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Fluffy Milk Bread Rolls..First time making breads!

So, what have I been up to? If you are following Melbourne's news, you are probably aware of the rising number of coronavirus cases here. Just two days ago, we recorded a total of...

723 CASES!

Well, that definitely calls for us to stay at home as much as possible. And we have no choice but to stay at home for few days after last week happening. The reason being we were alright on Saturday (I even went for a run at Yaara River), but on Sunday, we both woke up with super painful thigh muscles! So, the effect of walking down 40 flights of stairs shows after 2 days and the thigh muscles were so sore and took us almost 4 days to recover.

For this lockdown 2.0, as we went back to our 'normal' routine to cook and eat at home, I have been playing around with the ideas to bake new stuffs. Having seen friends sharing bread post, I am so tempted to try. Finally, I got around to buy the ingredients needed and tried making bread the first time! The end result, was of course, DELICIOUS! And I am so happy that I succeeded the first time. Just look at this gorgeous browning of the bread roll..
This is the Japanese milk bread roll and thanks to my friend, Evelyn who shared this simple and easy recipe with me. This bread rolls are so fluffy and light and go so well with kaya! Yes, we just had this for breakfast with kaya and I am a happy girl now. My tummy is happy so am I 😏
Look at this fluffy-ness and the bouncy-ness! Hubby said I should take a video to commemorate my first-time success haha! 

For those of you who are trying to make breads, perhaps can try this out for a start. It is quite easy that I can succeed the first time and I am sure you can. The proofing process, which is the process for the bread dough to rise does take very long so please at least have 4 hours ready and don't start it at 7pm like me 😪 (Yes, I only done finished baking this yesterday at 1130pm, I also had the first step wrong so have to restart everything 😓)

The recipe: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread-rolls-recipe
  • Rather than following the cup and tablespoon measurement, I use my kitchen scale to measure gram. I think this might contribute to the success because measuring in grams are more accurate.
  • I cannot find bread flour so I use all purpose flour instead. I also cannot find instant yeast in my local store, so I use dry yeast. I still get the end results that I want but maybe I am just lucky! Best to follow what the recipe calls for though for the best result.  
  • First time in my life, I follow the recipe in exact gram without changing anything. Usually, I tend to reduce the sugar and butter in a recipe. I see that this recipe does not call for a lot of sugar so I did not adjust anything. It is not too sweet at all. The only thing I might adjust is the salt - I prefer it less salty so I might slightly reduce the salt next time.
  • This blog follows the same recipe from King Arthur but it has video and photos for each step so it helps me to visualise what I am supposed to achieve. Like the first step in making tangzhong or the dough texture.
  • Please watch the video first prior to making and see the pictures as it really helps. 
Step 1. Making Tangzhong
Apparently, the secret ingredients of making such texture for the bread roll is this technique called 'Tangzhong'. It is nothing complicated, just mixing milk, flour and water in a saucepan over small fire.

BUT.. I still mess it up! Well, blame myself for not watching the fire and this mixture got overcooked and becomes one big solid flour lump. Remember, it has to be thick but still flowing like liquid. You can watch the video and photo at the second link to get an idea what the texture calls for.

Step 2. Making Bread Dough
The recipe calls for standing mixer to knead the dough, but I only have hand-held mixer. It takes really long for the ingredient to mix together and I was not sure whether my dough is ready. I guess, following the second link, it says that the ingredients will tend to be sticky at first, but once I can work with my hands like below, it is almost ready!
It really is quite fun to work the dough haha. So fun to just knead it through.
Step 3. Yeast to work now... For the bread dough to rise!
Wait for one hour for the dough to rise. After cutting, another one hour for the balls to rise. So, a total of 2 hours wait is required here!
From small dough becomes big dough after an hour! Take this out and cut into few pieces and roll them into small balls like the next picture. 
After an hour, they will expand and become like this! They used to be smaller and recipe calls for only 9 balls but my square tin is smaller so I made them into two tins. But ya, you can see that I need a lot of improvement in terms of their appearance 😆 Beauty comes from the inside right? So forgive the outer appearance la 😆

Step 4. Egg Wash and off to the oven we go!
Egg-washing the bread rolls and send them to the oven for 15 minutes. Recipe calls for 20 minutes but my bread rolls start to brown at 10, and I take them out at 15 mins at 180C.
Introducing.....The Fluffy Milk Bread Rolls!
You can see a few that don't look that pretty, cue the bread rolls sitting at C2 and C3 haha. I am sorry my skills are yet to be improved to shape them into perfect round balls. Till next time then, I have 7 sachets of dry yeast so perhaps I can make another 7 rounds. But making these bread rolls does give me lots of joy and fun, seeing the end results and tasting the fluffy milk bread roll.

It is a new experience to making bread for the first time and I think I am loving it, especially witnessing the process of the small dough rising to such big dough within an hour. That achievement and the urge to shout 'hooray!' when I saw that it rises haha. Can you guess what I am going to bake next time?
(Hint: Not a type of bread but a type of pastry!)

Anyway, see you guys next week! Please keep Melbourne in your prayers too as this coronavirus situation is getting worse here. While it is frustrating at times, I do look forward to one day meeting in person again! My hope and trust is always secured in Him. May you have a blessed weekend! 😄

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