Short and sweet: I found this milk bread (more on milk bread here) recipe online, and I love it. It is easy to make and super delicious (don’t be alarmed by the salt content, it is an important part of the pleasure). The recipe makes two loaves, but they freeze like a dream, so you should make both. Simply slice the loaf and wrap well, you can take out a slice or two when you want them and toast from frozen. Breakfast is sorted.
Milk Bread (from Kindred via Food52)
- 5 1/3 cups bread flour, divided, plus more for surface
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup mild honey
- 3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast (from about 3 envelopes)
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal, I might use 1.5 tablespoons of Mortons)
- 3 large eggs, divided
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
- Nonstick vegetable oil spray
- Flaky sea salt
Cook 1/3 cup flour and 1 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a thick paste forms (almost like a roux but looser), about 5 minutes. Add cream and honey and cook, whisking to blend, until honey dissolves.
Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and add milk powder, yeast, kosher salt, 2 eggs, and 5 remaining cups flour. Knead on medium speed until dough is smooth, about 5 minutes. Add butter, a piece at a time, fully incorporating into dough before adding the next piece, until dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic, about 4 minutes.
Coat a large bowl with nonstick spray and transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour (maybe longer if it is cold where you are).
To make loaves, lightly coat two 9- by 5-inch (or 8×4—I used one of each) loaf pans with nonstick spray. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and divide into 12 pieces. Nestle pieces side-by-side to create 2 rows down length of each pan.
Let shaped dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size (dough should be just puffing over top of pan), about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375° F. Beat remaining egg with 1 teaspoon. water in a small bowl to blend. Brush top of dough with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until bread is deep golden brown, starting to pull away from the sides of the pan, and is baked through, 50 to 60 minutes. Let milk bread cool slightly in pan on a wire rack before turning out; let cool completely.
Sally says:
January 10th, 2018 at 1:08 pm
I’ve made these Japanese milk bread rolls for the past 2 Thanksgivings and LOVED them – v. easy
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread-rolls-recipe
Johanna Lowe says:
January 10th, 2018 at 2:13 pm
Sounds yummy!
Curious what you think made the 2 loaves come out so differently?
Tim says:
January 10th, 2018 at 2:17 pm
Hi Johanna! They’re just different sized pans. I didn’t have two of the same.
Rachel says:
January 10th, 2018 at 2:30 pm
I have made this recipe twice – second time I used half-n-half instead of all-heavy cream. It came out just as good – I just cut the dough in half and put in pans. Cutting it up further reminded me too much of monkey bread : ) I felt the full salt version was a little too salty, and the 2nd time w just 1 T wasnt salty enough and almost blah. Maybe 2 T would be better for me…. it is delicious bread regardless and easy to make!
Dena Testa Bray says:
January 10th, 2018 at 2:35 pm
These look divine. I can’t wait to make them. Thank you! D
Katie says:
January 10th, 2018 at 6:58 pm
This is very exciting! I occasionally make the white bread from The Bread Bible (which has some milk powder in it), but I’ve never made a bread that uses that tazhong method, so I will get on this!
Suzzanne says:
January 11th, 2018 at 7:29 pm
Thanks for introducing to me a new technique. I will give this a try!
Anna says:
January 11th, 2018 at 10:29 pm
Thank you so much for this! The pictures are delicious-looking. I got a stand mixer for Christmas (dream gift!) and maybe I’ll take it on its maiden voyage making this bread!
LouLou says:
January 16th, 2018 at 4:16 pm
I’m just popping in to say THANK YOU for the many years of beautiful blog posts. You’ve introduced me to recipes, and cookbooks that are now staples in my repertoire, and I look forward to your new posts each week. Wishing you and your partner a happy, healthy…and delicious 2018. ❤️
Nishta Mehra says:
January 22nd, 2018 at 9:48 pm
Shiv thanks you in advance for this! I’ve been making our sandwich bread for the last several months, and we all like it, but it’s definitely on the crunchy/healthy side. He and I will be making this soon for a special treat <3
Kel says:
February 2nd, 2018 at 6:50 pm
Hey Tim, Just wanted to say thank you for this. I made it today and it was hands down the best bread I’ve made yet. I shaped it into a braid for Imbolc, but didn’t alter anything else. It was amazing, and I’ll be making it a lot more often now!
Sandy says:
February 4th, 2018 at 3:00 pm
I wonder could buttermilk powder be used instead of powdered milk? That’s all I have…
Tim says:
February 4th, 2018 at 4:15 pm
Hi Sandy- I do not recommend that substitute. It will make the bread sour, which is not what you are going for here.
Kat says:
February 4th, 2018 at 6:49 pm
My rice cooker has a setting for making milk bread! And the little cookbook that came with it has a recipe…