Japanese cuisine · Dough, Pasta & Rice

Shokupan

Japanese milk toast bread made with a yudane starter, giving it an especially fluffy, moist crumb that stays soft for days.

Ingredients · for 8 servings

• 50 g flour for the yudane
• 50 ml boiling water
• 400 g flour
• 7 g dried yeast
• 40 g sugar
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 20 g milk powder
• 230 ml whole milk
• 40 g butter

Instructions

1. For the yudane, stir 50 g flour with the boiling water into a firm paste, cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely, then rest for at least 2 hrs., preferably overnight in the fridge.
2. On baking day, mix 400 g flour, dried yeast, sugar, salt and milk powder, add the lukewarm milk and the crumbled yudane and knead for 10 min. into a smooth dough.
3. Knead in the soft butter piece by piece and work for another 8 min. until the dough can be stretched paper-thin without tearing — this windowpane test decides the fluffiness.
4. Cover and let rise for 60 min., then knock back, divide into three pieces, roll each out lengthwise, roll up from the short side and set the three rolls side by side in a greased 25 cm loaf pan.
5. Cover and let rise for another 50 min. until the dough has risen just below the rim of the pan and domes slightly.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C top/bottom heat for 30–35 min. until the surface is deep golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom; unmold at once and cool on a rack.