How it all started…

Our family started getting into baking bread during March 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. We have baked breads before but not as regularly as we do now.

A really simple recipe that is highly adaptable, this milk bread dough is so versatile that you can produce sweet or savory style buns or bread to suit your family needs and wants. I can assure you that all parties will be satisfy and the bonus is your house just smell amazing while these baked buns are baked.

There are plenty of recipes out there on the web but for us this is a one mix recipe using a mixer.  

This recipe has been exhausted many times and never had any complaints with the kids. When freshly baked it won’t last long but it does keep very well for school lunches. 

Soft, buttery, pillowy – these Chinese style bakery milk bread is an instant pleaser for all ages. 

This is a master recipe.

Just a couple of key staple ingredients you can find in your fridge and pantry that should whipped up the bread in no time (pun intended). Let’s run through the ingredients we need.

Bread flour – there are all sorts of bread flour in the market. We have sourced them especially from Basic Ingredients, they are an online store based in Browns Plains, Brisbane, Queensland. We used Brero White Bread Flour, and they come in 1Kg bags which is easy to pack away and store.

Cake flour – ideally for making cakes and pastries but the low protein helps in reducing gluten formation. This adds to a fine, tender crumb and fluffy texture of the bread.

Heavy cream – the cream lends to the bread a creaminess that is divine and lovely in milk bread. Bear in mind to have this ingredient in room temperature.

Egg (large) – The egg gives the dough protein that you can’t find in normal white bread that you can buy from the supermarket. As a Mom, this is perfect as you are feeding your children protein at the same time. Double high five here!

Sugar – I use caster sugar here, these are the fine sugar that is often used for baking cakes and sweet treats. 

Instant Dry yeast – I use Lowan Whole Foods Instant Dry Yeast which means you do NOT have to activate the yeast by dissolving it with liquid or a specific agent. Yeast put simply is a single-celled living organism, which ferments sugars. It is the carbon dioxide, a by-product of this fermentation, which causes the bread to rise.

Milk Bread/Buns

Fiona Ng

Delicious chinese bakery style fluffy milk bread

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Prep Time 3 hours hrs

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Snack

Servings 4 people

Equipment

• mixer
• Dough scraper

Ingredients

  

• 160 ml heavy cream at room temperature
• 250 ml milk at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 70 grams caster sugar
• 70 grams cake flour
• 500 grams bread flour good quality
• 11 grams instant dry yeast
• 7 grams salt good quality sea salt (grind)

Instructions

 

• Combine heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour in a mixer bowl. With the dough hook attachment, mix the dough together on speed 2 for 10 minutes. Whilst mixing in the first few minutes, add in the yeast and then the salt.
• After 10 minutes of kneading, stop the mixer to check if the dough has come together. If not, change the speed to 4 and mix for an additional 10 minutes till dough is well combined.
• Now, the dough is ready for proofing. Take dough out from mixer dough into another glass bowl and cover it with cling wrap and place in a warm spot for 1 – 1.5 hours till dough has doubled in size.
• While waiting for the dough to double in size, let's prepare the loaf pans. This dough comes to an estimated weigh of 1100grams which can easily make two loaves of bread. Half of which is used for milk loaf and the other half for milk buns, or chinese style bakery bread. Line your baking loaf pans or trays with baking paper.
• When the dough has double in size, please perform either the 'poke' test or the 'windowpane' test and if dough is ready to go, punch out the air bubbles from the dough. This is most fun part of making bread, when you start to shape your loaf ready to bake.
• Pour the dough out onto the surface and weigh it, this helps to accurately bake a beautiful loaf. Divide the loaf into two portions so that its easier to manage. Our family loves milk buns – so I usually make a 12 portion milk buns with each bun dough around 40 grams (480grams) and the rest of the dough is divided into 3 equal peices and shaped into a loaf pan. Once they are all shaped, let the dough proof for another hour.
• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees, these loaves are baked for 17-18 minutes till golden in colour. Remove the bread from the pans to cool.

Notes

If you like the chinese style milk bread, the key difference is to brush the risen dough with egg wash before baking it in the oven. Once baked, remove the baked loaves from the oven and brush the buns with sugar water (2 teaspoons of sugar dissolved in 2 teaspoons of hot water). This “syrup” will give the baked loaves or baked buns a beautiful shine and sweetness.

Keyword bakery, milk bread,, milk buns