Weird Shokupan or Ultra Soft Hokkaido Milk Bread

Note 1: Japanese bread calls for a starter technique called "yudane". Yudane was different than the Chinese starter, "tangzhong", by way of ratio. Yudane normally calls for 1:1 ratio of flour to water while Tangzhong calls for 1:5 ratio of flour to water.

Note 2: I got side-tracked and lazy along the way... So, I basically used my yudane at the 4th day mark. Haha

Note 3: Inspired from <https://mildlymeandering.com/hokkaido-milk-bread-shokupan/>

Ingredients

Starter (Yudane)

140 gm flour

140 (+ up to 70) ml boiling water

Dough

2 1/2 cup flour (used: 300 gm bread flour)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (used: 7 gm instant dry yeast)

1 tbsp milk powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 egg, well beaten

1/4 cup soft unsalted butter, room temp (used: 60 gm butter)

Optional

Heavy cream or melted butter (as glaze)

Steps:

Starter (Yudane)

1. Pour boiling water into the flour. Keep stirring with wooden spatula until the mixture clumps together to form a ball.

2. Let cool to room temp before storing in the fridge (covered).

3. Can last in fridge for up to 7 days.

4. Best use for making bread at minimum after 8 hrs - 2 days.

Dough

1. Combine all the dry ingredients i.e. flour, sugar, yeast, milk powder, and salt, in a bowl. Mix well with a whisk until well incorporated. Pour in the bread maker.

2. Pour milk, starter and egg into flour mixture whilst mixing. Knead for 5 minutes and add in butter in two batches. Knead for another 5 - 25 minutes (total 30 minutes in the bread maker).

3. The dough is well mixed when it formed a ball and slightly attached itself to the bottom of the bread maker or at one side of the wall.

4. Rest the dough for at least 1 hour.

5. After 1 hour, transfer the dough onto a floured surface. Divide into 4 equal portion.

6. For each portion, roll the dough flat to a square shape. Fold like flyer (left and right side to overlap in the centre) and roll to a cylinder.

7. Proof in the loaf pan for another 1 hour.

8. Heat oven for 350 F or 176 C (175 C) for 15-30 minutes.

9. (I skipped this and it is totally fine) Glaze top of the bread with heavy cream or melted butter.

10. Bake for 35-40 minutes, depending on the strength of your oven. (Usually there was a part that did not completely cook through in the middle of the loaf. However, the top was getting quite burnt. Suggest to lower temp to 175 C @ 35-45 minutes.)

11. Rest the hot bread in the loaf pan at least 5 minutes before taking it out. Then, let cool completely before serving.