Have you ever eaten Shokupan, the Japanese milk bread? You must try it! It’s the delicious, soft and fluffy white bread loaf that you can get in Japan. The golden brown crust and soft white inside make it irresistible. It is amazingly fluffy and stays 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.
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 by adding Yudane to a bread dough (the 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 ingredients to make Yudane. So to make 1 standard loaf size dough, we need 250 x 0.2 = 50g bread flour. Yudane flour to water ratio 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 plastic wrap and leave it on the kitchen bench or in the 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 active 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 gluten 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 the whole milk 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 even 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
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. 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 the night before. (8-12 hours)
- Knead all ingredients using a stand mixer, bread machine or by hand (20min)
- The first rise (45-60 min depends on the temperature)
- Divide & roll
- Bench time (20 min)
- Shape
- The second rise (30 min)
- Bake (30 min)
Tips for Making Shokupan Japanese Milk Bread 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 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). This egg salad sandwich is super popular and for good reason.
- Fruit Sando (Japanese fruit sandwich). Another popular sandwich in Japan, often made with strawberries and cream.
- Panko (Japanese bread crumbs). You can use this Japanese bread to make Japanese bread crumbs which are so crispy and perfect for using to make pork katsu or chicken katsu.
- Simply toasting the bread with some butter or jam is also great. The bread is so delicious that even eating it simply like this tastes amazing.
- You can also use this recipe to make super soft Japanese bread rolls.
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.
A: My bread form size is 3.9 x 7.9 x 3.5 inch (10 x 20 x 9 cm). I bought it in Japan. This is similar to what I have from Amazon.com.
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
Chopstick Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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.
Rosabella says
Hi thanks for this recipe. I am looking forward to trying it. Just to clarify, what do you use to spray the bread loaf tin with?
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Rosabella, Just an oil spray 😀
Christine F Nelson says
I have made the Tangzhong method many times, but decided to give the yudane method a try. Absolutely delicious, and so simple. My question is I would like to make a sweet dough version for cinnamon rolls etc. Would the addition of increased sugar change anything, or would I have to make other adjustments to the recipe? Thank you
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Christine. Thank you. Yes you need to make adjustment for sweet bread.
Christine says
I know I would have to increase the sugar but would I have to also increase the butter, and could you tell me about how much of an increase? I know this soft moist bread would make awesome sweet rolls. Thank you
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Christine, it will be a whole new different recipe. I am planning to do some more bread recipes using the Yudane method. So stay tuned 😀
Lucy says
Hi I’ve made this quite a few times and it always turns out amazingly good. I wanted to know if I could make it with whole grain flour to make it a bit healthier, should I replace all white flour or do half and half? Thanks
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Lucy yes you can use whole grain flour 😀
Lili says
Thank you for the recipe but how long can we keep yudane after making or can we use it straight away after making the yudane? Thank you
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Lili, no you don’t use straight away. It is in the post explained 😀
Shereen Yong says
Hi I have made the Yudane and kept it overnight. Do I need to take out and leave at room temperature on the day I wanna bake the shokupan? I tried but my shokupan dough seems sticky and doesn’t rise much at the 2nd rise . 🙁
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Shereen, you don’t have to leave the yudane out. I just add into my bread machine and knead all together. There are many things affect so I can’t really pinpoint what went wrong. This dough is quite sticky for hand knead.
Mei says
New to bread making and this recipe turned out amazing! I followed the recipe exactly and the bread was so soft! If I want to make 2 loaves could I just double the recipe or should I make them separately?
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Mei I would double if I have two mold 😀
Muzzy says
This is a foolproof recipe. I’ve made this many times now and have never failed. Love it 💓
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Muzzy 😀
Heidi Roth says
I cannot wait to make this bread – thank you so much for such a detailed explanation of the process. I have made milk bread using a tangzhong, but not with a Yudane and I can’t wait to see the difference.
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Heidi, you will find yudane is better:D
Astri says
Hi…
I will try your recipe…
I beginner…hopely i can make it….xixi
Thanks for the recipe
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
You are welcome. Hope your Shokupan turns out fluffy and delicious!
Tania says
Thank you! I just made this, and it turned out delicious. I’m making another loaf right now to share with my family!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Tania, you family will love Shokupan 😀
Tania says
They did love it! I’m trying the vegan version for my cousin now.
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Fantastic Tania!
Naomi says
Hi, thank you for the recipe. My friend used this recipe and she was very happy with the result. Do you think I can double the recipe since this is quite a small loaf bread?
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Naomi yes of course. I have just answered another reader’s question about how much multiply the ingredients.
Huong Nguyen says
Which bread do you think is better? Bread made with yudane or tangzhong ? Does one stay softer than the other? We love the Hokkaido bread made with tangzhong and will try this one soon!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Hyong Nguyen, I have never made tahgzhong so I don’t know. I am super happy with my yudane method so I don’t need to try something else 😀
Neta says
Thank you for the recipe ! love it
May I ask whether this method is also suitable for making bread or pull-apart bread with filing such as chocolate, cheese, etc? I’m asking this because people mostly use this method for loaf.
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Neta, yes you can use for pull apart etc 😀
Denise says
Hello there, wanted to attempt this recipe, do you know what the rough dough weight you got before shaping?
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Denise, it was about 16oz/460g.
Mai says
Where is best to rest the yudane. In the refrigerator or on the counter?
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Mai, It depends. I leave it on kitchen bench in winter and in Summer rest it in the fridge.
Samantha says
Thank you for sharing the awesome recipe and thorough explanations! I have a different pan size, 13x4x4 inches, and was wondering how much should I scale up your recipe?
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Samantha, Is this same Samantha that I have just answered? Sorry to took so long to answer 😀
Carmen says
Hi Shikoku,
Is your baking tin a special one for shokupan? I would love to try this but only have regular loaf tin.
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Carmen, yes it is. It is for bread. But you can use any loaf tin.
Fred Rex says
You do not need to use unsalted butter. Salt in butter is about 16mg per gram. For the 10g of butter in this recipe, that amounts to 160mg, or about 1/6th of a gram of salt. As the recipe already contains 30 times as much salt (5g or 5000mg vs 160mg), the salt in the butter will have no effect at all on the final product. Use whatever butter you have! I’m planning on making the recipe tomorrow – I have the yudane/tangzhong resting in my fridge!
Samantha says
Thank you for your thorough explanations, your recipe is the best that I have come across so far! If I have a larger pan, can I scale your recipe? My pan size is 13x4x4 inches, how much should I scale up? Thanks a lot in advance!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Samantha, you need to multiply by 1.8. Use the bakers percentage, multiply flour amount x1.8 and calculate other ingredients from the baker’s percentage 😀 Hope this helps. Let me know you have more questions.
Ira Tedja says
I have been looking for a recipe to get the soft bread texture that I love and I’ve finally found it! Thank you for sharing the recipe and also the notes on such extensive additional information to make this recipe works well.
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Ira 😀
Bew says
Hi,
I want to try your recipe but I don’t have a stand mixer or a bread maker. Can I hand knead this? Do I need to change anything in the recipe?
Thanks! 🙂
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Bew, it will be sticky but yes you can hand knead.
Linda Wijaya says
Hi Shihoko
Can I use.Baker’s flour… we can’t find bread flour in Australia.
Thx heaps
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Hi Linda Yes 😀