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Soft, tender and moist, this fluffy Milk Bread has a subtle flavor that makes a perfect base for French toast, sandwiches, and more.
I learned to bake this bread at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Chef taught us to shape it like a baguette and fill it with chocolate chunks. I remembered it being tender, moist and dense in the most enjoyable way.
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How to make perfect milk bread
I hadn’t made this bread since school, but since I was in a bread-baking mood, I thought I would try it on my own. This batch makes three loaves, and for the best results, the dough needs to ferment overnight in the refrigerator.
If you prefer, you can freeze the dough and thaw it when you need a loaf.
Milk bread makes great French toast, and it’s terrific for egg salad sandwiches thanks to its subtle flavor and soft texture.
Milk Bread
Ingredients
- 20 grams fresh cake yeast, or 1 packet active dry yeast
- 20 grams 1 tablespoon salt
- 60 grams 1/3 cup sugar
- 500 milliliters 2 cups milk
- 1 kilogram 7 1/3 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 100 grams 7 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Combine: Place yeast, salt, sugar, milk, flour and eggs in your stand mixer bowl.
- Knead: Knead dough for two minutes. Add room temperature butter. Continue kneading for 2 minutes, until it forms a ball. Increase speed if needed.
- Cut: Slice into loaves or rolls. For loaves, I weigh out 700 grams of dough. For a baguette, I use 400 grams of dough. And for rolls, I use 80 grams.
- Place: Lay dough on a lightly floured work surface. Shape into a loaf, baguette or dinner rolls.
- Rise: Let the dough rise for the first time on the counter for 1 hour. Place in a large bowl or pan and cover the top with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate: Chill overnight to ferment.
- Brush: The next morning, brush the top of the dough with egg wash. (The second rise ensures an even fluffier end product.) Score the top with a knife.
- Rise: Let rise for 20-30 minutes. Brush the risen dough with one more layer of egg wash.
- Bake: Bake at 350F degrees until done and golden brown. Loaves take about 25 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients for milk bread
- Fresh cake yeast or active dry yeast. This is what will make the dough rise. Instant yeast can be found in the baking aisle. Fresh cake yeast is popular in Europe, but it’s harder to find in the U.S.
- Salt
- Sugar
- Milk. Whole milk is best, but you can use whatever you have on hand. I have not tried this recipe with milk substitutes. If you do, please leave a comment below and let us know how it turns out.
- King Arthur all-purpose flour. You can also use bread flour, but King Arthur is my favorite for baking.
- Eggs
- Butter
- See the full recipe card for servings and a full list of ingredients.
See the full recipe card for servings and a full list of ingredients.
How to make milk sweet bread
- COMBINE: Place yeast, salt, sugar, milk, flour and eggs in your stand mixer bowl.
✔️ PRO TIP
I prefer to weigh all of my ingredients with a kitchen scale when baking. When you scoop dry ingredients with American measuring cups, you end up with variance every time.
- KNEAD: Knead dough for two minutes. Add room temperature butter. Continue kneading for 2 minutes, until it forms a ball. Increase speed if needed.
✔️ PRO TIP
It will start as a sticky dough as the butter begins to incorporate but will soften as it mixes.
- CUT: Slice into loaves or rolls. For loaves, I weigh out 700 grams of dough. For a baguette, I use 400 grams of dough. And for rolls, I use 80 grams.
- PLACE: Lay dough on a lightly floured work surface. Shape into a loaf, baguette or dinner rolls.
- RISE: Let the dough rise for the first time on the counter for 1 hour. Place in a large bowl or pan and cover the top with plastic wrap.
- REFRIGERATE: Chill overnight to ferment.
- BRUSH: The next morning, brush the top of the dough with egg wash. (The second rise ensures an even fluffier end product.) Score the top with a knife.
- RISE: Let rise for 20-30 minutes. Brush the risen dough with one more layer of egg wash.
- BAKE: Bake at 350F degrees until done and golden brown. Loaves take about 25 minutes.
How to serve milk bread
This fluffy bread can be used in so many different ways. Milk bread tastes great when toasted with a little butter, but is also the perfect sandwich bread for lunch on the go. You could also try using milk bread dough as the basis for cinnamon rolls.
Storage
Freshly baked bread can be stored in a bread box for up to five days or refrigerated for a few weeks. You can also freeze the dough or the freshly baked bread to use as needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
They are actually in the same category. The main difference between these bread recipes is that milk bread uses milk, while traditional white bread doesn’t. The milk gives the bread a richer flavor.
While I learned how to make it in Paris, milk bread is a staple Japanese bread that’s been around for generations. I love how it has become so widely known and think it’s one of the best types of bread for any level of beginner or professional baker to tackle.
Not quite. While they are both forms of white bread, milk bread is made with milk. Hawaiian bread is usually dairy free and includes pineapple juice.
Thanks for the recipe. Hope to make this bread soon, but I will have to get a measuring apparatus that measures by the gram because I have never measured ingredients that way.
I forgot to convert all the weights. Sorry about that. I just updated the recipe. You can use less salt, if you’d like. 20 grams of salt is just under 1 T.
Mona, Google it and will convert the grams for you. We don’t measure by grams either.