asian bread

Japanese Condensed Milk Bread is a delicious way to enjoy condensed milk, enclosed in a soft and sweet bread that is studded with raisins and cherries.&nbsp;

Japanese Condensed Milk Bread

all-purpose flour (plus 5 tbsp extra)

tbsp sugar

tsp salt

active dry yeast

milk (105-115 F)

tbsp condensed milk (or 37 grams, at room temperature)

tbsp softened butter (or 28 grams)

maraschino cherries (drained)

tbsp raisins

tbsp sliced almonds

In a large mixing&nbsp;bowl, stir together 1 teaspoon of the sugar, the warm milk, and the yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.&nbsp;

Add 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, the remaining sugar, salt, condensed milk, and butter. Use a wooden spoon to stir the ingredients together. Gradually&nbsp;sprinkle some of the reserved flour, a little at a time, to help with the stickiness. Keep stirring until a soft, sticky dough gathers in the center of the bowl. You may not need the entire reserved flour at this point.

Generously flour a working board using the remaining flour. Turn the dough over onto the board. Knead the dough for 6-10 minutes, dusting more flour in the board and in your hands as needed. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, shape it into a ball and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise for 1 and 1/2 hours.

While the dough is rising, make the condensed milk filling. Stir together softened butter and condensed milk until it turns into a paste. It is important that the butter is very soft and the condensed milk is at room temperature. Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Punch the dough down and roll it into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle. Spread the condensed milk filling across the surface of the dough. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the dough vertically into 4 sections, forming 4 long strips.

Stack the strips together, the filling side up. Cut the stacked dough into 8 sections. You now have 8 stacked rectangular dough portions. Arrange the dough portions in the greased loaf pan, with the long sides of the dough facing up. It is fine if a small space is vacant in the pan, it will be filled up once the dough rises. Let it rise&nbsp;for about an hour, covered loosely with a kitchen towel.

Preheat&nbsp;oven to 325 F. Top the dough with raisins, sliced almonds and maraschino cherries. Bake the bread at 325 F for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 300 then bake for 10-12 minutes more, or until the bread is golden. To serve, cut into slices or pull-apart.

Make the Bread Dough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCLX-Q9vXuw

This Japanese Condensed Milk Bread is a delicious way to enjoy condensed milk, enclosed in a soft and sweet bread that is studded with almonds, raisins and cherries.

A freshly baked breaded loaf bread filled with delicious matcha filling. It is one of the best ways to enjoy quality matcha.

Matcha Braided Loaf

(1 packet, or 2 1/4 teaspoon) active dry yeast

(~ 1 teaspoon) sugar

200 ml (13.5 tablespoon) milk, lukewarm (38 Celsius/100 Fahrenheit)

320-360 gram (~ 3 cup) all-purpose flour

(~ 6 tablespoon) sugar

salt

(~ 2.5 tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened

60 gram (~ 4 tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened

(~ 1/2 cup) sugar

matcha

milk

Mix together active dry yeast, 5 gram sugar, and lukewarm milk. Set aside to bloom, or until foamy and frothy, about 10 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, sugar, and salt. Make a well, then add in egg yolks, butter, and yeast solution. Knead until smooth and soft, only adding a bit of flour if necessary. Kneading time is about 20-30 minutes.

Place bread dough in a bowl, cover with a wet kitchen towel/saran plastic. Set aside to proof until volume is almost doubled, about 1 hour in a warm kitchen.

Meanwhile, let's make the matcha filling. Beat together unsalted butter, sugar, and matcha until well mixed. Set aside.

Once the bread has finished proofing, punch down to remove air bubbles. Then transfer the bread to a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 2 minutes, then roll into a rectangle of about 10-inch by 15-inch.

Spread matcha filling on the rolled dough, leaving 1-inch uncovered around the edges. Roll the bread from the short end into a log. Use a sharp knife to cut the log into 2, place the two-half-logs side-by-side so the filling is facing up, then braid into a braided loaf. (Probably easier to refer to the photos!)

Tranfer the braided loaf into a 9"x5" greased loaf pan. Cover the pan with a wet kitchen towel/saran plastic and proof again until the dough fill the pan, about 1 hour in a warm kitchen.

Preheat oven to 170 Celsius (325 Fahrenheit). Brush the top of the bread with egg wash (mix together egg yolk and milk), and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. At around 25 minutes or 30 minutes mark, if you see that the top of the bread is browning too much, you can use a sheet of aluminum foil to tent the loaf.

