Japanese Condensed Milk Bread
Thanks to the power of reddit, we discovered a Japanese Condensed Milk Bread recipe. Being the baker in the relationship, I took a look at the ingredients and it looked fairly simple so I decided to give it a go since I already have everything (minus the almonds which I can do without). The overall process was quite simple though as with all bread recipes, it’s time consuming. However, the time it took for the dough to proof allowed me to make other things like my fudgey, cakey brownies 🙂 More on that later.
This bread was soft and had a nice sweetness to it from the condensed milk.
Best of all, the presentation looked great! The original recipe asked for this to be baked in an angel cake pan but seeing as I didn’t have one, I improvised with a loaf pan instead (8.5in x 4.5in x 2.5in).
The Importance of Measuring by Weight
A lot of you have asked why these ingredients are not provided in measuring cups. If you read our post about the 10 Must Have Baking Supplies, you’ll understand the importance of precision when it comes to measuring ingredients for baking. If you’re going to really get into baking, we highly recommend you invest in a digital food scale – they’re fairly inexpensive and you can easily find one for less than $20.
How to Make Japanese Condensed Milk Bread
Prepare your bread dough
Prepare your bread dough. Knead it into a smooth ball and allow it to rise for 30 mins or until it doubles in size.
Prepare your condensed milk filling
While the dough is proofing, prepare your condensed milk filling. This is just a simple combination of softened butter and condensed milk. Mix together until it forms a paste.
Shaping and Assembling the Dough
Take your risen dough and roll it out into a rectangular sheet (approximately 10″ x 13″). Spread the condensed milk paste evenly over the dough until it is entirely covered.
Once covered, cut your down into 4 even strips.
Then, stack your strips on top of each other, and cut them into 8 even pieces.
Now comes the fun part, arranging them in your baking pan 🙂 Make sure you grease the pan first.
I arranged mine like this but you can get creative with your arrangement. My dough did not full up the whole loaf pan but don’t worry, it will expand and fill up the pan as it proofs and bakes.
Bake
Allow this to go through a second rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Then, bake it in a 300F oven for around 35 minutes or until golden brown. Quickly dust with icing sugar to finish it off 🙂
And that’s it! Enjoy this while it is fresh as it’s best consumed the day of. If you’re not going to be able to finish this, I recommend you wrap it tightly in plastic cling wrap or in an air-tight container.
If you enjoyed this bread recipe, be sure to check out our other bread recipes including our infamous Banana Chocolate Chip Bread. Give this recipe a try and tag us @cookingwithteamj on instagram.
Japanese Condensed Milk Bread
Ingredients
Bread Recipe
- 200g bread flour + 2-3 tbsp of flour (to help with stickiness of the dough)
- 20g sugar
- 3g salt
- 3g dry active yeast
- 30g condensed milk
- 130g warm milk (110F)
- 20g unsalted butter (softened)
Condensed Milk Filling
- 20g sweetened condensed milk
- 20g unsalted butter (softened)
Instructions
- 1. Combine warm milk, a bit of the sugar, and yeast in a mixing bowl and allow the yeast to activate (approx 5 mins). Once foamy, add in the rest of the bread ingredients in a stand mixer with dough hook and start kneading on low speed.
- 2. Knead until the dough is smooth and the dough holds together when you try to shape it into a ball (approximately 5 minutes in a stand mixer on low speed). Add the extra flour a bit at a time if you notice too much dough sticking to the bottom of the mixer as it’s kneading. There should be a bit of dough sticking to the bottom of the bowl but not too much.
- 3. Coat the dough ball in some vegetable oil to prevent the dough ball from drying out. Then, cover the bowl with some saran wrap and place it in a warm place to allow it to rise (~ 30-40 mins).
- 4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300F and prepare the condensed milk filling by mixing the butter and condensed milk until it turns into a relatively smooth paste.
- 5. Once the dough is done rising, roll it out into a rectangle (approximately 10″ x 13″) and evenly spread the filling all over the dough.
- 6. Cut the sheet of dough into 4 even pieces. Then, stack them on top of each other. Divide into 8 even pieces.
- 7. Arrange each piece in a loaf pan as shown in the image above. Cover with saran wrap and allow to rise for another 30-40 minutes or until double in size.
- 8. Bake for around 35 minutes or until it turns light golden brown.
- 9. When done, lightly dust with icing sugar.
Mimi’s Bakery House asks for permission from the blogger to be able to view the recipe. Also, what’s the total of servings to this?
Since this is baked in a loaf pan, approximately 9-10 servings
The first 20g of butter is it room temp? Or melted? When do you add it?
