This bacon scallion milk bread is reminiscent of the bacon scallion buns you can find at Chinese bakeries. We’ve made it in the style of a pull-apart bread, which makes it great for sharing and fun to make with kids!
A Variation On Our Famous Milk Bread
Our easy all-in-one milk bread recipe has become the base for many of our Chinese Bakery recipes. We describe it as an “all-in-one” recipe because all the dough ingredients (including yeast!) are added at the same time.
It’s a simple enriched dough that never fails to yield soft, pillowy bread. We made a couple minor modifications, like adding a little less salt to account for the saltiness of the bacon.
This bacon scallion variation is savory rather than sweet, and it’s a great option at breakfast time.
This recipe is the equivalent of half of our original milk bread recipe (to fill a small round pan). If you’d rather make individual buns, you could make 6-8 buns with this recipe, or double it to get 12-16.
Make-Ahead Tip:
If you’d like to prepare this bread in advance, you can make it all the way through Step 8 of this recipe (assembling the bread in the pan), and then cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, take it out of the refrigerator, and let it come up to room temperature, proof for 1 hour, and bake.
Bacon Scallion Milk Bread: Recipe Instructions
Take the heavy cream, milk, and egg out of the refrigerator. Allow them to come up to room temperature, 30-45 minutes.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl, add the ingredients in the following order: heavy cream, milk, ½ of a beaten egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt.
Don’t have cake flour?
Make a quick substitute: Measure out 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, remove 1 1/2 teaspoons of it, and replace it with 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch. Sift it all together, and voila! To make larger amounts of cake flour, replace 2 tablespoons of flour with cornstarch for every 1 cup of flour.
Turn the mixer on to the lowest setting (or stir with a wooden spoon), and mix until a dough forms. Knead the dough on the lowest setting for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl, but stick to the bottom of the mixing bowl. If kneading by hand, extend the kneading time by 5-10 minutes.
If you’re in a humid climate and the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it pulls away from the sides. Avoid adding too much additional flour, or the bread will be dense and less fluffy.
Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 60-90 minutes, or until doubled in size. I like proofing it in a closed microwave with a large mug of boiling water next to it.
While the dough is proofing, cook the bacon on both sides, until crisp but still pliable.
Cool and chop into ½ inch pieces. Prepare the scallions by washing them, wiping them thoroughly dry, and finely chopping them. Thoroughly grease an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan with butter or oil.
After the dough has doubled in size, punch the air out of it and knead for 5 minutes.
Form it into a round ball, and roll it out into a ¼ inch (0.66 cm) thick rectangle or rough circle. Sprinkle the scallions and bacon evenly over the dough.
Cut it into small 1.5 inch (4 cm) squares.
Fold each square in half like a taco with the bacon scallion filling on the inside. Nestle them in the pan standing up on one end of the taco.
At this point, you can cover and refrigerate the dough overnight if making this recipe in advance. The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Let it come up to room temperature, and proceed with the next step.
Proof the dough for 1 hour. Towards the end of the proofing process, place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 350°F/175°C.
Brush the top of the proofed dough with egg wash.
Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Take the hot bread out of the oven. Immediately brush with the sugar water mixture to give it a nice shine! Cool, and enjoy warm or at room temperature.
Bacon Scallion Milk Bread
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup heavy cream (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup whole milk (at room temperature)
- 1/2 large egg (beaten, at room temperature)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup cake flour (tap measuring cup to avoid air pockets)
- 1 3/4 cups bread flour (tap measuring cup to avoid air pockets)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces bacon
- 1 cup scallions (chopped, about 8-9 scallions)
- egg wash (whisk the remaining 1/2 egg with 1 teaspoon water)
- quick simple syrup (2 teaspoons sugar, dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water)
Instructions
- Take the heavy cream, milk, and egg out of the refrigerator, and allow them to come up to room temperature, 30-45 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl, add the ingredients in the following order: heavy cream, milk, ½ of a beaten egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt.
- Turn the mixer on to the lowest setting (or stir with a wooden spoon), and mix until a dough forms. Knead the dough on the lowest setting for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl, but stick to the bottom of the mixing bowl. If kneading by hand, extend the kneading time by 5-10 minutes.
- If you’re in a humid climate and the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, add a little more flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it pulls away from the sides. Avoid adding too much additional flour, or the bread will be dense and less fluffy.
- Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 60-90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- While the dough is proofing, cook the bacon on both sides, until crisp but still pliable. Cool and chop into ½ inch pieces. Prepare the scallions by washing them, wiping them thoroughly dry, and finely chopping them. Thoroughly grease an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan with butter or oil.
- After the dough has doubled in size, punch the air out of it and knead for 5 minutes. Form it into a round ball, and roll it out into a ¼ inch (0.66 cm) thick rectangle or rough circle. Sprinkle the scallions and bacon evenly over the dough, and cut it into small 1.5 inch (4 cm) squares.
- Fold each square in half like a taco with the bacon scallion filling on the inside. Nestle them in the pan standing up on one end of the taco. At this point, you can cover and refrigerate the dough overnight, if making this recipe in advance. The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator, let it come up to room temperature, and proceed with the next step.
- Proof the dough for 1 hour. Towards the end of the proofing process, place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 350°F/175°C.
- Brush the top of the proofed dough with egg wash. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Take the hot bread out of the oven, and immediately brush with the sugar water mixture to give it a nice shine! Cool, and enjoy warm or at room temperature.
is there really no oil or butter added in the dough? thanks
Yes Charlotte, the heavy cream is what adds the fat to the dough.
No, Charlotte, there is enough fat from the cream.
Hey, can i substitute ham or lop cheung for the bacon? Thanks in advance!
Use, Bowen, just remember to slice them thinly.
Thank you for sharing this great recipe, Judy! I made two loaves and they were delicious. Is there anything I can do to the existing recipe to make it even fluffier? I don’t have a mixer, so have been hand kneading. Thanks again!
Yes, Yvonne, keep the dough somewhat sticky by adding less flour.
Really yummy bread… simple & straightforward recipe… delish!
So glad you enjoyed it, Alice.
This is so good and delicious! I use a handmixer and tre result is amazing. Thanks for the recipe :)
This was so easy though time consuming but I got to exercise while the dough proofed the second time. I loved how you didn’t have to make a tanzhong to get fluffy, pillowy bread. I went heavy on the scallions and it was so good. The simple sugar at the end is a must
Totally agree, Kristina, it’s so tasty.
Perfect milk bun recipe. Where have I been all this time? Made the whole milk bun recipe and used the leftover dough for baked charsiu bun. Yum!
We are happy that you found the milk bread recipe too. A big collection of Chinese bakery recipes are waiting for you to give them a try! :-)
Hi, what temperature and how long should this be put in the oven for please if I wish to warm the loaf up again the day after it’s been baked?
Hi Jenny, you can microwave the bread for 30 seconds to warm it up.
Great thanks! I’m definitely making this one again, it’s soooo delicious!
Hi there, any suggestions on making this and your other recipes gluten free? Would substituting a gluten free all purpose flour work?? Thanks in advance.
Hi Cecilia, we have not tried using gluten free flour. Please let us know the results if you decide to try it out :-) Many thanks.
I’ve made this bread 2 times in 2 weeks and each time it was gone in 2 days. SUCH a great recipe and also very open to modifications (used oat milk instead of whole and added cheddar+mozzerella cheeses). Thank you Judy, this one’s a keeper.
So happy to hear that, Gina :-)