The Science of a Japanese Milk Bread: A Shokupan Recipe

I tried the egg version. Came out well. Then i tried your eggless version and the bread doesn't rise enough. In the covered bread pan, it does not rise to the top to get baked. I tried your eggless version 3 times and all three times had the same result. I have given up on your eggless version. For eggless, I use someone else's recipe.

I'm using HG flour with 14.2% protein. How much more liquid do I need to add? THANX!

any tips on how to adapt the mixing to a spiral mixer?

Both shokupan recipes I've followed so far recommend 1 hour to bulk proof but it's always around 2 hours. How are y'all getting it to proof in 1 hour? 😅

What will be the best bread flour to use for shokupan .Here in Quebec we have access to so many bread flour from average to high protein content . I did shokupan 2 times with 2 differents flours and the result was not the same . I also suppose doing tangzhong with a lower or higher protein content flour will affect the tangzhong and the benefit of it.

Apologies if you’ve already addressed this in another video, but is there a difference between the number of parts divided to make the loaf? For example the flat top loaf has two rolls, but the top-less loaf has 3.

I'm curious about what type of bread flour you use for tanzhong

I just made this. This was perfect. Only modification I had to make was to add a teaspoon of flour when mixing. It was not pulling off the bowl. My family loved it. Thank you.

I have the same sized loaf pan and followed the recipe but it never fills the pan completely!

I'm not getting much oven spring. Is there something I can try? I'm wondering if I'm overproofing it at the end. Or maybe not enough resting between shaping, or not a long enough bulk fermentation so the dough isn't extensible enough to start with. so many possibilities!

Thank you so much for all the amazing work you put into this video!! Would you please share your spreadsheet?

Which kind of flour are you using? I am afraid that I have been using a too strong flour (manitoba), and the dough just doesn't come together, until I add some more water. I think you might be using a weaker flour (W260-270), am I right?

I have been wanting to make this bread but I do not have a stand mixer. I have been watching some of these videos to understand a bit more of the mixing and kneading process to help me make this bread. I tried it once before getting into the science and didn't really know what I was doing, that not knowing about hydration, temperatures (room temp, ingredients temp and dough temp) changing while incorporating and kneading and time spent effectively contributed in ruining the bread and it coming out dense, heavy and without rise with false hopes of fixing it in between putting it in the fridge and taking it out numerous times.

when it comes to doing this all by hand, should the ingredients for shokupan be at a room temperature or cold? what should the ideal dough temperature be throughout? would the stretch and fold kneading technique be best applied for shokupan in this case? or would a no knead method work easier? and what to look out for in contrast to a mixer to know when to add the butter and what should I look out for an end result that is ready for the first rest?

I really appreciate the time you put into doing all this research. I hope I get to nail the recipe one day <3

Thank you! Clear and concise.

I got confused on the baking part. 15 mins on the bottom rack then move to the upper rack for twenty minutes

My result.. a very sticky dough

Hi thanks so much for the educational videos. Have you experimented with perhaps an overnight bulk fermentation or cold proof with this recipe? If so any guidance or tips ?

Question - I was looking at your whole wheat shokupan recipe and it uses honey instead of sugar. Could we sub the sugar for honey in this recipe as well?

I'm on a shokupan binge and I'm enjoying your videos! Thanks!

Hi I noticed most yudane recipes call for 1:1 ratio of flour and boiling water (this was also mentioned in one of your vidoes explaining tangzhong and yudane) but you doubled the water in this recipe. can you share the reason and if this is just a better ratio from your experience? Thanks.

While subscribed, I am not seeing your videos on my feed. I love the explanations and appreciate the work you have put in. Keep up the quality work and wish you millions of subscribers and views.

Is this 190 C Fan forced or ?

Your English is very good. I grew up in Japan with my Japanese family. I miss shoku pan and it's not available close by. I tried another recipe using my sourdough starter and it was ok, but not quite there, pretty good results to buy a pullman loaf pan and try again. I have written down your recipe and will be trying it. Will be using coconut oil to coat surface of loaf pan.
FYI Most homes in the United States do not have top and bottom heat options. I have a pizza steel and will be placing it three tiers above to simulate top heat. When making pizza, I place the steel 2nd from bottom and the pizza stone 3 tiers above. If not brown enough, pizza on stone for broiling.
Thanks for the recipe!😊

Perfect, this is exactly what I was looking for.. ❤

I've done this recipe many times in my 5 qt KitchenAid and I feel like I over-knead the dough every time because it never stops being sticky. I only ever use speed 2. I can get it into a fairly decent ball at about 4-5 minutes, then I add butter and it takes another 6-8 min to incorporate. Longer than this and it will come apart and stick to the bottom of the bowl. Kneading it more than 15 minutes total on speed 2 will cause it to not attach to the hook at all and it breaks apart into a sticky mess on the bottom of the bowl which I think is over-kneading. So maybe it can only be kneaded under 15 minutes at least on the 5 qt KitchenAid bowl lift model at speed 2.

How did you get 257 g/l to 286 g/l?

If I want to make 2 loaves , do I just double the ingredients , yeast and tangzhong to the recipe