This Hokkaido Milk Sandwich Loaf is a soft and shredable bread, using natural fermentation. It is just as pillowy as using the Tangzhong method.
Hokkaido Milk Sandwich LoafThis Hokkaido Milk Sandwich Loaf using Natural Fermentation, is very soft and shred-able and totally delicious. It takes three days, since we are using Natural Fermentation and no commercial yeast, but the actual work is only a few minutes each day.
The time is just the fermenting and resting time. It is not as complicated as it appears. I promise!!!!
When you get a chance, come join my Facebook Natural Fermentation Real Sourdough Group.
Always start with a good and active Sourdough Starter.
If you want to make Hokkaido Hotdog Buns, use this recipe and follow the instructions for the Hotdog Buns.
Prepare the Levain by weighing our your Sourdough Starter, milk and flour on your kitchen scale. I like the Bakers Math Kitchen Scale because it is very accurate and has a Bakers Percentage setting
I use my Original Danish Dough Whisk to mix the Levain until it becomes a firm ball.
You will have to use your fingers to scrape all the flour from the bowl and form the ball. It will seem that you have too much flour and can’t get the ingredients to combine, but they will.
The mixture will stick to your fingers and you will probably get annoyed, but keep at it. After a few minutes, you will have a nice ball that you can handle.
Cover the Levain and place in a draft free spot overnight.
The next morning, you will have a puffed up, smooth Levain.
Add all ingredients except the salt and melted butter to your electric mixing bowl and place the Levain on the top. I used three eggs here, but you can use 120 grams of egg whites only or a combination.
I usually just use the egg whites and then save my three yolks and make a Key West Key Lime Pie. All egg whites yield a fluffier bread and using the whole egg will give you more of a Brioche bread.
I like to use Hoosier Farm Old Fashion Malted Milk Powder for a nicer taste, although some people like to use Hoosier Hill Farm Dry Malt (Diastatic) baking Powder .
Combine with a Danish Whisk. Cover and allow a 30 minute autolyze.
Add the melted butter and sale and set the mixer on speed 3/4 and mix for approximately 14 minutes.
You might need to stop the mixer every four minutes to prevent motor burn out.
After 10 minutes, check to see if you have the windowpane effect. It is when you can stretch the dough out, without it breaking and when you put your finger though, it is a nice smooth hole.
You should also be able to see right through the dough. Since the hubs was not around, I had to photograph the pictures myself and I could not stretch with two hands and take the picture to show you a nice windowpane.
Once you achieve the windowpane, butter your food safe bowl and place dough in the bowl. I use the Cambro 2-Quart Round Food-Storage Containers. Just look at that luxurious dough.
Cover the Dough
Cover and let bench rest for two hours. The Kay Dee Designs Flour Sack Cotton Towels are my favorites as the designs are cute and the size is perfect.
I keep one over my Snow River Bread Board when not in use.
At the end of two hours, fold the dough and shape into a ball and cover.
Place in refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Your Bakers Math Scale should show the weight at about 980 grams. Using your Bench Knife, divide the dough into four pieces.
My husband, was kind enough to sand my Snow River Bread Board for me and then I oiled it three times with John Taylor Butcher Block Conditioner Food Grade Mineral Oil and Natural Waxes and waxed it with Clark’s Cutting Board Finish Wax.
The wax is enriched with lemon and orange oils and beeswax and carnauba wax. It is important to oil and wax every few months.
Roll each piece into an oval shape and using your bench knife, fold in on each side and roll up.
Cover and bench rest for 10 minutes.
Place Rolled Dough into Pullman Pan
Unroll the dough along the seam and then roll up again, tighter than the first time. Place each piece, seam side own into a 13 inch Pullman Pan.
Cover Hokkaido Milk Sandwich Loaf with a Flour Sack Towel
Cover with a Flour Sack Cotton Towel and let rise at room temperature for six hours, until the dough has tripled.
The dough will rise a lot in the last 15 minutes, so don’t become impatient. Time for the oven!
Look how beautiful the color is on this loaf. While the bread is in the pan, brush the top with butter.
Remove from the pan about 20 minutes after it comes out of the oven. Place onto a Wire Cooling Rack.
Let fully cool before cutting the bread.
We like to slice the whole loaf into sandwich slices and freeze.
