Have you ever eaten Shokupan, the Japanese milk bread? You must try it! It’s that delicious, soft and fluffy white bread loaf that you can get in Japan. They are amazingly fluffy and keep moist for longer than ordinary bread because of the Yudane method.
Why is Japanese Bread So Fluffy?
Why is Japanese bread so soft and fluffy and has the mochi-like texture? The answer is because of the “Yudane” method. The Yudane method makes the bread pillowy soft and fluffy and also keeps the bread from drying out quickly. This is because the heated gelatinised starch in the flour keeps the moisture inside the bread.
So What is the Yudane Method?
Yudane is made by mixing bread flour and hot boiling water. Adding hot boiling water gelatinises the starch. The gelatinised starch not only allows the starch to take in more water, but also increases the sweetness of it. Therefore adding Yudane to a bread dough(yudane method), you can make soft, moist and sweeter bread which lasts longer.
Yudane vs Tangzhong roux
- The Yudane method originated in Japan and it became widespread and the popular way to bake bread in Asian countries when Yvonne Chen introduced “Tangzhong” roux as a secret ingredient to bake the super soft and light Japanese milk bread in her book called “Bread Doctor”.
- Yudane ratio of flour and water is usually 1:1 whereas “Tangzhong roux” is made by 1:5 ratio of bread flour to water. The Tangzhong mixture is made by heating up to 149°F(65°C) then cooled down to room temperature and added to the bread dough. I will explain how to make Yudane in a paragraph below.
- I have often seen this type of bread also called “Hokkaido Milk Bread” or “Japanese Milk Bread” on social media platforms such as Pinterest. Those breads are made by the same principle either adding Yudane or Tangzhong roux to bread dough.
How to Make Yudane?
We need to deduct 20% of total flour ingredient to make Yudane. So to make 1 standard loaf size dough, we need 250 x 0.2 = 50g bread flour. Yudane flour to water ratios is generally 1:1, but I found it is easier to make yudane with 1:08 ratio. Then simply add hot boiling water (should be above 194°F/90°C) and combine them with a wooden spatula. The ideal combined dough temperature will be around 122°F/50°C. When it is cooled down, wrap with a sheet of cling wrap and leave it on kitchen bench or in a fridge.
Ingredients
You need to gather bread flour, milk, sugar, unsalted butter, Salt and Yudane that you made the night before. Some ingredients will be further explained as I have received many questions about this.
Flour
For making fluffy Japanese milk bread, we need to use bread flour that contains around 12% of protein. I use Japanese brand Nisshin flour. You can use all-purpose flour but all-purpose flour has around 10% protein content therefore the bread will not rise as high as the shokupan made with bread flour.
Yeast
I usually use LeSaffre Saf-Instant Yeast Gold
for making shokupan Japanese milk bread. If you cannot find instant dry yeast but can find fresh yeast, you can substitute. This recipe requires 1 teaspoon(5g) of dry yeast, so you would need 5g x 3 = 15g of fresh yeast.
Butter
We need to use unsalted butter. Because the salt content of butter will affect the glutein formation. If you don’t have unsalted butter, and would like to use oil instead, you can. However it is a little bit tricky because butter is solid and oil is liquid. Generally speaking, you can replace 3/4 of the amount of butter with oil.
Milk
Some readers have asked if they can replace with other types of milk. Using different milk does not affect the fluffiness and lightness of the bread. I tested using coconut milk and almond milk. Read the result in the FAQ.
Bakers Percentages
Some readers have asked to change the amount of the ingredients to make bigger or smaller sized bread loaves. Baker’s percentage is great because it is universal when each country uses different units of weight. In the table below, is the bread ingredients mixing ratio. Each ingredient is shown as a % of the flour.
| Ingredients | weight | percentage |
| Bread flour for Yudane | 50g | 20% |
| Hot water | 40g/ml | 16% |
| Bread flour | 200g | 80% |
| Milk | 150g/ml | 60% |
| Sugar | 15g | 6% |
| Instant dry yeast | 3g | 1.2% |
| unsalted butter | 10g | 4% |
| Salt | 5g | 2% |
Using Cup Measurement
Ok, if you don’t have a kitchen scale, don’t worry. I have figured out measurements for using cups. However, you need to be as precise as you can. So for example, when you measure 1 cup of flour, you need to spoon flour to the measuring cup, then level the surface with the back of a knife. The cup measurements are included in the recipe cards’ note section.
How to Make Shokupan Japanese Milk Bread?
This is the basic process of making the shokupan Japanese bread in 8 steps using Yudane method.
- Make Yudane a night before. (8-12 hours)
- Knead all ingredients using a stand mixer, bread machine or by hand (20min)
- The first rise (45-60min depends on the temperature)
- Divide & roll
- Bench time (20min)
- Shape
- The second rise (30min)
- Bake (30min)
Tips to Make Shokupan Successfully
- Start making Yudane the night before with boiling hot water. When the mixture combines the temperature of the dough should be around 122°F/50°C.
