This Asian milk bread recipe is a triumph. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that for months, we’ve searched, tested, and failed time and time again to nail down a perfect recipe for soft, buttery Asian bakery milk bread. Until this past weekend, that is, when we finally did it.
There are many milk bread recipes on the net, and many of them are quite complicated. No matter how closely I followed many of these recipes, on other food blogs and Chinese recipe sites alike, I was never satisfied with their outcomes. Often, they wouldn’t come out anything like the picture! This futile search went on for about a year. Shameful, I know.
So where did this milk bread recipe come from? All along, it turned out that my cousin Heidi had the perfect recipe. Not only is this the absolutely closest recipe I’ve tried to the real deal Asian milk bread you find in Chinese grocery stores and Chinatown bakery shops, it’s actually remarkably easy.
You just have to put everything in the mixer to make the dough, proof for 60 minutes, knead the dough again, shape it, proof, and bake. No fancy ingredients or complicated steps. The final product, as you can see from our photos, is fluffy, soft, slightly sweet, and golden. What’s not to love about it?
My cousin told me that she’d been making this bread for years: two loaves a week. I can’t believe I didn’t think to ask her sooner. Ah well, all the stars eventually aligned, and I am now dizzy with happiness. Now that this search is over, I am going to start on the next recipe on my ever-growing list. But before I do, I am eager to share this super easy milk bread recipe with you so you can enjoy the fruits of my (mostly unnecessary) labor.
Just so you know, you can use a bread maker to make the dough for this recipe, but I’d recommend that you proof the dough separately, because bread maker’s proofing setting is too hot for this bread.
A few remarks:
- I used 1% milk since that’s what I had on hand, but you can use 2% or whole milk.
- Whether using active dry yeast or instant yeast, this recipe does not require you to activate the yeast in lukewarm water and sugar beforehand. The yeast gets added to the rest of the ingredients in the mixer all at once.
- You’ll want to make the whole recipe which yields two loaves because one loaf will disappear in no time.
- UPDATE: There are many other creative ways to use this great milk bread recipe. Examples of our current recipes that you can make using this milk bread: Cinnamon Raisin Buns, Hot Dog Buns, Chinese Roast Pork Buns, Coconut Buns (Cocktail Buns), Inside Out Coconut Buns and Pork Sung Buns!
Asian Milk Bread Recipe Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the ingredients in the following order: heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt. Use the dough hook attachment, and turn on the mixer to “stir.”
Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together. If you’re in a humid climate and the dough is too sticky, feel free to add a little more bread flour, 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together.
If you don’t have a mixer and would like to knead by hand, extend the kneading time by at least 5-10 minutes.
After 15 minutes of mixing, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. I proofed the dough in my oven (I had the oven on rapid proof for 5 minutes, turned the oven off, and then closed the oven door). The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.
In the meantime, grease two baking vessels on all sides with butter. I used a standard loaf pan and a 9-inch round cake pan.
After the hour of proofing, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface, and cut it in half. I made a loaf with one half of the dough by cutting it into 3 pieces and placing them in the loaf pan.
With the other half of the dough, I cut it into eight equal pieces and rolled them with my hands into 8-inch long pieces. Then I folded each “rope” in half and twisted it 3-4 times.
Then, I twisted the entire piece in on itself to make a knot. There’s no strictly right or wrong way to achieve the knot. Just make sure that the dough gets twisted in on itself and the you’re not pulling ends through the knot. It’s should be round in shape with nothing poking out when you’re done.
Once shaped, let the dough proof for another hour.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350° F/175°C. Brush the risen dough with egg wash. Bake the loaves for 23-25 minutes.
Remove from the oven to a cooling rack and brush the buns with sugar water to give them a really great shine, sweetness, and color.
To borrow a line from Ina Garten, “how easy was that?”
Milk Bread
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup heavy cream (160 ml, at room temperature)
- 1 cup milk (plus 1 tablespoon; total 250 ml, at room temperature)
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 1/3 cup sugar (75 grams)
- 1/2 cup cake flour (tap measuring cup to avoid air pockets; 70 grams)
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour (tap measuring cup to avoid air pockets; about 500 grams)
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast (11 grams)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (7 grams)
- Egg wash (whisk together 1 egg with 1 teaspoon water)
- Simple syrup (optional: 2 teaspoons of sugar, dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a mixer, add ingredients in the following order: heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt. Use the dough hook attachment, and turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together. If you’re in a humid climate and the dough is too sticky, feel free to add a little more flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together. If you don’t have a mixer and would like to knead by hand, extend the kneading time by 5-10 minutes.
