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:
- Mix the flour and water in a small pan using a whisk
- Heat the mixture with low-medium heat and keep whisking the mixture
- 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:
- 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.
- Add water roux to the dough mixture above. Mix well with spatula.
- Sprinkle some flour onto a clean surface and place the dough on the floured surface to start kneading
- 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).
- Place the dough in a clean large mixing bowl
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 2 hours. I placed the dough in an off and un-heated oven.
- While the dough is rising, line up the cake tins with parchment paper.
Part 3:
- After the dough rises, divide the dough into 8 equal sized pieces.
- Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into rectangular pieces (they don’t need to be perfect rectangles!)
- Cut each piece of dough into three approximately equal pieces, and layer them together.
- Using a rolling pin, gently roll each piece of dough so that they are ready to be rolled up
- Using your hands, roll up each piece of rectangular dough and place 4 pieces of dough into each 6″ tin
- Let the dough rise for 1 hour and they are ready for baking!
Part 4:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Beat 1 egg in a small bowl
- Brush some egg wash over the dough
- Place the dough in the oven and bake for 30 minutes
- Once the bread is ready, place it onto a cooling rack and peel off the parchment paper.
- Once the bread is cooled, enjoy it as-is or with butter!
