Milk Bread
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Milk Bread: Amazing for sandwiches. Springy, light, & subtly sweet. Take your white bread to the next level with this easy recipe!
Looking for a way to up your sandwich game? This milk bread recipe is for you!
While I love a good pillowy loaf of white bread, soft whole wheat bread, or hearty rye bread, this is yet another great option. It’s moist, springy, just a little sweet, and the flavor is on point.
Table of Contents
- Here’s Why You’ll Love This
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- In Photos: How to Make Milk Bread
- Helpful Tips & Tricks
- More Yeast Bread Recipes
Here’s Why You’ll Love This
- Easy to make: Even a beginner can master this Japanese milk bread recipe!
- Great flavor: Milk bread tastes similar to white bread. It’s slightly sweet and very soft.
- Awesome for sandwiches: This bread slices up a dream and it’s perfect for sandwiches!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Sugar: Granulated white sugar gives a mild sweetness to the bread, but it also feeds the yeast, keeps the loaf moist, and helps it to brown.
Salt: Carries and intensifies all the flavors.
Yeast: Instant yeast helps the bread to rise.
Flour: A combination of bread flour and all-purpose flour give this loaf the perfect balance of elasticity and tenderness.
Milk: Provides a rich and distinctive flavor. Whole milk is best but you can sub with another kind if you like. Even a plant-based milk should work! Make sure it’s warm but not hot. Hot milk could kill the yeast!
Butter: Keeps the bread moist and adds a nice flavor.
Egg: Gives the milk bread a lovely golden color, as well as adding structure and richness.
In Photos: How to Make Milk Bread
This recipe is easy to prepare with a stand mixer! If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand or in a bread machine.
Step 1: Whisk the sugar, salt, yeast, and both types of flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Step 2: With the mixer running on medium-low, add the milk, butter, and egg.
Step 3: Knead for 7-8 minutes until smooth and no longer sticky.
Step 4: Place the dough in an oiled bowl and loosely cover it with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 1 – 1 1/2 hours (or 30 minutes with fast-acting yeast).
Step 5: Punch dough down, knead briefly, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Next, shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a 9×5-inch pan.
Step 6: Allow the loaf to rise a second time, then brush the top with milk and bake!
Helpful Tips & Tricks
Shaping the loaf: Take your time shaping the loaf to make sure it’s even before the final rise.
Use fast-acting yeast: Save time by using fast-acting instant yeast instead of regular instant yeast. This will cut the rise time in half (or longer).
Milk bread rolls: If you’d like to bake rolls instead of a loaf, this recipe should yield about 8.
Overnight milk bread: Make the dough ahead of time and it will keep in the fridge for up to 48 hours, or in the freezer for 2 weeks. I’d suggest doing everything up to shaping the loaf. Then let it chill, and when you’re ready for freshly baked bread allow it to come to room temp and have its second rise before sliding it into the oven.
More Yeast Bread Recipes
As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Milk Bread
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons (36 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) kosher salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (27 g) instant yeast
- 2 cups (250 g) bread flour
- 1 1/2 cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour, (you may need slightly more or less all-purpose flour)
- 1 cup (244 g) milk, (preferably whole) warm (105-110 degrees F)
- 5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 (44 g) egg, large, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) milk, (preferably whole) for brushing
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the sugar, salt, yeast, bread flour, and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour.
- With the machine running on medium-low speed, slowly add the milk, butter and egg using the dough hook attachment.
- Slowly add in as much of the remaining all-purpose flour as needed until the dough is slightly moist but not sticky.
- Knead the dough on medium speed for 7-8 minutes until smooth.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover it loosely.
- Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (approx. 1 – 1 1/2 hours, or 30 minutes with fast-acting instant yeast).
- Punch down the dough, knead briefly, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Form into a loaf, then place in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size (approx. 1 – 1 1/2 hours, or 30 minutes with fast-acting instant yeast).
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, brush the top of the loaf with milk, then bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden.
- Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
