Monday, May 30, 2011

Hokkaido Milk Toast

Posted by Kirbie / 13 comments » / Bread, Recipes

Hokkaido milk toast is popular japanese-style bread.  It’s soft, thick, fluffy and addicting. I found a recipe for Hokkadio milk toast in the 65 Degrees Tangzhong book and decided to try it out this weekend.

As you know, I love making bread using the tangzhong method, which you can read a little more about here. It takes a little more effort, but the results are worth it. The bread has such an incredible rise and stays so soft and fresh. This is something I’ve not been able to achieve with other bread recipes and I’ve been testing out a lot of bread recipes.

Anyhow, I finally got my hands on a copy of the 65 Degrees Tangzhong book which is the book that introduces the tangzhong method of making bread along with a ton of gorgeous pictures and recipes.

Of course, once I had the book, the problem is I don’t read enough chinese to understand it. So I spent some time browsing through pictures and looking at the step by step photos. I’m slowly having my mom help me translate recipes I want to check out.

When I went through the book, the picture that stood out to me most was this recipe for Hokkaido Milk toast. The bread looks so incredibly fluffy when pulled apart. Hokkaido is an island in Japan. I believe the bread is named after a bread that is made in that region.

I followed the recipe for the most part, except that instead of splitting the bread each loaf into two sections, like the recipe called for, I did three sections. All the recipes I’ve used so far, have required the dough to be divided into four sections. To suddenly do two seemed so odd and they seemed so giant. Three sections was a nice compromise.

I was really really pleased with how the bread turned out. And the three sections came out evenly-sized, something I’ve been working on achieving as well because in the past, my four sections are not completely even and you’ll see one push over the top of another.

This bread is soft and a little bit sweet. It’s titled a “toast”  as opposed to “bread” so I guess you are supposed to slice it up like toast, but I like just taking the chunks and eating the bread as is.  I think if I had left the bread in two sections, it would be easier to make toast with it, since each section is so big.

Several people have asked me what kind of board I use to roll out my dough for breads. I purchased this Pastry Board a while ago, and I love it. It’s very a sturdy wood board. The measurements written on it come in handy for measuring out how much I need to roll my dough out.

I am submitting this post to Yeastspotting.

: Hokkaido Milk toast

: recipe source: 65 Degrees Tangzhong

  • 540 gm bread flour
  • 86 gm caster sugar
  • 8 gm salt
  • 9 gm milk powder
  • 11 gm instant yeast
  • 86 gm whisked egg
  • 59 gm whipping cream
  • 54 gm milk
  • 184 gm tangzhong (click here for how to make tanghzong)
  • 49 gm unsalted butter, melted
  1. Add flour, milk powder, salt, sugar and yeast into mixing bowl of stand maker with dough attachment hook.  Make a hole in tehe middle and add milk, cream, egg, tangzhong.
  2. Mix at medium speed until all the ingredients come together. Then pour in the melted butter, and continue kneading until the dough at medium to high speed until dough becomes non-sticky, smooth and elastic. I needed my dough for about 20 minutes.
    When the dough is ready, you should be able to take a chunk of dough and stretch it to a very thin membrane before it breaks. When it does break, the break should be form a circle.
  3. Pour some oil into a bowl and let it spread around the bowl. Put the dough in and put plastic wrap over top of the dough. Then let the dough complete the 1st round of proofing, about 40 minutes, or until until double in size. (the recipe notes that the best conditions for proofing is 28C and 75% humidity. I just kept it in a warm place.)
  4. Transfer the dough to a clean floured surface. Deflate and divide into 6 equal portions. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.
  5. Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Fold 1/3 from top edge to the middle and press. Then fold 1/3 from bottom to the middle and press.
  6. Flip dough over. Roll flat and stretch to about 30cm in length.
  7. Flip dough over again so. With seal upward, roll into a cylinder.
  8. Repeat with other dough pieces. With seal facing down, place 3 dough cylinders into each loaf tins to have the 2nd round of proofing, until double in size. 9Recipe notes that the best temperature for 2nd round proofing is 38C, humidity 85%. I just kept mine in the same warm place in my kitchen.)
  9. Brush whisked egg on surface of breads. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until turns brown. (My top always gets too brown, so I reduced my temperature to 330F, and took it out at 30 minutes.) Remove from the oven and transfer onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

 

Posted by Kirbie on May 30, 2011
13 Comments »
tags: 65 degrees, bread, hokkaido, Milk, tangzhong method, toast
 

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13 Responses to “Hokkaido Milk Toast”

  1. 1

    Anna — June 22, 2011 @ 6:23 pm

    That looks fantastic. Is there a great deal of difference between this bread and the milk bread that you posted up? Maybe in texture? Or perhaps taste?

