Japanese milk bread

I follow Emmy from emmymade in Facebook. I really like the way she talks and she always finds the most unusual recipes. This one however is not a crazy recipe, but it is a very good recipe. 

It's a recipe for Japanese milk bread (tangzhong method) or Hokkaido milk bread. It really tastes like a brioche and it doesn't really need to be shaped the way the recipe calls for. It can be shaped as a round, oval or any other shape you may like as the dough is very easy to work with.

I loved it!

Serves: 2 pounds loaf tin.

Ingredients:

• For the tangzhong:
• 2 tbsp water
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp white bread flour
• 150ml cold milk
• 1 egg
• For the bread:
• 400g white bread flour
• 50g sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 50g butter, melted
• 250ml milk
• For the egg wash: 1 egg, lightly whisked

Method:

1. Make the tangzhong:
1. Whisk the water, milk and flour together.
   
   
   
2. Heat on medium-low heat until thickened.
   
   
   
3. Cool the mixture by adding the cold milk and whisk.
4. Add the egg and whisk.
   
   
   
5. Reserve.
2. Add the flour, sugar, salt and yeast to a bowl and mix.
   
   
   
3. Add the tangzhong and the melted butter and knead the dough for 5-10 min. Add more milk as needed (I added an extra 250ml).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Leave the dough to proof for 1-1.5 hours, until puffed up. The dough has proofed enough when you can stick a finger in it and it doesn't spring back. Emmy said it may not double, just puff a bit, but mine doubled in size.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it in 4 equal pieces. My pieces were 191g each.
   
   
   
6. Roll the pieces into balls.
   
   
   
7. Flatten each roll with a rolling pin and then roll the flattened dough over itself until you get a dough roll. Pinch the end so that it doesn't un-roll. Don't roll them too wide or else them won't fit in the tin.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Butter a loaf tin.
9. Place the dough rolls in the tin. Try to fit them as low in the tin as you can or else you'll end up with a hole in the bottom of your loaf like I did (check last photos).
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Let it proof for 1 hour. It will rise like hell!
    
    
    
11. Gently brush the top of the dough with egg wash.
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. Bake in a 175°C for 30 min. Make sure there is plenty of room on top of the tin as it will rise a lot more in the oven. 
    
    
    
13. Let the loaf rest in the tin for 10 min before taking it out of the tin and cool down.