutes with wet kitchen towel covered. Flatten the ball and roll out in a rectangle shape. Fold the rectangular into thirds at its long dimension. Flatten again and roll it up tightly like swiss roll.

Picture 4: for step 4

5. Put the roll in a greased bread pan. Repeat with the second ball. Put 4 balls into a bread pan.

6. Cover the bread pan with a layer of wet kitchen towel and leave in a warm place (make sure the wet kitchen towel not touching the bread dough! I left them in the oven with the light on and put a layer of wet kitchen towel on the the rack above the dough / bread pan). Let rise for 60-75 minutes or until the dough fills up 75%-80% of the pan. Preheat oven to 340F. 

Picture 5: for step 5-7

7. Bake for 30 minutes at 340F. Let the bread pan sit in the middle of the oven. 

picture 6: for step 8

8. Brush egg wash. Bake at 330F for another 10 minutes. 

If you use a bread pan with a lid, you may need bake an extra 10-15 minutes after brush egg wash. 

9. Remove from the pan immediately, and cool completely on a cookie rack (at least 1 hour).

Thank you for reading!