You may or may not have feast plans this weekend (darn covid), but I recommend hitting the kitchen either way and rolling these out the kids.
This recipe begins with a warm flour-water paste, — tangzhong — a method used in Asian bread baking. It’s a technique that renders these fluffy buns practically fool-proof. Once you get the hang of the soft dough and how to roll them quick into balls (I did a FB live to help you!), the world of soft bun applications — pulled pork, burgers, turkey sandwiches — is your oyster.
Skill level: intermediate (if you’re comfortable with yeast, they’re easy.)
Mess level: low
Learning topics: geography, division 👉 see learning section at the end of the recipe ✨
Here’s your prep list ➡️
1. Measure your ingredients.
2. Gather your equipment.
3. Put a spoon in your flour bag and keep it handy for dusting your counter
Here’s your equipment list ➡️
Stand mixer or large mixing bowl
Small heavy-bottomed saucepan or skillet
Whisk
Spatula
Bench scraper or chef’s knife to divide dough
Clean tea towel
Small bowl
Fork
Pastry brush or paper towel
3 x 8 or 9-inch cake or pie pans
And here’s your recipe ➡️
🔥 Japanese Milk Buns
Adapted from King Arthur Baking
Makes 16
Ingredients
tangzhong
6 tbsp (86 g) water
6 tbsp (86 g) whole milk
1/4 cup (30 g) unbleached bread flour
dough
5 3/4 cups (690 g) unbleached bread flour
1/4 cup (30 g) milk powder* see recipe note below
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated or cane sugar
2 tsp (10 g) table salt
2 tbsp (16 g) instant yeast * see recipe note on how to sub active-dry
1 cup (250 g) milk, preferably whole
2 eggs
1/2 cup (114 g) salted or unsalted butter, whatever you’ve got
egg wash
1 egg
1 tsp water
Preparation
Whisk the tangzhong ingredients together in a small saucepan to get most of the lumps out and set over medium heat. Switch to a spatula and stir and cook until the mixture thickens, about 3 min. Set aside to cool.
Whisk the dry ingredients for the dough together in your stand mixer or large mixing bowl — the 5 3/4 cups flour, milk powder, sugar, salt, and instant yeast.
Add your milk and eggs to the dry ingredients.
Turn the mixer on, fitted with a dough hook, and run it just long enough to grab the tangzhong and a spatula. Turn the mixer off and plop it in.
Wash the pot that your tangzhong was in and melt the butter in it over medium heat.
Add your melted butter to the dough and mix with a dough hook until it comes together to form a smooth, elastic dough that starts crawling up the dough hook. The dough will be wet but shouldn’t stick too much to your hands (it’s ok if it does a bit). This should take about 6-8 minutes in the mixer. Be sure to stop your mixer a couple times to scrape down the sides and dig up any flour underneath.
If you don’t have a stand mixer you can easily knead the dough by hand on a floured counter. It may take a little longer than 6 minutes, but it’s good exercise!
When your dough has finished mixing, dampen a tea towel and use it to cover the bowl. Let the dough rest until puffy, about 60-90 minutes, depending on the temp of your kitchen.
Let the kids gently deflate the dough (it’s fun!) before transferring it onto a lightly dusted counter.
Divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll them into balls, clearing the flour from your counter so you can use the friction of a clean surface to roll them. (See the video I made in my pajamas on shaping balls quick — it’s a thumbs-push-up, four-fingers-push-down circular motion)
Place the buns your greased pans, at least 1/2 inch apart.
Make an egg wash by whisking the egg and water together in a small bowl with a fork and brushing it on the top of the buns with a pastry brush or waded up paper towel.
Let the buns rise again until puffy and your finger indent doesn’t disappear when you press gently into it (wet your finger so dough doesn’t stick to it), about 50 minutes give or take, depending again on the temp of your kitchen.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F during this final rise. Bake the buns until golden brown, about 20 - 30 min, rotating them halfway through for even colour. If you’ve got a food thermometer, you can insert it into the middle of a bun and see if it reaches at least 190 degrees F to double check if they’re done.
Make sure you’ve softened butter cause you’ll want to pull these apart and dig in right away!
‼️Recipe notes
*milk powder 🥛
👉 Milk powder works as a tenderizer in bread without adding extra liquid to the dough. The best kind for baking is a non-instant milk powder, but skim milk instant powder is usually easier to find, and works for this recipe too.
*instant yeast 🍞
👉 Sub active-dry (traditional) yeast for the instant at a one-to-one ratio for this recipe, but proof it first by heating up the milk until it’s lukewarm (not too hot or you’ll kill the yeast!) then sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it sit until foamy, about 5 minutes, and add to dough when you add your milk.
2 ways to make these extra educational — adapt for your kids’ ages
1️⃣ This is a good opportunity to take the globe off the shelf and show them where Japan is. Ask them to imagine a night at a pod hotel. ✅
2️⃣ Let your youngsters divide the dough into the 16 pieces, turning it into a math lesson by asking them to split it in half, then into quarters, then eighths, then — you get the picture. 🧮
💥 OMG, obsessed! ►
Need a break yourself? Here’s what’s getting me through this week.
◎ This pandemic has forced me to rethink the daily-life systems I had in place, and one of the routines I’ve revamped is my cleaning schedule. I’m now using Fly Lady’s system of “zone cleaning” and it’s truly life-changing. (Did I just call house cleaning life-changing?)
Her website can be confusing at first, but start with the baby steps and it’ll soon make sense. I love her tip for making a bed; pull the sheets up to your chin before you get out of it and make a snow angel. This pulls up the slides and you can roll out the edge. Your kids will have fun with this too.
We’re no longer binge-cleaning until midnight, and our house has never been cleaner. Which is too bad, because COVID means I can’t invite you over for dinner right now. 🥂
Coming up October 17th at 2pm — our first LIVE SATURDAY BAKING CLUB 💥
We’re making EVIL WITCH FINGERS. 🎃 It’ll be the same deal as our Thursday bake club — head to the Facebook group and grab your shopping list from the Events tab. The full recipe comes out in this newsletter next Thursday.
Until then, happy hot bun baking! 🔥
💗 Jess