My, oh my. These rolls are absolutely heavenly. I have never baked with Tahzhong prior to making these bread rolls, but I am so happy I did now! Tahzhong is a paste made from cooking whole milk, flour and water over a medium-low heat until thickened to the consistency of pudding. This mixture is then added to the rest of dough ingredients, which results in possibly the fluffiest bread rolls you may ever eat! As a bonus, the rolls stay moist and fresh longer too. I personally think they *require* a zap in the microwave for subsequent days after the day they’re baked. A quick zap brings back the fluffy, moist, addicting texture you (I, me) want! Oh and butter. Highly recommend spreading some butter on there. Excuse me while I go make another batch of these.

As you can see, the rolls rise beautifully in the oven. They expanded much quicker more than I anticipated they would. Does the power of baking yeast amaze you too?! I’m a big nerd for bread baking.

To ensure your rolls are properly proofed, I recommend doing the “poke test!” Either spray your finger with oil, or dust the dough with flour, to ensure your finger won’t stick to it. Then, poke your finger gently into the dough, about 1/2 an inch deep. If the dough springs back slightly but not completely, your dough is ready to bake! If the indent spring backs completely, it needs to proof longer. And if the indent does not spring back at all, it is overproofed.

Overproofing is definitely not what we want. When we overproof dough, it loses its stability and will collapse when we bake it! I have had this happens a few times in my life. I almost cried. Ha! Bread baking takes so much time, so the last thing we want is to put your loaf in the oven, and end up with a flatbread. (Unless you’re making flatbread of course.)

For these rolls, I knew the recipe promised them to be light and fluffy and you know what that reminds me of? Texas Roadhouse Rolls! Oof, I am such a sucker for those with their cinnamon honey butter. Yikes! So I made some homemade cinnamon honey butter to eat with these and WOW!!! Amazing. Chef’s kiss.

I will link the original recipes down below.

Japanese Milk Bread Rolls

Ingredients

Yeast Mixture

•  1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• ¼ cup warm water, about 110°F

Tangzhong Mixture

• 4 tablespoons whole milk
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Dough

• 2½ cups (312.5g) all-purpose flour
• ½ cup (122.5g) whole milk
• ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature, divided
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter,softened
• 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

Yeast Mixture

• In a small bowl, bloom the yeast by combining it with the warm water. Set aside for 10 minutes. You should see it become foamy and a layer of foam will float on the top. If this doesn’t happen, try again with new yeast.
• Set this mixture aside.

Tangzhong Mixture

• In a saucepan, whisk together the milk, flour and water until smooth. Set heat to medium-low and whisk constantly until it begins to thicken to the consistency of pudding. Keep a close eye to prevent scorching! Set aside.

Dough

• Combine the yeast mixture with the rest of the ingredients, EXCEPT FOR THE BUTTER, in your stand mixer with the dough hook attachment and mix until it resembles a soft dough.
• Now, mix in 1 tablespoon of softened butter at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Place dough in a bowl that was greased with oil of your choice, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size. This should take about 1 hour depending on the temperature in your home.
• Grease a 9-inch round pan (or pan of your choice) with oil of your choice, and line the bottom with parchment.
• Grease your hands, punch down the dough and divide it into 8 pieces. You can also flour your hands and workspace to prevent the dough from sticking, but depending on the dough, I prefer to oil my hands when working with dough.
• Shape each dough portion into a ball, rolling it under your cupped hand to get it smooth. Place rolls into your pan, cover, and let rise until doubled. This may take about 30 minutes.
• Bake the rolls at 350°F for about 25 minutes (Mine took closer to 30 minutes) until they are golden brown and the internal temp reaches 190°F.
• You can brush these with melted butter or an egg wash before baking, but I did not find this necessary myself.
• Brush melted butter over warm rolls and enjoy!

Recipe slightly adapted from:  Amanda Rettke–iamhomesteader.com

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