Mushroom Free Classic Milk Bread

Total time3 hr 5 min

Prep time30 min

Cook time35 min

4.6

(8)

Soft, pillowy, and impossibly tender, this Japanese-style milk bread is the kind of loaf that makes you want to bake every single weekend. The secret is the tangzhong — a simple cooked paste of bread flour and milk that gets folded into the dough and gives the finished loaf its signature cloud-like crumb. Butter is worked in gradually during kneading, building a rich, slightly sweet dough that bakes up with a deep golden crust and a pull-apart interior that stays soft for days. Every ingredient here is straightforward pantry staple territory: flour, milk, egg, butter, sugar, salt, and yeast — nothing hidden, nothing complicated. For anyone navigating a sensitivity that makes store-bought breads a minefield of mystery ingredients, baking from scratch like this puts you fully in control of what goes into every slice. The four-roll shaping method creates that beautiful domed top and makes slicing clean and even. Let it cool before you cut in — though that might be the hardest part of the whole recipe.

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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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