Remove the bread from oven. Let it rest in the pan over a wire rack for 10 minutes, then gently remove the bread from the pan and cool on a wire rack. It is best to serve the bread warm.

great recipe! I did reduce the amount of sugar in the matcha filling and still it tasted great. I actually baked it a number of times already :)

Also called Japanese Milk Bread,  this milk bread is made very differently and is very moist and also has a light, fluffy and slightly chewy texture.

Milk Bread (Soft and Fluffy Asian Style)

22 g unbleached bread flour

water

2% low fat milk

330 g unbleached bread flour

2% low fat milk ((warmed,

unsalted butter ((room temp,

unsalted butter ((for bowls and pan))

Bring egg and butter to room temperature or soften butter in the microwave (like 30 sec at 30% power for 4 Tbs).

In a small sauce pot, add flour, milk, water and whisk. Turn heat to medium and cook for  2-3 minutes for this minimum amount (longer if you are making more than 1 loaf). For the first 1-2 minutes, check every 10-15 seconds and whisk. After 2 minutes, as it starts to thicken, whisk constantly until everything is cooked and thickened. When it is done, whisking should leave tracks on the bottom of the pot and hold its shape like below.

Make Starter

In a stand mixer bowl (using a dough hook), add flour, sugar, yeast, salt. Mix the dry ingredients with the dough hook for a few seconds until they are evenly combined. When done, I also like to use my hands to mix again just to make sure things are evenly mixed including the bottom of the bowl.

Warm up milk in a pot or in the microwave - until it feels like very warm bath water (110° F/43° C).

To mixer bowl with dry ingredients, add warm milk, starter and egg. Turn the mixer on low speed and knead for 5 minutes.

Butter your loaf pan and butter two bowls where the dough will be proved. One should be large enough to hold more than double size of the dough.

Add softened butter to the dough from 5 and knead for 10 - 11 minutes.  First at medium-low speed for a couple of minutes and then at medium speed until dough becomes smooth and stretchy but a little tacky. See video.

Make Dough

Transfer the dough with your hands to the buttered bowl from 6. See how smooth it looks in the mixing bowl but also how sticky it is - sticking to the side of the bowl.

Shape it a bit with your hands to make it into a ball. Cover with a plastic wrap or with a kitchen towel and let it rise in a warm location for 40 to 60 minutes or until it has doubled in size. Here&#039;s before -

And after it has proved

Uncover the dough and punch it down with your fist. Divide dough in two and scoop out half of the dough. Form the dough lightly into a ball and then put it into the 2nd bowl. Scoop out the remaining dough and form it into a ball again with the seam side down and put it back in the bowl.

Cover both bowls with dough with a plastic wrap or kitchen towel and let it rise again (in a warm location) for 15 - 17 minutes. 

Once dough has risen, transfer one dough on a smooth surface (granite or marble works well), sprinkle surface very lightly with flour and also the rolling pin.  This is how it looks when properly proved and pulled from the sides.

Roll out one dough ball into a thick rectangle (or oval) about 12 inches long and 4-5 inches wide.

Fold or roll the top of the dough (like 3 inches) down and then fold the bottom up about the same amount, resulting in a square-like dough shape. Then roll it into a log, starting from the right edge of the square. Pick up the log and nestle it down near one end of the loaf pan. REPEAT with the other dough ball and place it at the other end of the loaf pan. 

Cover the loaf pan and let it rise again for 30 to 40 minutes until the dough is visible above the edge of the pan and the 2 dough logs have fully filled up the pan.

Heat oven to 350°F/175° C.

Prove Dough

Optionally, brush the tops lightly with milk (for shine) and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven (you probably will need to take out a shelf since this bread will rise quite a  bit during baking) until golden brown about 32-35 minutes. Bake a little longer if you pierce it with a toothpick (in the lowest part) and it doesn&#039;t come out clean.

Let the milk bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes and then take the bread out of the pan onto a wire rack and let it cool for at least an hour or more before slicing because if you slice too soon when it&#x27;s still warm, the bread may collapse!

Bake - at 350°F/175° C.

Bite into the slightly toasted top and into the soft and light insides of these pandesal and you will see why it is the most loved bread in the Philippines.

Pandesal ( Filipino Bread Rolls)

2 and 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

sugar

canola oil

eggs,

bread crumbs,

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together...

