This matcha swirl milk bread is soft, fluffy, and has a beautiful matcha swirl design inside.
What is milk bread?
As the name suggests, milk bread is a bread made from milk. What makes this bread different from others is the use of something called tangzhong. Tangzhong, or otherwise known as a roux, is made from cooking together water and flour to make a paste. This tangzhong paste is the secret ingredient used to make the bread super soft and fluffy.
Ingredients
This is a bread made with very simple ingredients:
- flour
- sugar
- salt
- yeast
- milk powder (can omit if you don’t have but this adds more flavor to your bread)
- milk
- butter. The butter should be softened to room temperature
- matcha powder
Equipment needed
- Food scale. To weigh out the ingredients
- Stand mixer. You can hand knead the dough but it is a lot of work.
- Rolling pin
- Bread loaf pan. I used a pullman pan but you can use a regular bread loaf pan
How to make the tangzhong
The first step to making this bread is to make the tangzhong. To do this you add flour and water together in a pot and cook it until it on medium heat until it thickens into a paste. Once it thickens into a paste, transfer it to a bowl and let it come down to room temperature before using.
TIP: cover the tangzhong with the plastic wrap touching the tangzhong to prevent a crust from forming as it cools down.
How to make the bread dough
- In a large mixing bowl, add in the flour, sugar, salt, milk powder, and yeast to a bowl. Give it a mix until it is all combined.
- Add in the milk, butter, and the roux. Mix it together then knead the dough until a ball forms.
- Separate the dough in half. Add matcha powder to half.
- Let the dough rest until doubled in size (about 40-60 minutes)
Shaping the matcha swirl milk bread loaf
- Knead out both pieces of dough on a floured surface. Roll both pieces of dough out to the same size.
- Place the doughs on top of one another
- Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough
- Starting from one end, roll up the dough into a log
- Cut the dough into 6 equal sized pieces
- Place the dough into a loaf pan with the swirl side facing up
- Let rest 30 minutes
- Brush with an egg wash. (This step is only if you’re using a normal bread loaf pan. It’s not necessary if you’re using a pullman loaf pan)
- Bake at 170C/338F for 30 minutes
Matcha Swirl Milk Bread
Ingredients
Tangzhong
- 125 grams water
- 25 grams flour
Dough
- 300 grams flour
- 40 grams sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 grams yeast
- 8 grams milk powder
- 150 grams milk
- 30 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tbsp matcha powder
Instructions
tangzhong
- Add the water and flour into a pot and heat on medium heat until it forms a paste. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let cool to room temp before using.
bread dough
- Add the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and milk powder to a large mixing bowl/stand mixer bowl. Mix until combined.
- Add in the milk, butter, and tangzhong.
- Knead the dough until a ball forms
- Separate the dough in half and add matcha powder to half
- Cover the dough and let rest until doubled in size (40-60 minutes)
- Knead out both pieces of dough on a floured surface. Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough to the same size
- Place the pieces of dough on top of each other. Use rolling pin to roll it out
- Roll up the dough into a log
- Cut the dough into 6 equal sized pieces
- Place the dough with the swirl side facing up in a bread loaf pan
- Let rest 30 minutes
- Brush with egg wash. (this step is only if you use a regular bread loaf pan. It's not necessary if you use a pullman loaf pan like I did)
- Bake at 170C/338F for 30 minutes
- Let bread cool before slicing.
