Hello and welcome!
I have been baking a collection of recipes that my girls really love for their lunch boxes, I shared a few photos on Instagram and got recipe requests so I decided to share this amazing milk bread recipe with you today.
I like to pretend I only make milk bread for the kids but the truth is that I really love it! It’s a type of bread I grew up eating, soft, buttery and milky.
I like to make most bread with a sponge, preferment or sourdough culture, the dough quality and flavour is just better. That said, you can totally make this bread as a straight dough by combining all the ingredients at once and letting it have a long bulk fermentation (rising).
This bread can be baked as a big loaf in a loaf pan, in larger balls or braided. I like to make them really small balls which I freeze once the bread has cooled, this also ensures I don’t stand in the kitchen and eat them all, they are that good!
Yields 16 buns
Try these soft, buttery and milky bread rolls. They are perfect for breakfast, lunch boxes and picnics. This breads dough is very easy to work with, no fuss shaping! Lets me some for the kids, winks!
2 hr, 10 Prep Time
20 minCook Time
2 hr, 30 Total Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 100g flour
- 250g milk (you can use 40g milk powder to 250ml water too)
- 5g sugar
- 5g instant yeast
- 400g flour
- 75g unsalted butter (softened at room temperature or melted)
- 10g salt
- 5g instant yeast
- 1 egg
- 45g sugar
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the sponge in a bowl, cover and leave on counter for 40 minutes. It will be almost tripled in volume and be very foamy.
- If kneading by hand, melt the butter, let it cool and beat the eggs into it. Mix it into the sponge and add the rest of the ingredients. When all the ingredients come together in the bowl, turn out on a floured surface and knead till smooth and elastic. If using a stand mixer, add all the ingredients at once, it is better if your butter is room temperature and cut up in smaller pieces for easier mixing. Mix till dough is smooth and elastic and cleans all the sides of the bowl.
- Cover dough in a bowl and proof for 60-90 minutes, it should double in volume.
- Preheat oven to 180˚C.
- Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Scale the dough as desired and start shaping. I make this recipe for my kids’ lunch boxes so I make it small, about 58g each and I get 16 balls. Shape tightly, ensuring that all seams are tucked in.
- Set all the balls on a baking paper lined tray and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise for about 30 minutes. If your balls don’t seem to have risen enough after 30 minutes, allow a further 10-15 minutes.
- Using a pastry brush, apply egg wash to the balls. This is responsible for the browning and shine.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-18 minutes. Balls should be a nice golden brown. If you shaped then bigger or in a loaf pan, you need to bake for much longer.
- Set balls unto a cooling rack, allow at least 10 minutes before attacking with some butter. Nothing beats bread fresh out of the oven!
Notes
The time required for the bread to rise and the sponge method have been added to the prep time, so there is a lot of free time in between.
Calories
Fat
Carbs
Protein
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