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the warm milk, yeast and about a tablespoon of the sugar. Let this mixture stand until it is foamy. In another bowl, combine 4 cups of flour and salt.

Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add in...

Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add in the eggs, sugar and oil to the bowl of stand mixer. Gradually add the flour mixture, about a cup at a time while stirring with a wooden spatula or spoon. Briefly mix everything together until a shaggy dough forms.

Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer...

Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and run the mixer on medium speed to start kneading the dough. After ten minutes of mixing, gradually sprinkle little amounts of flour to the dough ( about a tablespoon at a time) to help in the kneading process. Continue to knead until the dough gathers in the center and is cleaning the sides and bottom of the bowl. This should take about 20 minutes or so and you should only have used up to 1/2 cup of flour. Gather the dough into a ball. Place it inside a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let stand in room temperature to rise for an hour, or until the size is doubled. Meanwhile, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Gently deflate the dough. Divide it into 25-28...

Gently deflate the dough. Divide it into 25-28 equal sized portions. Smooth and shape each portion into an imperfect ball, about 2 and 1/2 to 3 inches in size. Roll each portion of dough in the bread crumbs and place in the baking sheet. Allow little spaces in between portions. Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel and let rise for 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake the pandesal for 23-25 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. Serve warm. Store leftovers in a tightly closed container at room temperature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLwc8H0IoUM

How to make soft and airy pandesal?
Ingredients:
1 packet active dry yeast or 2 and 1/4 teaspoons
1 and 1/4 cup milk heated to 110 F
4 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour divided
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs lightly beaten
bread crumbs for dusting the pandesal dough

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the warm milk, yeast and about a tablespoon of the sugar. Let this mixture stand until it is foamy. In another bowl, combine 4 cups of flour and salt.

Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add in the eggs, sugar and oil to the bowl of stand mixer. Gradually add the flour mixture, about a cup at a time while stirring with a wooden spatula or spoon. Briefly mix everything together until a shaggy dough forms.

Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and run the mixer on medium speed to start kneading the dough. After ten minutes of mixing, gradually sprinkle little amounts of flour to the dough ( about a tablespoon at a time) to help in the kneading process. Continue to knead until the dough gathers in the center and is cleaning the sides and bottom of the bowl. This should take about 20 minutes or so and you should only have used up to 1/2 cup of flour. Gather the dough into a ball. Place it inside a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let stand in room temperature to rise for an hour, or until size is doubled. Meanwhile, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Gently deflate the dough. Divide it into 30 equal sized portions. Smooth and shape each portion into an imperfect ball, about 2 and 1/2 to 3 inches in size. Roll each portion of dough in the bread crumbs and place in the baking sheet. Allow little spaces in between portions. Cover the rolls with kitchen towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake the pandesal for 20-25 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. Serve warm. Store leftovers in a tightly closed container at room temperature.

Pandesal

The best part about making homemade Asian bread at home is that you can customize it to anything you like! I like adding different flavors such as chocolate powder, matcha powder, or beetroot to make flavors of swirled bread. Today we are making chocolate milk bread, which is super delicious and the perfect breakfast!

The FLUFFIEST Marble Chocolate Milk Bread

tbsp All-Purpose Flour

Water

Flour

Sugar

Salt

½ tsp active dry yeast

½ Egg (beaten)

ml Milk

ml Water

tbsp Butter (room temperature)

Milk

cocoa powder

Egg Yolk

Mix two tablespoons of flour and ½ cup of water. Once combined, bring it to a simmer.

Simmer on medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until it thickens and becomes a roux.

Remove from heat and store in an air-tight container in the fridge for 2 hours or until it has thoroughly cooled down. You can prepare the step the night before to save time.

Tangzhong

Add flour, sugar, salt, yeast, egg, milk, chilled tangzhong, and water in a stand mixer. Mix until thoroughly combined; this will take around 10 minutes; the dough may seem sticky at first, but keep mixing until it is thoroughly combined.

Next, add in room temperature butter, turn on the stand mixer, and mix for another 10-15 minutes or until combined. You can check if the dough is ready by stretching the dough; it should be elastic and see-through. Refer to Youtube Video to get a sample of how to test the dough.

Once the dough is smooth and no longer sticky, form it into a ball, cover it with a damp towel, and let it rest for 1 hour or until it doubles in size.

Milk Bread Dough:

Repeat all the above steps, but in step #1, add the chocolate powder.

