Milk Bread & Chardonnay

During this unprecedented time, with a global pandemic hitting hard on us, basic foods such as milk, eggs, and bread seem like luxuries. It makes us appreciate the little things in life — be less wasteful and less picky.

While my kids are adapting to a new way of life, they do request for their little cravings here and there. Lately, they carve for those freshly baked milk bread from bakeries. Milk bread originated from Asia; it incorporates a warm flour + water mixture (water roux) in a bread dough to create soft and fluffy texture.

With some yeast and all-purpose flour at home, my little ones and I made some fluffy milk bread that brought smiles from ear to ear. For us adults, we had a bonus treat — we enjoyed the bread with a glass of V. Sattui’s 2017 Carsi Vineyard Chardonnay!

Here’s the recipe:

This makes 8 small dinner rolls, using 2 round 6″ x 3″ cake tins. You can also use one large cake tin to place all the rolls in one container.

Water Roux’s Ingredients: 2.5 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and 6 tablespoons of water

Part 1:

1. Mix the flour and water in a small pan using a whisk
2. Heat the mixture with low-medium heat and keep whisking the mixture
3. Turn off the heat once the mixture is thick but still soft and malleable

Dough’s Ingredients: ~ 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 1/4 oz of yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons of monk fruit sweetener (or sugar), 2 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter, 1/2 cup of milk, and 2 eggs

Part 2:

1. In a large mixing bowl, using a spatula to mix together 2 1/4 cups of flour, yeast, salt, vanilla extract, monk fruit sweetener, butter, milk, and 1 egg.
2. Add water roux to the dough mixture above. Mix well with spatula.
3. Sprinkle some flour onto a clean surface and place the dough on the floured surface to start kneading
4. Sprinkle flour on the surface as you knead the dough, until the dough is not sticky and holds up to shape of a ball (30 mins should be sufficient).
5. Place the dough in a clean large mixing bowl
6. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 2 hours. I placed the dough in an off and un-heated oven.
7. While the dough is rising, line up the cake tins with parchment paper.

Part 3:

1. After the dough rises, divide the dough into 8 equal sized pieces.
2. Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into rectangular pieces (they don’t need to be perfect rectangles!)
3. Cut each piece of dough into three approximately equal pieces, and layer them together.
4. Using a rolling pin, gently roll each piece of dough so that they are ready to be rolled up
5. Using your hands, roll up each piece of rectangular dough and place 4 pieces of dough into each 6″ tin
6. Let the dough rise for 1 hour and they are ready for baking!

Part 4:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Beat 1 egg in a small bowl
3. Brush some egg wash over the dough
4. Place the dough in the oven and bake for 30 minutes
5. Once the bread is ready, place it onto a cooling rack and peel off the parchment paper.
6. Once the bread is cooled, enjoy it as-is or with butter!