Step 1

Add all ingredients, except for butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Let the dough knead at low speed (speed 2 on KA) until it comes into a rough dough, about 5 minutes. If the dough is too dry, you can add a bit more milk, teaspoon by teaspoon

Step 2

Add the softened butter and continue to knead for another 15 minutes (longer if you knead by hands) on medium speed (speed 4 on KA) or until you reach a window-pane stage. Just tear a small piece of dough, about 1-inch ball , flatten it with your fingers and hold it between your thumbs and slowly stretch it, you can stretch it thin like a membrane without it breaking. If it breaks, try to knead for another minute or two and see. The dough should be smooth and very elastic at this point. It is also important to note that you don't want to over-kneading the dough for too long as well as the gluten can break and your bread will have problem rising

Step 3

Oil the bowl and put the dough in there, cover and let it proof at a warm place. I use my oven's bread proof setting to proof the dough. The dough should double in size. It took roughly about 1 hour. Again, don't depend on the time. It really depends on the temperature the dough is proofing. Sometimes it may take longer than 1 hour to proof the dough if it's much colder where you are. If you poke your finger into the dough and the indentation stays, the dough is done proofing

Step 4

Punch the dough down to release air. Knead it a few times and then divide into 9 equal dough. Roll them into a round shape. Cover and let them rest for 10 minutes

Step 5

You can use 9 x 13 inch baking pan (ideal size for this recipe). The bread will be wider. I use 9 x 9 inch square pan and the breads are narrower but slightly taller. Line with a parchment paper or you can grease with butter

Step 6

Work with one dough at a time and keep the rest covered. Roll out one dough into about 14 x 8 cm (or 3 x 4 inches) and then Swiss roll it up gently. Pinch the seams together and put it aside and cover. Repeat with the rest

Step 7

Starting from the first one you roll earlier and roll it out longer to about 20 cm in length. Place this in the pan and continue with the rest. Brush the shaped dough with half of the softened butter - the bread won't be as golden brown (skip this if you prefer to do an egg wash instead. Egg wash will give a richer golden brown, if that matters to you)

Step 8

Cover the pan and let the shaped dough proof again at a warm place for about 1 hour or until they are puffy and fill up the pan. Preheat the oven (my oven uses bottom heat only) to 350 F (180 c), 10 minutes before the end of proofing time. If you choose to do egg wash, brush with egg wash at this point

Step 9

Place the pan on the middle rack and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown

Step 10

Remove from the oven and I highly recommend to immediately brush the remaining butter on top of the bread. This will make the crust soft. Lift the parchment paper up and put on top of a cooling rack. Dust the top liberally with some icing sugar on top. Let the bread cools down on a cooling rack

Step 11

Let the bread cools down completely and then wrap with a plastic wrap and it can be kept at room temperature for about 3 days. Please note that once you wrap it up, the icing sugar will get "wet" creating a sticky top on the bun. Depending on your preference, this is not an issue for us, as my kids like them slightly sticky on top. If you don't like it that way, dust the icing sugar only when you are ready to serve the bread