- Leaving Yudane longer will result in better Japanese bread.
- The dough rising temperature should be around 86°F(30°C). My oven has a defrost function and I set the temperature set to 86°F(30°C), so I use that setting for rising. Or use a styrofoam box with 4 little cups with hot water in the corners of the box.
Other Recipes That Call for Shokupan Japanese Milk Bread
The fluffy, soft and moist Japanese milk bread is the basis of other delicious Japanese creations.
- Tamago Sando (Japanese egg sandwich)
- Katsu Sando (Deep fried pork cutlets “Tonkatsu” sandwich)
- Fruit Sando (Japanese fruit sandwich)
- Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
How to Store the Bread?
Another tip that I can give you is that this bread is super soft, so it is better to slice it the following day. I bake the bread on a Saturday and slice it on Sunday. It will stay moist for a few days just sitting on the kitchen bench. In my household, the bread is eaten in a day or two. But if you wish, slice them and individually wrap and place them in a ziplock bag to freeze. It will last about a month.
FAQ
A: Yes, you can. But as you can see the all purpose flour did not rise well in my experiment. The texture of the bread was not fluffy, but rather it was like eating a savoury muffin. 
A: Using different milk does not affect the fluffiness and lightness of the bread. The coconut milk I used was the “Ayam Premium Coconut Milk 100 % Natural” which contains 24.3 g fat in 100ml and it is quite rich and thick. The almond milk that I used was “Sanitarium So Good Almond Milk” and contained only 1.4g per 100ml. It was very thin milk. The almond milk bread turned out fluffier and coconut milk bread was denser. Hope these experiments using different ingredients helps you make a decision as to which ingredients to use.
A: You can hand knead, however, because this has yudane in the dough which is very moist, the dough is quite sticky. Therefore, this recipe is more suitable for machine kneading. I usually use either a machine or bread mixer to knead and rise.
A: Yes you can. Some of my readers and myself have only rested the dough for about a couple hours in the fridge and the bread made with that shorter resting time of the yudane was quite successful. However, the longer you rest the yudane the better the quality of the bread.
Stay Connected
This is not a popular effortless “No Knead” type of bread recipe, however, it is worth the effort to bake this bread especially if you love any Japanese baking stuff. This is the bread you must try!
If you liked my recipe for Shokupan Japanese milk bread, please rate it and leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook , Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest happenings on Chopstick Chronicles. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ChopstickChronicles so I can see your wonderful creations!
Shokupan
Ingredients
Yudane
- 50 g Bread flour *1
- 40 ml boiling water above 194°F(90°C)
Bread
- 150 ml milk (room temperature) *3
- 15 g sugar
- 3 g dry instant yeast *2
- 10 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 200 g Bread flour *1
- 5 g salt
Instructions
- Make Yudane the night before. Place bread flour in a bowl and add boiling water and mix well. Put cling wrap and refrigerate overnight. *4
- Pour the room temperature milk into a stand mixer bowl.
- Add sugar,butter and yeast to the bowl then add the yudane as you tear it into small pieces.
- Add the bread, flour and salt.
- Attach the kneading hook onto the stand mixer and combine all ingredient on low speed 1.
- When all ingredients are combined, turn the speed up to 5 or 6 and knead the dough for 20 min.
- Roll the dough round and place the dough into a greased bowl. Wrap with cling wrap to rise for about 45 min to 1 hour at about 86°F(30°C) or until double the size.
- Use your finger, to test if the dough has risen by dusting your finger with flour and poking the dough. If the dough doesn't bounce back and the hole you poked stays there, it is ready.
- Punch the dough down and cut the dough into two equal parts with a scraper and roll them.
- Cover the rolled doughs with a wet cloth and stand it for 20 minutes bench time.
- Roll out each dough to about 5.9×7.8inch (15 x 20 cm) rectangle with a rolling pin.
- Fold the dough tightly not letting any air in towards the centre from left and right.
- Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll it from one end.
- Spray one loaf bread tin lightly and place the rolled dough in the end of the tin facing the centre.
- Cover it with a wet cloth and let the dough rise for a second time until the dough rises to the size of the bread tin about 30 min.
- Start to preheat the oven to 365 °F(185°C).
- When the dough has risen to be level with the tin, it's ready to bake.
- Bake the dough for about 25 -30 minutes in preheated oven.
- Remove the bread from the tin and cool it down on a rack. * 5
- Whisk an egg, rightly brush over the bread dough.(Optional)
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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This recipe was originally posted in 2017, since then had received so many questions and suggestions. So I have decided update the post and the recipe in order to answer all the questions asked. Thank you for those who left comments below and rate the recipe highly.
