Gluten-Free Japanese Milk Bread – the softest bread ever

Ever hear of Japanese Water Roux (Tangzhong)?

As a card-carrying member of the Food Dorks Academy, I love learning what other cultures do to make bread. And then I hunker down and bury myself in figuring out how to make it work for team gluten-free.

I might not be the most fun at parties any more.

But if you make this supersoft bread that stays fresh forever, you might just see that I’m tons of fun in the kitchen. And by might, I mean will. And by fun I mean hands-off-my-bread-get-your-own.

I learned about this from someone else’s virtual kitchen. I adapted it from The 350 Degree Oven: Adventures in Mika’s Kitchen. She assembles her dough differently, and I’m sure more authentically. What do I know? I’ve never been to Japan. My method of assembling the loaf is a bit simpler, since I’m fairly certain that I’m a bit simpler than Mika. And by simple I mean … simple.

This is what it looks like. I don’t really know what else to say. I think I just teared up a little.

Come see the water roux.

To make the water roux, I placed 47 grams (about 1/3 cup) Better Batter and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and whisked to combine well. Then I cooked it over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, and after almost exactly 2 minutes (yes, I timed it – please refer to dork designation above), it thickened quite a lot. One you see the whisk leaving tracks in its wake, it’s done. Remove it from the heat pronto, pardner.

Then let it cool. I put it in this here container, and refrigerated it. It makes enough for 2 loaves of bread (140g water roux per loaf), and I’m definitely going to be making more gluten-free bread with this stuff. It’s magic!

The dough is shaggy.* And tacky to the touch. But you’ll dust it with more flour and pat it out into a rectangle, then divide it into 6 pieces.

Then roll each piece out into a disk about 1/2 inch thick. After that, gently fold each disk over on itself from short side to short side.

* I once had an editor — not my esteemed book editor whom I adore — tell me that the word “shaggy” is not a proper term for describing bread dough. No one will understand what you mean! I don’t like that particular editor. Admittedly, you did not need to know that, but I think I needed to tell it to you. Apologies.

Loosely stack the folded pieces of dough in a loaf pan. Make sure you don’t pack the dough in there, or it won’t bake evenly and you may have raw bits here in there in the dough even after it’s baked. You want the air to be able to circulate everywhere.

I used the small pullman loaf pan from USA Pans without the top, but you can just as easily use USA Pans 8.5 x 4.5 loaf pan or another loaf pan with high sides. I used the Pullman Loaf Pan because it has a narrow bottom and high sides, and I wanted the loaf to rise mostly up instead of out. That, and a number of you had asked about that loaf pan, since King Arthur Flour sells it as a loaf pan for gluten-free bread. It’s nice. But I usually stick with my regular 8.5 x 4.5 USA Pans loaf pan.

Spray the loaf with warm water, cover the pan with plastic wrap and place the pan in a warm, draft-free place to rise until it’s about 150% its original size.

I used my Brød & Taylor Folding Bread Proofer, because it gives consistently professional results, without any of the stress that can come with getting your gluten-free bread to rise just right—every time. They’re a sponsor of mine, but only because I hunted them down like a dog. I wanted them in my sidebar. I wanted you to see what a revolution in gluten-free baking their proofer is. I’m bossy!

Here’s exactly what to do. I told you I was bossy!

Love,
Me & this Japanese Bread (we’re a team now)

P.S. Feel like making more gluten-free bread? Come see my catalog of gluten-free breads. It’s a doozy.