Vegan Hokkaido Milk Bread

Vegan Hokkaido milk bread - a vegan version of the softest, fluffiest bread ever! This eggless and dairy free milk bread has a cloud-like texture and is perfect for breakfast and snacking.

I have been wanting to veganise my Hokkaido milk bread recipe for a while now, but it's taken me a couple of tries to get it right. Happily, I've finally managed to create an eggless and dairy free version that is just as soft, fluffy and delicious as the original!

This vegan Hokkaido milk bread is dangerously good, it takes some serious willpower not to just eat the whole loaf in a day... It is seriously the softest, most flavourful bread you will ever eat!

What Is Hokkaido Milk Bread?:

Hokkaido milk bread is like an Asian version of brioche, but it is even softer and uses a lot less butter! It has a cloud-like, tender crumb which can be pulled apart into flaky layers. It is amazing with jam for breakfast or snacking!

It can also be sliced to make sandwiches or toast, and because it is sweet and flavourful on it's own I even like just eating it plain!

It is made using the tangzhong method, which helps to keep the bread soft and moist without adding loads of fat, and also helps the bread stay soft for longer.

What Is Tangzhong?:

Tangzhong is basically where you take a portion of the flour and liquid of the recipe and mix them together like a roux, then cook it until it forms a thick, pudding-like texture. This mixture is then cooled and added to the bread dough.

This technique pre-gelatinises the starches in the flour which means that they can absorb more water. In fact, flour will absorb twice as much hot water or milk as it does the lukewarm water or milk you would usually use in yeasted doughs.

Not only does the starch in the flour absorb more liquid; since heating the starch with water creates structure, it is able to hold onto that extra liquid throughout the kneading, baking, and cooling processes. This means that the bread will rise higher due to more water creating more internal steam (which makes bread rise in the oven — along with the carbon dioxide given off by the yeast).

Because the bread retains more water during baking, it will be softer and more moist and stay fresh for longer.

How To Make Vegan Hokkaido Milk Bread:

(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)

*For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.*

Start by making the tangzhong - whisk together some bread flour and milk in a pan; I use 1 part flour to 5 parts liquid by weight.

Place the pan over a medium/low heat and whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened to a paste/pudding-like consistency (think wallpaper paste...). Scrape it into a small bowl, cover with baking parchment directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming and set aside to cool to room temperature. (This only takes half an hour or so).

Once the tangzhong has cooled (it will become much thicker as it cools, don't worry.), mix together the yeast (either fast action/instant or dry active is fine) with the rest of the (lukewarm) soy milk and a pinch of the sugar.

Set it aside for about 10 minutes until it goes foamy. This step is only necessary if you are using dry active rather than instant yeast, but I like to do it with the instant as well as it enables to to check if your yeast is still active. If the mixture doesn't go foamy then your yeast is dead and you will need to buy more.

Mix together the rest of your bread flour and sugar, along with a teaspoon of salt, in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the cooled tangzhong, the yeast mixture and the aquafaba and mix until it forms a rough dough.

Set the mixer to a medium speed and leave it to knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is stretchy. It should be soft and sticky but if it seems too wet you can add in a little extra flour, a tablespoon at a time.

Next, add softened vegan butter and knead for a further 5-10 minutes until it is well incorporated and the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer feels greasy.

If you don't have a stand mixer then you can knead it by hand instead but be prepared to get a bit sticky and it could take as long as 25 minutes, as kneading by hand is slower.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and place in the fridge to rise overnight (or in a warm spot for 1-2 hours).

How To Shape The Loaf:

The following day (or once the dough has doubled in size at room temperature), knock back the dough and give it a brief 30 second knead to knock out the air bubbles.

Divide it into 3 or 4 even pieces and roll each one into a ball. (Use 4 pieces for a loaf as pictured, with 4 'humps', or 3 for a loaf with 3 'humps'). Line an approx  11.5 x 21.5 cm / 4.5 x 8.5 inch loaf tin with baking parchment.

