"Hokkaido Milk Rolls" Recipe

12
20 mins
40 mins

Ingredients

Tangzhong:
3.25 oz milk
0.65 oz bread flour
Dough:
5.25 oz warm milk
2 tbs sugar
2 1/4 tsp (1 pack) active dry yeast
12.1 oz bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 large room temperature egg
1 tbs unsalted butter, softened
Egg wash
1 egg, beaten

Preparation

Step 1

Directions
Activate Yeast : In a small bowl, add the warm milk, sugar and yeast. Give it a stir and let sit for 10 minutes. This is to activate the yeast.
Tangzhong: In a small pan, over medium low heat, combine the milk and flour. Whisk until thick like pudding. It takes only a couple of minutes. It's ready when the temperature is 149 F or line streaks stay visible. Set aside and let cool.
Make Dough: In a large bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. Crack the egg in, add the yeast mixture and the tangzhong. Stir until it comes together.
Knead: If kneading by hand, turn it over a work surface and knead for 5 minutes. Add the butter and continue to knead until butter is well incorporated and dough becomes elastic another 5 minutes. If using a stand mixer, knead on low for 5 minutes. Add the butter and knead for another 3 minutes. The end result of the dough should be soft, smooth, elastic and tacky. When dough springs back upon poking it or when it passes the windowpane test, it's ready.
First Rise: Allow the dough to rise (covered) in a warm, draft free place for 1 - 1½ hours or until double in size.
Shape: Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and shape each into a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it becomes a long oval. Fold one side (lengthwise) into the middle and then fold in the other side. Use a rolling pin and flatten it. Now, roll the dough into a cylinder. Pinch the seams. Place it seam side down on a greased 13" X 9" pan. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.
Second Rise: Cover with a clean cloth and let rise again for 1 - 1½ hours more or until double in size. 30 minutes before the rolls are ready, preheat the oven to 375 F.
Bake and cool: When the rolls are ready to bake, brush the top with egg wash and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the rolls from the pan immediately and let it cool on a wire rack. Rolls can be kept in room temperature in an airtight container for 3 days.
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Tip: You can easily convert any of your current bread recipes to apply the tangzhong method in order to enjoy extra soft and fluffy bread. All that’s required is a couple of math equations and a short brain freeze. You’ll be good to go.

Here’s how. Let’s say your bread recipe requires 12.75 oz flour and 8.5 oz liquid (67% hydration).

1. Quantity of flour and liquid for the Tangzhong:

Flour: Between 5-12% of the total weight of flour in any bread recipe is needed for the tangzhong. The higher the percentage, the stickier the dough will become. If you use a stand mixer, you can aim a higher percentage. If you knead by hand (like me), stick with 5%. It’s sufficient to make a soft and fluffy bread.

Liquid: Multiply the weight of flour by five to get the amount for liquid. Heavy cream, milk or water or a combination can be used. Heavy cream provides the richest flavor followed by milk and lastly water.

With 5%, you’ll need 0.65 oz flour (5% of 12.75 oz). As for liquid, you’ll need 3.25 oz (0.65 X 5).

With 10%, you’ll need 1.25 oz flour and 6.25 oz liquid and so on so forth.

2. Quantity of flour and liquid for the dough:

Flour: You’ve used 0.65 oz flour for the tangzhong so what’s left is 12.1 oz (12.75 oz – 0.65 oz) flour.

Liquid: You’ve used 3.25 oz liquid for the tangzhong so what’s left is 5.25 oz (8.5 oz – 3.25 oz) liquid.

3. Liquid used: Because heavy cream has the most amount of fat, it is the easiest to knead and isn’t sticky at all compared to if using milk and water. You may need to lightly flour the work surface if using milk or water. Whether or not you need to flour the work surface is also affected by how much liquid has been evaporated when making the tangzhong.

4. Other ingredients remain the same in your original recipe. You can opt to increase the amount of sugar and add or omit the egg if you want to. Egg adds flavor and richness to the bread.