Hokkaido milk bread

I get asked a lot about making simple breads and this one is one of my favorite crowd pleasers. Milk bread or Shokkupan, is a Japanese staple that's often used to make toast or tamago sandos – egg salad sandwiches. It's a slightly sweet, very soft bread that I find to be one of the world's most enjoyable varieties.

It's great alone, it's great in sandwiches, it's just really good. It's also very easy to make. It's my number one recommended bread for most people looking to 'just start making bread' and a great way to get a win on the board as you begin your baking journey. It's largely foolproof and requires only a single piece of baking equipment – a bread pan.

A loaf takes only about 3.5 hours to prepare and 25 minutes to bake, so it's also a great 'emergency bread'. The fast proofing and easy baking nature of it makes it a very chill option for those who get overwhelmed easily with baking.

My favorite recipe for it is this one that uses a roux called a Tanzhong. But there are many similar ones so you should experiment. I'll make a bake-through of this soon over on the Panzer Cooks Instagram so feel free to follow there for more cooking stuff.