Yes, the first 20g of butter should be softened (room temperature). This should be added in with the rest of the dry ingredients. I’ve updated my recipe instructions accordingly. Thanks for pointing that out 🙂
Thanks for the quick response. Going to try to make it tonight.
I forgot to tell you. I make this bread constantly. My family and extended family LOVE IT. Any time I visit or they see me that ask me to make it for them. I also have friends asking for it. I am the “baker” so I make it for them. This bread is amazing. Today making it for my water aerobics class. Decided to make it with condensed coconut milk today. Yum.
That’s awesome!! So glad it turned out well for you 🙂
Sweetened condensed milk?
Yep!
Is it sweetened condensed milk in both places or just for the filling?
both
I was surprised to see no eggs! Is it really without eggs?
Yep. No eggs at all.
Can you make the dough in a bread maker?
I don’t see why not!
What is this silliness about the grams?
Haha – it provides more accurate measurements which is especially important in baking! Trust me we were annoyed with the grams at first too but have since invested in a food scale and it’s been great!
You said you could do without the almonds I love almonds where do they come into the recipe
You can just sprinkle the thinly sliced almonds on top of the bread before baking as an added garnish 🙂
I AM GOING TO TRY THIS BUT I ALSO DO NOT LIKE THE “GRAMS.” WHY DON’T YOU PUT IT IN “BOTH” MEASURES? I HAVE TO FIND THIS EQUIVELENT SOMEWHERE.
Sally I couldn’t handle it being in grams either but used my scale and then wrote down the measurements so for next time I could just use my cups and spoons to measure. It is extremely difficult if you don’t have a scale as there isn’t too many places to help with grams! I made it tonight and my amounts seem to have worked so far! I should post them for you so you could make it if you don’t have a scale
Can you convert to cups, etc., please… For those of us without a scale? The record sounds delicious. 🙂
Hi there, I just want to comment here that any Walmart or even Amazon online has gram scales for about $10.00. It’s a really good investment, and will pay off immensely. Hope this is helpful. 🙂
Thank you – I agree. A food scale is a very useful tool to have in the kitchen
Can you show the recipe not using grams but cups, Tbsp and taps. Thank you
Since I purchased a scale baking has improved. It’s a more accurate way to measure your ingredients. One cup of flour can vary vs 220 grams of flour is always the same. Too when it comes to something like salt the size of the grain can make the volume measurement vary vs the weight of the salt. I have tried to measure a cup of flour then weigh it. Each time I measure the cup of flour it has a different weight. The investment in a scale is well worth it. Once you go metric when you bake you won’t want to go back to the old measurement methods. Now if recipe isn’t metric I don’t even bother.
Ever since I started using a scale to weight my ingredients instead of measuring by US standards, my baking game went up by 100%. However, if you still want to do cups, Tbs, etc, just go on Google and type “Google Converter” and it will give you the choice of converting from g to ounces, etc. Just make sure you select “Mass” for dry ingredients and “Volume” for liquid ingredients.
What size loaf pan? Also agree, using a scale produces much better results with the added bonus of using less equipment once you get the hang of zeroing out.
I use an 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inch loaf pan from Wilton
How long do you bake it for?
Around 35 minutes or until it turns golden brown 🙂
I have been using a kitchen scale for about 15 years now…it really is the best way to go. Your baking will improve immensely. I would be lost without my scale. Another bonus is you have way less dishes to wash. King Arthur Flour has a conversion chart for just about everything you can think of. Just go to their site, and put “conversion chart” in the search. You can also print it off. You will be finding there will be more and more recipe’s in grams only as it continues to grow in popularity.Once you start measuring in grams with a scale, you will wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
Thanks for sharing! I’m sure many can benefit from the conversion chart but we really do hope people will choose to invest in a kitchen scale in the long run 🙂
Double this recipe for a standard bread pan. As you can see from the pictures, this makes a loaf that is only 2 inches tall or about half the height of the bread pan. The poster must like this very small loaf, but it isn’t standard. I wish I would have noticed beforehand. Also the poster says it makes 9 servings. These are not standard servings. It makes about 6 carbohydrates servings (a serving is a standard measure, just because you eat a small portion don’t mean there are more servings).
I found the first attempt to be a bit salty and somewhat bland. Second attempt I cut the salt and added cardamon to the filling……. I also allowed the dough to rise to at least double the initial volume…… and yes, this is a sweet bread
I love this bread! We always eat the whole thing in a day, so I want to make a double batch and store one loaf. Does it freeze well?
Yes! Freeze shortly after it’s freshly baked for best results.
I just had to pop in and comment that only 3 countries in the world (the US, Liberia and Myanmar) who don’t use metric measurements expect us to make the recipe changes for them rather than them just googling “gm to cups” or whatever! Unbelievable!