Milk Bread Recipe | Dr. Oetker (2024)

FAQs

Why is my milk bread not fluffy? ›

If your milk bread is dense, mostly likely, the dough is under-kneaded. The dough needs to develop enough gluten to expand and become soft and fluffy. A sure way to ensure that the dough is kneaded enough is using the window pane test.

In the finished product, milk will make bread that has: Greater volume (improved capacity to retain gas) Darker crust (due to the lactose in the milk)

What is milk bread's main difference from traditional bread? The only liquid used in milk bread is milk. In most yeast bread recipes, the liquid is usually water. There are also no eggs in most yeast breads.

If you have a high hydration dough, it's going to be sticky. That's all there is too it. If you add more flour, you'll end up with a really tough, dry loaf, so don't add more flour! First thing you can do is set the dough aside after you've added your water and mixed it together.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

Use a Dough Enhancer

Boost the fluffiness of your bread by using a dough enhancer like Vital Wheat Gluten. All it takes is a small amount of dough enhancer per loaf to create a much lighter and fluffier result.

While underworked dough can simply be fixed by a little more kneading, severely overworked dough cannot be fixed. Instead, the overworked dough will result in a hard loaf that will likely not be eaten. It's important not to overwork your dough and continually check for overworking throughout the kneading process.

The more fat you have in milk, the more the texture of the bake will change. You want bakes to be moist, so this means you should choose milk with a higher fat content to achieve this. Therefore the best milk to use during baking is in most cases whole milk.

Yes, I recommend covering your dough when proofing in a home oven. Even though a home oven will retain some humidity, it's not completely sealed. Cover your bread dough when proofing it in the oven to ensure it does not develop a thick skin on top.

Give the bottom of the loaf a couple firm taps with your thumb. The bread will sound hollow when it's done. If you're new to this technique, try doing this every five minutes toward the end of baking and you'll hear how the sound changes.

What country is known for milk bread? ›

Milk bread was developed in Japan in the 20th century, using tangzhong, a warm flour-and-water paste traditionally used in China to make buns with a soft, springy texture and tiny air bubbles. Surprisingly, milk bread with an incomparable crumb and buttery taste is a snap to make at home, using supermarket ingredients.

Other names for it are Hokkaido milk bread, shokupan, and pai bao. Shokupan translates to "eating bread" or "food bread" or "plain bread"; in Japan the style is considered the standard bread of the country, where it is a common breakfast meal or eaten as a snack. It is carried in many bakeries in Asian countries.

Brioche is a much richer bread than Japanese milk bread. It uses a lot more butter than shokupan dough, giving brioche a sweeter and more buttery taste. Brioche is also made with eggs. This helps give brioche its signature golden color and a denser, chewier texture than shokupan.

The best way to store milk bread if you are eating it within a couple of days is in an airtight container in the fridge. When you're ready to eat it cut a slice and toast it in a toaster, or heat it gently in the microwave with a splash of water for a soft texture. The splash of water will prevent it from drying out.

Over-kneading the dough can lead to a tight gluten structure and result in a dense texture. Using too much flour or not enough yeast can also affect the rise of the bread. Additionally, insufficient proofing time or improper shaping can contribute to a heavy loaf.

8 reasons why your bread dough is not rising:

Yeast should be stored in a cool, dry place. Yeast is too hot Yeast may have been dissolved in water that was too hot, or the liquid ingredients in the recipe may be too hot, causing the yeast to die. Yeast needs to be warm - not too hot, not too cold.