Cast of Ingredients for Hokkaido Milk Sandwich Loaf
This recipe can be adapted for my Japanese Hokkaido Hotdog Buns recipe.
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Simply Gourmet (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Snow River Bread/Pastry Board
- Rosle Flat Whisk
- Original Danish Whisk
- Cambro Food Container
- Baker’s Kitchen Scale
- OXO Bench Knife
- Kay Dee Designs Flour Sack Cotton Towels
- Porcelain & Bamboo Salt Box with Spoon
- Hoosier Hill Farm Old Fashion Malted Milk Powder
- 13 inch Pullman Pan
- Wire Cooling Rack
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Ingredients
Levain
- 29 grams of 100% hydration sourdough starter
- 47 grams milk
- 85 grams bread flour
Dough
- All the Levain
- 210 grams bread flour
- 210 grams all purpose flour
- 52 grams White Sugar
- 10 grams Malted Powder
- 120 grams egg whites
- 215 grams milk
After Autolyze
- 7 grams sea salt
- 52 grams butter softened
Instructions
Day One, Evening - Prep the Levain
- Prepare Levain and place in a draft free spot overnight.
Day Two
- Combine all ingredients, except butter and salt.
- Autolyse 30 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients and knead in mixer for 13 - 15 minutes at speed 3-4 until windowpane effect.
- Put in buttered bowl, cover and let rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
- Fold and put in refrigerator overnight, covered.
Day Three - Baking Day
- Remove from refrigerator and divide into four pieces.
- Roll each piece into oval shape, fold in the sides and roll them up.
- Bench rest for 10 minutes.
- Unroll the dough along the seam and then roll up again, tighter than the first time.
- Put the pieces seam side down into the pan.
- Cover and rise at room temp for 6 hours until dough has tripled (dough rises a lot in the last 15 minutes).
- Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
- Brush top with butter when warm.
- Remove from pan and let cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
PIN this Hokkaido Milk Sandwich Loaf {Sourdough – Natural Fermentation}!
Jill, this was the first bread recipe I’ve ventured into with my sourdough starter and it worked wonderfully. Thank you so much!
Hi Jill, I wanted to thank you for your recipe. It’s by far the best bread recipe I’ve made and I’ve made a lot! I’ve tried milk bread, Italian bread, challah using mostly yeast and some with sourdough starter but your recipe has yielded the most delicious bread that my entire family likes. I’ve made your recipe twice and both times I used an unfed starter which turned out great. I used low-fat milk powder the first time and buttermilk powder the 2nd time and the kids liked the buttermilk version better. I also used a scale and measured the ingredients but because the dough ends up being so wet that I end up having to add a lot of flour to make it work so the dough ends up weighing about 1080g. So I made it into two loaves of bread. Just some details to set expectations for others. Thanks again!
Hi Sarah. Thank you so much. If you continue to mix the dough, it will become very pliable and you should not need to add more flour. Did you do an autolyse first? Jill
Hi Jill, i made this 3times and really love it but the proofing takes too long. Was wondering if i can skip the cold proof and let it proof on my countertop till it triple and bake on same day? So i will make the levain the night before and start mixing in the morning and let proof for the day. It’s quite hot here in asia. Will it affect anything?
What temp is the cool
Proof?
Hello Jill,
I’m just wondering if the starter will over ferment if I leave it after mixing for 24 hours before I mix in the bread flour.
Also, can I just use bread flour with whole wheat instead of all purpose and to use only 20g sugar please? Will the softness be compromised?
Hi, I’m just a guest but wanted to share my thoughts 🙂 I think it would be fine to use the bread flour instead of all purpose, but as you suspected as well as I do, I think that the softness will be slightly compromised. All purpose flour is a mix of hard and soft wheats where as bread flour is only hard wheat, which has higher gluten and protein content. Hope this helps. 😀
Jill, now that the weather is warming up, I’m wondering if I can prep the levain early in the morning and prep the dough in the afternoon and bake the bread at night if the rise is as expected, of course…
I’ve have never made the bread all in one day, but with warm weather, that would change things. You certainly can try. Jill
I adore this bread recipe, but recently the sides have started to collapse slightly, giving the bread an hourglass shape. Any idea why, maybe overproofing? It still tastes amazing but I’m not sure what I’ve done differently.
If it was coming out right and now there is a change, it may be because of the weather and over proofing. Try baking it after about three hours and see how that works. Jill
Hi i usually feed the starter once before adding it into levain recipe. Can i use the starter directly to form the levain?
