Breastfeeding Friendly Classic Milk Bread
Soft, pillowy, and impossibly tender, this milk bread is the kind of loaf that makes you want to linger in the kitchen just a little longer. The secret is the tangzhong — a simple cooked paste of bread flour and whole milk that gets folded into the dough and keeps every slice moist and cloud-like for days. Whole milk, eggs, and butter are the backbone here, and those are exactly the kinds of nourishing, wholesome ingredients worth leaning into when your body is working hard to produce milk. There's no mystery flour blend or unfamiliar additive in sight — just real, recognizable pantry staples you can feel good about. The dough comes together in a stand mixer, rises twice, and bakes into a beautifully golden loaf that's as satisfying to make as it is to eat. Slice it thick for toast, tear it apart warm, or use it as the base for a seriously good sandwich — it holds up to all of it. Baking your own also means you know exactly what went into every bite, which is a quiet kind of peace of mind that's hard to put a price on.
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Learn more →Ingredients
10 servings
For the tangzhong
- 3 tbsp bread flour
- ½ cup whole milk
For the dough
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)
- ¼ cup warm whole milk (about 110°f / 43°c)
- 2 ½ cups bread flour
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
For the egg wash
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
- 1
Make the tangzhong: whisk together the 3 tbsp bread flour and 1/2 cup milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a smooth, pudding-like paste and leaves a trail when you drag a spatula across the bottom, about 3–4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
- 2
Combine the yeast and 1/4 cup warm milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and let stand until foamy, about 5–10 minutes.
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