Vegan Japanese Milk Bread 🍞 Vegan Shokupan 食品パン -

Because it was a better value, I bought a large quantity of active dry yeast. I don’t want it to expire without a few great dough endeavors! After I gave cinnamon rolls another try, it was time to experiment again and expand my baking skills. When I saw this Milk Bread recipe from the amazing blog Seitan is My Motor I knew it would be well-deserving. Within the adjustment of the lower summer responsibilities, I gave it a try.

Milk bread is a Japanese treat of fluffy and sweet bread that is similar to brioche. After I decided I’d make it, my mind boggled with possibilities of its use: French toast, regular toast, eating it as-is, etc. 😆 It is a decadent-looking bread… and I’ve always appreciated how clear it is that it is not for vegans. Until now.

I made some ingredient changes to Seitan is My Motor‘s recipe, but followed her words to a T. I added my notes in the recipe posted below. First, I substituted soy milk for almond milk. Both contain lecithin, which is a necessary ingredient in the eggs that have been left out in her adaptation of this recipe. I also had bread flour on hand, though I may have had it on hand for like years. I plan to try this recipe again using her combination of all-purpose flour & vital wheat gluten to test if my bread flour expired. Can it expire? Everything else is the same.

The first part of the recipe is to make Tangzhong, a Japanese technique for dreamy bread texture. The jist of it is this: science. Tangzhong helps the starches absorb more water resulting in moist and tender breads. I am excited about the technique as my bread making trials of yesteryears always resulted in such unappealing dense textures. But that was a long time ago. What is life if not trials and retrials, and getting it right… then righter. Then, righter in your new predicament. Repeat infinitely. Or don’t and just sit there like a lump. Whoa, that kind of strayed from the topic on hand.

Without further digression, vegan milk bread or vegan shokupan or, again, 食品パン.

Tangzhong
180 g almond milk
30 g all-purpose flour

Dough
320 g luke warm almond milk
130 g sugar
10 g active dry yeast
700 g bread flour
100 g silken tofu, blended
6 g salt
85 grams vegan butter, soft

Egg Wash
2 tablespoons of sugar dissolved in 3 tablespoons of water

1–Prepare the Tangzhong by placing soy milk and flour in a small pan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly. It will get boil-y then mellow out when it thickens. This is when I turned off the heat. I continued to whisk for two minutes. It thicken a great deal while cooling. I cooled it for about 45 minutes. It should cool to a pasty texture. I guess because it is paste at this point.

2–Next you will begin the dough. My almond milk was cold so I nuked it for 45 seconds just until slightly warmer than room temperature. Pour the milk into a large bowl and then add sugar mixing until dissolved. After, add active dry yeast and mix. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. You should see some chemical reactions.

3–After, add bread flour, silken tofu, Tangzhong, and salt. Mix with a utensil until it’s incorporated then get to kneading with your hands. It will be come a fairly sticky dough. I didn’t add any flour to it as her recipe makes no mention of this. I kneaded for 5 minutes.

4–After the 5 minutes I added half the Earth Balance and continued to knead. Now it was soppy and wet but it began to take on a uniform dough feel after kneading. But then I added the rest of the EB. I kneaded a total of about 5 minutes. It was a bit of a wet dough in the end. Leave in a bowl and let it sit at room temperature for an hour. Meanwhile, prepare two loaf pans, greasing each with coconut oil on all sides.

Before…
After an hour.

5–After it has risen, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. On a floured surface, roll one piece out into a long oval strip. Fold the bottom third onto the middle third, then fold the top onto that, like a tri-fold wallet or like Paul from The Great British Bake-off shows ya how to do. Then roll the dough with you pin back to the same length of the original oval. Roll that oval up and place into your pan. (I’m really sorry if that sounds so convoluted.) Do that for the rest of the five pieces.

6–Cover the pans with the same wet towel and leave to proof for another hour. At this time you can make the “egg” wash. In a small bowl combine sugar and water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. You can also preheat the oven to 350 towards the end of the proofing time. And move an oven rack real low.

Before…
After an hour.

7–At the end of the proofing time, brush the top of the bread with the “egg” wash. Then place the pans on the bottom rack and bake for 30 minutes. After, give another wash with the sugar water and place back in the oven for 4 minutes. This will make it super delicious looking. After the four minutes, let sit at room temperature until it is cool. Glance at it seductively while its cooling down. Then remove bread from the pan and do what you do with bread. Take pictures of it!