Jill, what role does the malt play? Could I just not use it? This looks amazing and I want to make it but I don’t have malt powder. ):
Foggia, you can skip the malt. It just adds a bit of flavor, so no worries. Jill
amazing thank you
This is my 2nd time making this in a span of 2weeks! I really love the texture and the slight hint of sourdough in it. I’m so happy that i can make a milk loaf using the starter as my family prefers soft bread. It’s the softest bread I have ever made, it’s comparable to tangzhong texture but more flavorful. I wonder if you would do a tangzhong+sourdough starter soon 🙂
There’s an article comparing sourdough Hokkaido to sourdough + tangzhong in a test and found no difference. I’ve also tried another recipe that does both and I prefer this recipe for the ease and same texture. Jill’s recipe is a winner.
Thanks, Michelle. Jill
This is a excellent recipe but can it made without egg , with some substitute?
Thank you so much. I’ve not tried it without egg. Jill
I haven’t baked a milk bread like this before yet, but I was curious – what does the stiff milk starter the day before do for the bread? Has anyone tried it with just a regular fed 100% hydration starter and had any success?
It gives it the super soft, shredable crumb. The texture will be the same as if you did the Tangzhong, method. Jill
Thanks for your response! This turned out really lovely!
Hi Yurianna. I am so glad to hear it. Thank you for getting back to me. Jill
This.. is… AMAZING. I can’t believe it came out of my novice kitchen. No Pullman pan, so used a 1.5# loaf pan. Baked up like an absolute dream. Thank you for such an incredible recipe.
Hi Michelle. Thank you so much. I am thrilled you enjoyed this bread recipe. Jill
Amazing recipe and results. I am now obsessed with this bread and will have in my normal rotation now. Thank you so much! I made two loaves out of this one recipe–dividing the dough into 6 rolls for two normal bread loaf pans is a great way to spread out the love. I also made a little special chocolate babka roll out of one of the big rolls of dough.
Hi Amy. Thank you so much. Babka is fantastic starting with this recipe. I am so glad you enjoyed all your baked goods. Jill
Tried the recipe, make into rolls and it was excellent.
Wonderful, Christina. We love to shape the bread for rolls too. Have you tried stuffing them and then baking? Jill
Turned out beautifully and easy steps! Just need patience.
Thank you, Michelle. Jill
Hi Jill, if I want the bread to be a bit sweeter, how much sugar can I add without compromising the bread integrity?
Michelle, after the bread comes out of the oven, try taking a little butter and running it over the crust. Then sprinkle on some sugar. That will be yummy. Jill
Hi, by room temperature, what temperature range are you referring to? Thanks =)
I have a 50% hydration starter. How do I adapt this recipe to use that instead of 100% hydration? thanks
When you pull out starter to use, change it to make it a 100% starter. Jill
Hello!
I am looking forward to trying this recipe. I don’t have a Pullman loaf pan but just a standard 9×5” loaf pan. Would this work in a pan this size if I divided it in 2 and made 2 loaves? Thank you!
Hi Louisa. I would advice dividing in half. Jill
Thank you! It turned out great :).
Hi, I made this bread and it came out soft and tender but has sour taste. Is it because I left it in the refridgerator too long? I left it about 24 hours. I wonder in your recipe, it is said to put the dough in refridgerator overnight does it mean for the dough to rise to double size? I finished kneading the dough and let it rise for two hours and folded the dough then put the dough in the refridgerator around noon time. Then I took it out around noon time the next day. Is that too long?
Sirirat, I am not sure I am following you. After 24 hours, you let it rise and put it back in the fridge again? After mixing the ingredients together on the second day (first day was the levain), it goes into the fridge overnight/24 hours is fine. Next day (third day) is shaping, long bench resting (which quadruples in size) and then baking. Jill
Hi
I wonder if your bread taste sour in this recipe, I’ve tried this and it has a sour after taste but not too strong. I wonder if all bread made with yeast starter somehow have a sour taste to it.
Thanks
This does not have a sour taste like a regular sourdough bread since there are other ingredients. It is fantastic and great for sandwich bread. Jill
Is this supposed to be melted butter (per the picture description) or softened butter (per the recipe)? Another failed attempt here. Quite disappointing.
Either way. Jill