Roll each ball out into a long oval, fold one third of the oval over the middle (from the side, not the top), then the other third over the top to form a long, narrow packet.

Roll over the seam to flatten it, then roll it up tightly from one end to make a fat sausage. Repeat with the other balls of dough then arrange them in the loaf tin, seam side down.

Loosely cover and leave to rise until at least doubled in size, it should rise above the top of the tin. This can take 1-2 hours (mine took 1 ½). It will be slower if the dough was refrigerated overnight, and quicker if it had it's first rise at room temperature.

If you press the dough gently with a finger the indentation should spring back slowly but remain visible. If it springs back quickly it needs to prove for a little longer.

Once the loaf has risen, gently brush the top with a mixture of maple syrup and water, making sure that none drips down the sides as that can make the bread stick to the tin. If you don't want a sweet glaze then you can brush it with aquafaba instead.

Place the loaf in a preheated oven and bake for 30-50 minutes, until a probe thermometer reaches 94C/201F when poked into the middle of the loaf. You may need to cover the top loosely with tin foil part way through baking if it starts to colour too much.

If you want the loaf to have a shinier crust, brush it with some more of the maple syrup water halfway through baking.

Once the vegan Hokkaido milk bread is baked, remove it from the oven and brush with some more of the glaze. Let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes then lift it out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Can I Freeze Vegan Hokkaido Milk Bread?:

Yes. I like to freeze this vegan Hokkaido milk bread in individual slices then pop them in the toaster or under the grill straight from frozen as needed.

Vegan Ingredient Swaps:

I made a couple of changes to my original recipe in order to veganise this Hokkaido milk bread. The milk is replaced with soy milk; you can use another non-dairy milk but soy really is best as it is the most similar to dairy milk. It has a high protein and fat content and soy also contains lecithin which helps create a better crumb structure.

I used aquafaba (the liquid drained from a can of chickpeas) to replace the egg as it has similar binding and emulsifying properties. You could also use a commercial egg replacer instead. I don't recommend swapping it for ground flax or chia seeds as you will end up with a speckled crumb.

The butter is a simple swap for a vegan block butter. Make sure that you use the kind that comes in a solid stick rather than the spreadable kind in a tub, which has too low a water content for baking. I use Naturli vegan block. I also upped the quantity very slightly to account for the fat usually provided by the egg yolk.

I did test a loaf using coconut oil instead of butter, but found it to be a little dense and lacking in flavour, so I don't recommend using coconut oil.

I also found that the vegan version needed a higher hydration level than the non-vegan one, which is why the recipe reads rather differently to my original.

Quick Notes:

• This bread is meant to be sweet, but if you want it a little less sweet then you can halve the amount of sugar. DO NOT omit it completely as some sugar is needed for the texture and to help with the rise.
• To get aquafaba, just use the liquid drained from a can of chickpeas.
• If you don't want to use aquafaba, you can swap it for a commercial egg replacer instead.
• I recommend making the dough the day before you want to bake the bread to break up the work a bit. It can be done all in one day if you prefer though.
• I highly recommend using a stand mixer to make this bread as it is a very soft and sticky dough that takes a while to knead, meaning that it is difficult (but certainly not impossible!) to make by hand.
• This is an enriched bread dough (meaning that it contains milk, fats and sugar rather than just water). This makes it soft and delicious, but also means that it may take longer to rise. The time it takes will vary depending on how warm your kitchen is, and whether you refrigerate the dough overnight or not.
• Use bread flour for the best texture.
• The amount of flour needed may vary a bit as different brands absorb different amounts of liquid. Start with the quantity given in the recipe and add a little more as needed if the dough is too wet. This is meant to be a soft sticky dough however, so don't add too much as that will make the bread dry.
• The best way to tell if a loaf of bread is cooked in the middle is to use a probe thermometer. It is impossible to give a one-size-fits-all baking time as ovens vary so much.

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