Chinese Bakery Style Milk Bread
This easy Chinese bakery-style milk bread is soft, pillowy, and rich — with zero butter and no tangzhong required! Made with a blend of bread flour and cake flour, plus heavy cream, whole milk, and egg, this one-bowl stand mixer recipe produces a tender, chewy, buttery-tasting bread that’s endlessly versatile. Shape it into pull-apart rolls, sandwich loaves, cream buns, or roast pork buns. Use a food scale for best results. This will become your go-to bread dough recipe.
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 155 grams heavy cream, warmed to ~100°F
- 245 grams whole milk, warmed to ~100°F
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 67 grams granulated sugar or honey
- 477 grams bread flour
- 72 grams cake flour
- 10 grams instant yeast
- 10 grams kosher salt
- egg wash (1 beaten egg + 1 tablespoon water)
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with the dough hook attached, combine all the ingredients except the egg wash: heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, bread flour, cake four, yeast and salt.
- Mix on the lowest speed for 15 minutes. Check on it after 5 minutes. Using a silicone spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Dough will be wet but should easily be scraped off the sides of the bowl. Keep kneading and check again after 5 minutes. If the dough is too wet, add 1 tablespoon of bread flour. Keep the kneading on low until the 15 minutes is done.
- Scrape down the sides of the dough if necessary. With a silicone spatula, push the dough off the sides of the bowl and push it together so it forms a ball. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or damp bowl cover and place in a warm spot for 1 to 2 hours until the dough as doubled in size. You can also proof your dough by placing the bowl in your microwave along with a mug of just boiled water.
- While your dough is proofing, prepare your loaf pan, cake pan (for rolls) or baking sheet, by lining it with parchment paper. There are so many ways you can shape this dough. This recipe can make 2 loaves of milk bread. I usually make 1 loaf and use the other half of the dough for either pull apart rolls (cake pan) or shaped buns (baking sheet).
- After the first dough rise, punch down the dough and scrape down the sides of the bowl to release the dough. Return the bowl to your stand mixer and knead for another 5 minutes.
- On a lightly floured surface, start dividing the dough, based on how you plan to shape it. If making two loaves, divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. You can roll the dough into a log slightly smaller than the shape of your loaf pan and place your dough log in there for its 2nd rise. You can divide your dough into 16 equal pieces and shape them into buns. A food scale helps keep your dough pieces in equal sizes. You can make 2 loaves, 16 rolls or 1 loaf and 8 rolls. (See notes for more ideas.) After shaping your dough, cover with towel and let it proof again for 1 hour.
- With 10 minutes remaining on your 2nd rise, preheat your oven to 350°F. Make the egg wash and brush the tops of the dough. If making rolls, bake for 18-19 minutes. If making loaves, bake for 23-25 minutes.
- Cool your bread in its cooking vessel for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Find it online: https://moderateposh.com/chinese-bakery-style-milk-bread/