My to go recipe! Always comes out perfect! Thank you so much (:
You are welcome 😀
Thank you for this recipe and information on the different methods! I am planning on making it for fruit sando, and was wondering if I could add coloring to make the bread pink? If so, I was thinking a few drops of red to the water when making the Yudane (unless it would affect the mixture), or to the milk before combining the ingredients for even color distribution. Would this work, or do you think it would affect the outcome of the bread?
Hi Shihoko. I just tried making Shokupan using your recipe, however my dough doesn’t rise much during 2nd proofing and the bread ended up very dense. Could this be due to over kneading? I kneaded the dough with my stand mixer for about 30 minutes, coz the dough is still very sticky when I picked on it with bare hands.
1) is it normal for the dough to be still sticky even though it is well kneaded?
2) Do I need to oil my hand/fingers before I handle the kneaded dough to check for windowpane stage?
Hi Jane sorry to hear. It probably caused by not gluten formed properly and there are many reasons for this and it is difficult for me to tell what is caused unfortunately.
Thank you for this content about yudane methode. I wonder if you show how if used by hand-knead… I did once and it took such a time to get the gluten window and it doesnt look good. Thank you very much
Hi Riesza, This recipe is more like machine knead as it is quite hiderated. I receive many questions about this and thinking to post manual hand knead recipe soon.
The whisked egg wash should be applied just before the bake.
Absolutely amazing, I doubled the recipe to fit my large Pullman tin and it Perfect, thank you for sharing a fantastic recipe , the best I have made as far a freshness lasting
Hi there,
Thank you for posting this detailed recipe. I’m interested in trying your recipe to make yummy bread for my family. I will need to buy a loaf tin for this. May I know the dimensions of the tin you use for this recipe, please? Also is this aluminum or non-stick pan? Thank you so much for your help.
Cheers
Bernice
Hi, if i want to make only half recipe, how much yeast should i take in yudane dough? my kitchen scale cant measure below 1 gram.
where i should keep my yudane dough? in fridge or in kitchen
Hi Tania, You don’t need to add any yeast into yudane.
I am looking for Shokupan bread recipe. I’m good luck to meet your recipe that explains in detail, thank you very much.
You are welcome Joy
Hi Shihoko, thanks so much for this recipe. I made it yesterday with AP flour served with egg salad and it was delicious! Now I get what you mean by the mochi-like chew. I like how your recipe sticks to the basic ingredients (I see others that add egg/evaporated/condensed milk etc.). Only thing is that my bread did not rise as much during proofing as yours did, might be because I used AP flour instead of bread flour as you suggested. Perhaps I should have also used a smaller loaf pan so that it could expand the dimensions of the pan and then rise up. My pan was 9″x5″. What is the size of you pan? I will make this again 🙂
Hi Tiffany yes the most likely the flour caused not proofing as much.
Hi, can I use honey or coco sugar instead of granulated sugar?
Hi Lucy, yes you can but you can not expect same result though.
Thankyou so much for this recipe. I’ve made it a few times and it came out perfect every single time. I feel like a master baker now!
This bread is just delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Shihoko! Thank you for the recipe, I absolutely love it.
I have recently run into a shrinkage problem after I pulled the loaf out from the oven, the sides shrink quite a bit, have you run into this issue before and can perhaps give me a few pointers?
Thank you!
Hi Charlotte san, I think it is because the bread is not baked properly. You need to bake longer. If the top browned quickly, place aluminium foil over or put the baking tray lower and bake it longer. I can’t give you exact time how long, you need to test it as all ovens are different.
Hi there!
I’ve been making this bread several times and and it was delicious! However I just have one problem, my dough doesn’t seem to rise much during baking, although it already let it rise to more than 80% of the pan, it just stays at that point throughout baking.
What could cause that? Also my the crust of my bread tends to be quite hard haha
Hi Melissa, if it is rise more than 80%, I will not expect to rise more.
This happened to me today too. I think it’s because pf overhandling/ overkneading the dough. It’s quite hot in the kitchen and my dough was still sticky and messy after 20mins, and that’s when I lost time and kept mixing. I ended up with a too sticky dough that was hard to handle. I still baked it just to see how it will turn out. It stayed the same height as when I proofed it in the pan, and the crumb was tight, dense and gummy.
I’m doing it again just to see how I can work this in a hot kitchen.
Hi! I’ve made this lovely shokupan twice now, but I’m struggling with getting it to rise taller. My loaf pan is 8.27 x 4.72 x 4.6. On the second rise, I actually leave the dough in the pan for 2 hours with a wet tea towel over it and the loaf still doesn’t rise all the way to the top of the pan. What might I be doing wrong? I hope to get feedback soon. I’m determined to make this right! (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