Japanese milk bread rolls

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These rolls are wonderfully soft, with a great texture and flavor. Plus versatile in how you enjoy.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

rise time (minimum)2

Total Time1

Course: Side

Cuisine: Japanese

Servings: rolls (or more/less if you prefer)

Calories: 216kcal

Author: Caroline

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Ingredients

For the tangzhong

20 g bread flour
90 ml water

For rest of loaf

300 g bread flour (300g is approx 2 cups plus 2 tbsp)
7 g fast acting yeast (7g/2.25tsp is 1 sachet, ¼oz)
120 ml milk (lukewarm or room temp, but not hot)
28 g unsalted butter melted but not hot
5 ml salt
42 g sugar (caster sugar/fine)
1 egg (recommend lightly beating first if mixing by hand)

To glaze/egg wash

1 egg (lightly beaten - won't need all)

Garlic butter glaze after baking (optional)

28 g butter
5 ml garlic 5ml/1tsp is roughly 1 large clove
1 teaspoon chopped parsley

Instructions

For tangzhong - made slightly ahead

Put the water and flour for the tangzhong in a small pan. Mix until smooth and no lumps remain - do this before turning on the heat.
Warm the flour paste gently over a medium-low heat until it thickens to a paste, stirring constantly. You should see trails left by the spoon/whisk as you stir it, but not so thick that it doesn't flow any more. Set the pan aside to cool.

To make bread

Measure out the remaining ingredients into a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer (flour, yeast, milk, melted butter, sugar, salt and egg). Add the cooled tangzhong, then if using a mixer, mix to combine using a dough hook. If mixing by hand, I sometimes gently beat the egg into the tangzhong first to both save the tangzhong being too thick and help the egg to mix better. Alternatively, you can lightly beat the egg first separately. Both are optional, but just make sure the egg is well blended in. Whether with a mixer or by hand, mix all the ingredients and bring the dough together.
If using a mixer, knead for around 8 - 10 minutes, adding a small amount more flour if needed. If mixing by hand, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead roughly 10 - 15 minutes. In both cases, it will be a sticky dough to start but try to just keep the surface and your hands dusted, if mixing by hand, and in both cases limit how much extra flour you add. Once the dough is smooth and no longer sticky, smooth it into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and leave to rise in a relatively warm place until roughly doubled in size - around 1 hour to 1 ¾ hours, depending on your room temperature.
As the dough is almost ready, butter the baking pan you will use for the rolls on both base and sides. I suggest using either an 8 or 9 inch (20-23cm) baking pan/tin, or a round 9 inch (23cm) pan.
Once the dough has risen, knock back the dough, and divide into equal pieces for the number of rolls you are making - I highly recommend weighing to get them as even as possible. With a square pan, 9 is generally best, but you may want slightly more/less with a round pan. For 9 rolls, each should be around 70 - 72g.
Take each piece of dough and pick what looks the best side to be the top. Then fold the sides of the dough underneath towards the middle, so you get a slightly tight, smooth top surface. Gently roll the ball in your hand on a floured surface, join side down, to round it off. Place each of the balls carefully evenly spaced in the prepared pan.
Cover and leave to rise again until the rolls are puffy and join into each other, around 45 minutes or so. Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Once oven is ready, lightly beat the egg and brush the top of the loaf with egg wash.
Bake the rolls for approximately 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown on top. If using garlic butter glaze, prepare it towards the end of baking. Melt the butter over medium-low heat then add the crushed garlic. Cook for another minute so the garlic softens and is aromatic but you don't want it to brown. Remove from heat and mix in the parsley. Set aside until needed, and gently warm to make liquid again if it solidifies as you take the rolls out. Once the rolls are ready, brush the garlic butter evenly over them. Enjoy the rolls warm or room temperature.

Notes

Note the measurements are in weight first as these are more accurate. It is always best to be as consistent as possible when baking bread, so I'd recommend trying to use weight measurements, but cups are listed as well if not.

(technically 3 tablespoon is less that 42g but I always find my spoons seem to measure slightly more, so this is what I relatively consistently get)

Nutrition (per serving)

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