hokkaido milky buns.

Surprise, surprise! I made bread after at least a year of not baking any. I feel so out of touch with bread baking but at least I can still recall the steps and dos and don'ts.

I remember that back when I was in a bread-baking craze I searched for recipes that yield bread that is not just soft and fluffy on the day it's baked, but also days after. And amongst many of those recipes I've found, this appears to be one of them, judging from the tick placed beside the recipe title on my handwritten copy.

Although making bread is admittedly time-consuming, the effort needed is definitely not directly proportional and it's a great deal more fun than I remembered it to be. I had a bit too much fun with the fillings - peanut butter and jam, peanut butter and chocolate chips, cheese and butter, and even chocolate mousse cake. For the oval shaped ones, I slathered mayonnaise on all of them, sprinkled sesame seeds and dried parsley on two, and drizzled teriyaki sauce and showered furikake on the other two. (Can I just say that I love the mayonnaise parts?)

Essentially, I would just like to convey that this recipe makes bread that remains soft even on day two. But of course, since freshly-baked bread is always better, just keep the dough in the fridge until you're ready to bake with it. Have fun!

Hokkaido Milky Buns

makes 10

270g bread flour

30g cake flour

5g yeast

15g milk powder

40g sugar

4.5g salt

1/2 egg

1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

1/3 cup heavy cream, at room temperature

Place all the ingredients in their listed orders in a mixing bowl. With the kneading hook attached, mix on medium speed until the dough comes together. Increase speed to medium high speed and knead until   a piece of dough is able to be stretched until it's thin enough to be translucent without tearing, about 15 minutes.

Gather the dough into a ball, cover, and let proof until doubled in size, about 50 minutes.

Divide the dough into 10 portions and roll each into a ball. Let the portions of dough rest for about 10 minutes before shaping.

After shaping, place the dough onto prepared baking sheets and let it proof until nearly doubled in size, around 40 minutes.

Bake at 170C for about 10 minutes.