- After 15 minutes of kneading, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. We proof the dough in our oven (We turned on our oven’s rapid proof setting for 5 minutes, turned the oven off, and then closed the oven door). The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.
- In the meantime, grease two baking vessels on all sides with butter, such as 2 standard loaf pans or even a loaf pan and a 9-inch round cake pan.
- After the hour of proofing, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface, and cut it in half. You can make a loaf with one half of the dough by cutting it into 3 pieces and placing them in the loaf pan. With the other half of the dough, cut it into eight equal pieces and make buns. You can really shape the dough however you like. Once shaped, let the dough proof for another hour.
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350° F/175°C. Brush the risen dough with egg wash. Bake the loaves for 23-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the buns with sugar water to give them a great shine, sweetness, and color.
Just tried it today and it’s very good – rave reviews from friends. Its a keeper!! thank you. I also added grated coconut cooked with palm sugar as a filling and turned out lovely.
Sounds lovely, Pat, you did good :-)
Just curious, all the yeasted bread i make includes butter but i’m guessing this one does not include one due to high fat content from heavy cream? Thanks in advance!
Yes, heavy cream has a lot of fat. Also, some readers had great success using oat milk and coconut milk.
Thanks for the reply!
I used a non-dairy heavy cream which i had on hand and the bread was already quite tough the next day. I’m not sure if it’s due to the heavy cream as i’m also not sure on the fat content as it seems difficult to find the info online but it’s a popular korean whipping cream. So it ended up more of like a sandwich bread rather than soft and fluffy. But will try again with another brand of heavy cream.
Hello! I love all your recipes . Thank you for making me realized I can actually make moon cakes. For this milk bread, would it be possible for me to substitute coconut milk (not can) and alternative dairy heavy cream?
I am pretty sure you can, this recipe is very forgiving.
Can i use only all purpose flour for this recipe and do i have to increase or decrease the amount of liquids. Thanks.
Hi Venessa, you can use all AP flour and shouldn’t have to adjust the amount of liquids. I found that humidity is more of a problem than the recipe itself.
Looks perfect for a picnic :D
Can’t wait to try this out!
Will it be just as good the day after baking and how long can I store the leftovers?
Thanks
Hi Issy, it’s still very good the day after baking, just make sure to store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They should be refrigerated if it’s more than 2 days old. To reheat, microwave the buns for 30 – 45 seconds.
So delicious! I had to make a couple of questionable substitutions and it was still the best enriched dough I’ve ever made :) thank you.
Thank you so much, AJ.
Can you use a bread maker with this recipe?
Does this recipe have tangzhong in it?
You can use a bread maker to make the dough, since this recipe makes 2 loaves. You can try halving the recipe, although I haven’t tried it in a bread maker myself. BTW, there is no tangzhong in this recipe.
hello Sarah! I have made this milk bread from this site many many times only using my bread maker. I follow the ingredients as posted here and I use the bread machine to mix all the ingredients and the kneading and first proofing. i run the machine on the dough option. it comes out slightly over proofed so either stop it about 10 min early if you’re going to add fillings and shape them into individual buns or if you’re making plain bread (like the one pictured in the bread pan) it should be ok to roll into a ball shape. Hope this helps!
anyways to incorporate an emails back capability as seen
if no heavy cream and cake flour and needed it what you recommend lmk ty
Hi there, you can use all AP flour instead of the cake flour and bread flour, or substitute cake flour by substituting 1/2 cup AP flour with 1 tablespoon replaced with cornstarch (sift them together). The heavy cream is a bit of a must, though!
Please use whole fat milk or Half and Half (better) if you can find it. As for the cake flour, you can use all purpose flour instead of cake flour and bread flour.
Hi Judy , Yes Yes my search to look for since I follow your introduction, easy and follow ingredient in order put in the mixer, I am not good at cook/ baker, but feel like now I can bake & cook my childhood dish as well 😀. I MADE almost every single recommended bread love it love , no 1hr 15 mins trip to chinese bakery. I m in Australia live far away for Chinese shop. Thank you so much
That’s excellent, now you have choices —— to buy or to make :-)