Shokupan
Shokupan owes its remarkable softness to the tangzhong method: part of the flour is cooked with milk and water into a paste that holds more water in the dough than raw flour could absorb. The bread stays moist for three days and the crumb pulls apart in threads like cotton wool.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Tangzhong 15 min
- Kneading 20 min
- Bulk fermentation 90 min
- Shaping the rolls 15 min
- Proving in the tin 70 min
- Baking 35 min
- Cooling 60 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneCook the tangzhong
Whisk 25 g of flour with the milk and water in a small pan, set over medium heat and stir until the mixture thickens into a pudding — 3–4 minutes, at which point it is 65°C. Transfer to a bowl and cool to lukewarm.
Ingredients: 25 g bread flour · 60 ml milk · 60 ml water
TipThe whisk leaves visible trails on the base — that is the sign the paste is ready.
A pudding-like paste — this is what holds moisture in the bread for three days.Knead to a windowpane
Mix the flour, sugar, milk powder, yeast and salt, add the warm milk, egg and cooled tangzhong. Knead in a mixer for 12 minutes, then add the butter cube by cube and knead another 8 minutes until the dough passes the windowpane test: stretched between your fingers, it forms a thin, translucent membrane.
Ingredients: 350 g bread flour · 140 ml milk · 40 g sugar · 20 g milk powder · 6 g dried yeast · 7 g salt · 1 pcs egg · 40 g butter · 1 tbsp milk for brushing
TipDo not cut the kneading short. Without fully developed gluten shokupan will not shred.
A translucent membrane with no tear — only now is the dough ready.Ferment for 90 minutes
Move to an oiled bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm for 90 minutes until doubled. A finger dent should spring back slowly, not instantly.
Ingredients: 350 g bread flour · 140 ml milk · 40 g sugar · 20 g milk powder · 6 g dried yeast · 7 g salt · 1 pcs egg · 40 g butter · 1 tbsp milk for brushing
Shape three rolls
Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each into an oval, fold the sides into the middle like a letter, turn 90° and roll up tightly. Place the rolls side by side seam down in a 25 cm loaf tin.
Ingredients: 350 g bread flour · 140 ml milk · 40 g sugar · 20 g milk powder · 6 g dried yeast · 7 g salt · 1 pcs egg · 40 g butter · 1 tbsp milk for brushing
Three rolls side by side create the characteristic strands of crumb.Prove in the tin
Cover and leave for 60–70 minutes until the dough reaches 1 cm below the rim. Do not wait longer — over-proved shokupan collapses in the oven.
Ingredients: 350 g bread flour · 140 ml milk · 40 g sugar · 20 g milk powder · 6 g dried yeast · 7 g salt · 1 pcs egg · 40 g butter · 1 tbsp milk for brushing
Bake for 35 minutes
Brush the top with milk and bake at 170°C for 33–35 minutes. If the top browns after 20 minutes, cover with foil. Turn out of the tin at once and cool on a rack for at least an hour.
Ingredients: 350 g bread flour · 140 ml milk · 40 g sugar · 20 g milk powder · 6 g dried yeast · 7 g salt · 1 pcs egg · 40 g butter · 1 tbsp milk for brushing
Straight from the tin onto a rack — otherwise steam softens the crust.
Before you start
Without a mixer
Knead by hand for 25–30 minutes, lifting the dough, slapping it on the worktop and folding it over. The dough is very sticky for the first 10 minutes — that is normal.
Pullman version
Bake in a lidded tin for perfectly square slices. Fill the tin only to 40% of its height.
Storage
Keep in a sealed bag at room temperature for up to 3 days. Do not refrigerate — bread stales much faster in the cold.