    • Kirbie replied: — June 23rd, 2011 @ 8:30 am

      A little bit of both. I feel this one is slightly lighter and softer, but also a little richer in taste because of the addition of the heavy cream. Both are yummy, but I think I prefer this one more.

      • Anna replied: — July 1st, 2011 @ 1:31 pm

        Thanks! Also, you mentioned that the tangzhong increases the shelf life of the bread. Could you give me an approximate as to how long? Will be trying this recipe soon!

        • Kirbie replied: — July 1st, 2011 @ 1:36 pm

          I have been able to keep the bread for about a week. Usually it gets eaten so fast, so it’s hard to tell. A lot of breads get stale a day or so after baking. these will definitely stay soft. i don’t know how long you can keep before it begins to mold, you might want to keep it in the fridge after a few days. Good luck with the recipe!

  2. 2

    Ashley — July 10, 2011 @ 11:54 pm

    i really wanna try this recipe cause it looks so yummy! :D i also bribed my little brother into reading harry potter with this >.> anywhoooo but i was just wondering what the measurements were in like cups and tbsp and such (i have no idea what it’s called i’m a bit of a baking novice TvT) cause i don’t own a scale so i can’t really do weight measurements =[ can it be done like the Milk toast you posted before?? pls and thank you ^^
    (or if you could show me a good conversion website that’d be fantastic too ^^)
    sankyuuuu~

    • Kirbie replied: — July 11th, 2011 @ 12:09 am

      Hi Ashley, it is possible to convert to cups but it would be an approximation. Unfortunately I do not have the conversions. For the milk toast, the original recipe I adapted did the conversions, which is why I had them. I’ve thought about figuring out the conversions, but it makes the recipe making a lot more time consuming. It is easier for me to just pour into a bowl until the scale reaches the point I want. Sorry I can’t be of much help. Good luck trying to find the conversions. I didn’t have a scale for a long time, but there were so many recipes that didn’t have conversions and many recipes that required very exact measurements (like macarons, where you really have to do everything by weight), that I ended up just buying a scale. It cost me $20, and I’ve used it for 2 years now and it comes in very handy. So maybe you want to think about getting one or asking for one as a gift.

  3. 3

    Ashley — July 11, 2011 @ 7:41 pm

    okie dokie thank you ^^

  4. 4

    Jessica — August 10, 2011 @ 12:01 pm

    I’ve been wanting to make this for a long time now, and the recipe here seem to produce a perfect hokkaido milk loaf. Well done! However, the measurements you gave are a bit daunting- so precise > <.

    Do the measurements have to be this precise or can I just round it up to the nearest 10 grams?

    Thanks! ^^

    • Kirbie replied: — August 10th, 2011 @ 12:28 pm

      The bread produced is pretty perfect. I always measure it precisely, so I’m not sure what will happen if you round up. I worry your dough might not work. I once tried adding some yam paste and the dough became unworkable.

  5. 5

    Almay — February 4, 2012 @ 2:52 pm

    thanks for posting this recipe. have been making it ever since i saw your blog post and have even added several variations, did a matcha bread and a cranberry one.

    • Kirbie replied: — February 4th, 2012 @ 9:06 pm

      I’m so glad you like this! Cranberry and matcha are great variations. I havent tried the cranberry, i’ll have to do that.

  6. 6

    Pam — February 10, 2012 @ 7:39 pm

    I just came across your blog and would love to try this bread, but I was wondering what size bread pans you used?

    • Kirbie replied: — February 10th, 2012 @ 7:51 pm

      It’s a 9 x 5 inch pan. Oops, I thought that was in the recipe, I guess not. I’ll have to change it

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