Japanese Milk Bread with Yudane (Shokupan)

This Japanese Milk Bread with Yudane is a soft and fluffy white bread often featured in Japanese bakeries. It's also known as shokupan. 

 

This Japanese milk bread, also known as shokupan, is fluffy, soft, and extra moist. It begins with a yudane, which is a mixture of flour and boiling liquid (either water or milk). 

The process gelatinizes the flour (similar to a tangzhong), so that you can use a higher hydration dough without making the dough overly sticky and difficult to handle. This also helps the bread stay fresh longer. 

If you've ever been in a Japanese bakery, I'm sure you were completely enthralled by the soft and fluffy breads. 

The bread is typically baked in a Pullman pan, which is a lidded bread pan with square sides. The one I used is 13 inches by 4 inches and can be used with or without the lid. 

Even if you are a fan of rustic sourdough loaves with chewy and crispy crusts, every once in a while, you might get a craving for a soft white bread. 

Try this bread. It makes amazing toast and "sandos," which are Japanese sandwiches filled with either egg salad, pork cutlets (Katsu), or fresh fruit and whipped cream. 

After making tons of hokkaido breads, my first homemade shokupan included black sesame seeds. What's the difference? It's the method for cooking the flour. With a yudane, you pour boiling liquid over the flour, and with the tangzhong method, you cook the liquid and flour together until the mixture reaches the consistency of pudding. 

I love the swirls in the baked loaf. Plus, you can literally pull apart each section if you like for mini loaves. 

Ingredients:

From the Pantry: Bread flour, sugar (just two tablespoons), salt, and instant yeast. 

From the Refrigerator: Milk and butter. 

Water. 

To Make the Dough:

First, make the yudane. Mix some flour with boiling water and then let the mixture cool. Tear the yudane into one-inch pieces when you are ready to make the dough. 

Next, in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the yudane, milk, flour, and yeast. Mix with the dough hook and then let the dough autolyse for 15 minutes. Add the salt and sugar and then mix for 10 minutes, adding the butter halfway through. Mix for another 5 to 10 minutes. Let the dough rise until doubled. 

To Shape this Shokupan:

First, (1) divide the dough into four equal pieces and form them into balls. Let them rest. 

Next, roll the balls out into 7-inch squares and (2) fold it into thirds, like and envelope. Roll the folded dough out into 9 inch strips. (3) Roll the strips up and place them (4) seam side down into the oiled Pullman pan. 

Place the lid on the pan but don't close it all of the way. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the open end and let the dough rise until it's about 1/2 inch below the top. 

Close the lid and bake the bread. 

You'll love making sandwiches with this bread. Be sure to serve your sandwich with Japanese potato salad! 

Baking the Alphabet! 

"Y" is for Yeast, Yemma Aouïcha, Yudane, Yogurt, Yuzu, Yuca, and Yellow! 

Eleven recipes with ingredients or names starting with the letter "Y": 

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Y is for Yeast: Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls 
• Food Lust People Love: Yemma Aouïcha – Eggplant with Chickpeas 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Japanese Milk Bread with Yudane (Shokupan) 
• Culinary Cam: Garlicky Yogurt Topped with Çılbır, Turkish Poached Eggs 
• Blogghetti: Fresh Fruit Yogurt Parfait Recipe 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Kiwi Yogurt Whip 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Tzatziki 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Thandai Baked Yogurt 
• A Messy Kitchen: Yuzu Pie 
• Magical Ingredients: Yuca Paratha 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Jalapeño Yellow Cornmeal Brown Sugar Cookies

Japanese Milk Bread with Yudane (Shokupan)

Yield: 18 Slices

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 35 MinInactive time: 2 H & 30 MTotal time: 3 H & 35 M

This Japanese Milk Bread with Yudane is a soft and fluffy white bread often featured in Japanese bakeries. It's also known as shokupan.

Ingredients

For the Yudane

• 117 grams (4 1/8 ounces/3/4 cup) bread flour
• 1/2 cup boiling water

For the Dough

• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 416 grams (14 2/3 ounces/2 2/3 cups) bread flour
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Instructions

To Prepare the Yudane

1. Mix the flour and boiling water in a small bowl. Let cool.
2. When it's cool enough to handle, tear the dough into 1 inch pieces.

To Prepare the Bread

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the yudane pieces and milk and stir.
2. Add the flour and yeast and knead with the dough hook and mix on low for 1 to 2 minutes. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes.
3. Add the sugar and salt and mix with the dough hook on medium-low for 10 minutes. Add the butter and continue to mix for an additional 5 to 10 minutes more. The dough should be stretchy and cohesive. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl or Cambro bucket and let rise, covered, until doubled, about an hour.
4. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and form into bowls. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes.
5. Roll each dough ball into 7 inch by 7 inch squares. Fold the dough into thirds and roll into a 9 inch by 3 inch strip. Roll up the strips and place them, seam side down into an oiled 13 inch by 4 inch Pullman pan. Cover the pan almost all of the way with the Pullman cover, covering the gap with plastic wrap.
6. Let the dough rise until about 1/2 inch to the top of the lid. Close the lid and heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 195 to 200 degrees F.
7. Remove the lid and turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

138

Fat (grams)

2 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

1 g

Carbs (grams)

24 g

Fiber (grams)

1 g

Net carbs

23 g

Sugar (grams)

2 g

Protein (grams)

5 g

Cholesterol (grams)

5 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2024/12/japanese-milk-bread-with-yudane-shokupan.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Yudane, Shokupan

Bread

Japanese

Recipe adapted from Cook's Illustrated, Number 176, May/June 2022.