Chocolate Milk Bread Dough:

Punch out all the air bubbles, then cut both doughs into two even pieces.

Working with the milk bread dough first, roll it out to around 7 x 9”. Keep rolling to ensure there are no air bubbles.

Repeat the same with the chocolate dough, making it 1 inch smaller than the milk bread dough.

Place the chocolate dough on top of the milk bread dough and tightly roll it in. Pinch the dough together each time it is rolled to ensure it is secured and there are no air bubbles in between.

Repeat the same with the second dough.

Place both dough into a container and let it rest for another 40 minutes.

Dust flour over the bread and preheat the oven to 380F.

Bake at 380 F for 25-30 minutes. Keep an eye to ensure the top doesn’t burn. After removing the bread from the pan and letting it rest on its side for 10 minutes, it stays fluffy.

Final Steps:

This Scallion Foccacia Bread is crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. This foccacia is a mix of the classic Italian foccacia and Taiwanese Green Onion Pancakes. Baked with a seasoned scallion oil mix, this fluffy bread has that perfect golden crust and is packed with green onion flavor. It is absolutely irresistible fresh from the oven! Super easy and no kneading required, this focaccia comes with two rise options: same day or overnight! Simple, flavorful, and goes with literally everything.

Scallion Focaccia: Same Day OR Overnight Rise!

all-purpose flour

instant yeast

450 ml water (room temperature)

onion

olive oil (for greasing, drizzling, and mixing with scallions)

tbsp white sesame seeds

Making Dough

In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, and yeast. Gradually pour in the water and mix until no dry flour remains. The dough will be sticky — that’s perfect! Cover with a towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Stretch and Fold

After 30 minutes, gently stretch and fold the dough a few times. Cover and rest again for another 30 minutes, then repeat the fold once more.

Rising Dough

Option 1 — Same-Day Rise (2–3 Hours): Let the dough rest at room temperature for 2–3 hours, or until it doubles in size. Continue from Step 4. Option 2 — Overnight Rise (Best Flavor!): After the second fold, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (8–12 hours). The next day, remove from the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for 1–2 hours, or until slightly puffy before moving on.

Prepare Scallions

While the dough is rising, mix the chopped green onions with 2 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt. This keeps them vibrant green and full of flavor.

Transfer Dough

Generously oil your baking dish or tray with olive oil. Transfer the dough into the pan and lightly press it down with your fingertips to stretch it out.

Add Scallion

Sprinkle ½ of the green onions evenly across the surface. Fold the left side into the middle, then the right side into the middle. Sprinkle ¼ of the green onions on top, then fold the bottom up toward the top and gently pinch to seal the scallions inside. Shape evenly, drizzle with a touch of olive oil, and cover to rest.

Final Rise

Cover and let the dough rest for 45–60 minutes while the oven preheats. 💡Pro Tip: Place it somewhere slightly warm — inside the oven (turned off), near the stove, or by a heater — to speed up rising.

Bake Foccacia

Preheat the oven to 475°F (245°C). Right before baking, drizzle the top with a bit more olive oil. Add the remaining ¼ of the green onions on top. Sprinkle on sesame seeds (if using). Gently press your fingertips across the dough to create those classic focaccia dimples. Bake for 15–20 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp on top.

Serve

Brush with a little extra olive oil if desired, slice, and enjoy warm.

Turned out great. I followed what others recommended and baked in a 9x13. I chose a metal pan instead of glass to get a crispier bottom crust. The scallions on top burned, so I'd maybe try to dimple them in more.

Do not recommend baking in an 8"x8" pan. I did so for 20 mins and had uncooked dough in the middle. Baking longer would've burnt the sides and left the middle raw. The flavour and texture of this bread is delicious though. I'll remake it in a larger pan next time.

I have little experience baking and followed your recipe exactly (for the overnight rise), and it came out so fluffy, soft, and delicious!! I just had it as part of a sandwich - yum! 

Question for you: I also used a glass pan, but I found that the focaccia stuck to the bottom and made it difficult for me to remove the bread. I put more than enough oil to grease the pan, but that didn't seem to help. What would help the removal process the next time I make it?

I was a little confused by the fact that you said you bake your bread in an 8x8 dish, but the images show a 9x13 dish.  I decided I would use an 8x8 glass baking dish since that is what you recommended to people in response to other comments.  Although the outside layer/edges of the bread are delicious, the center of the bread I made is raw.  Had I left it in the oven longer, the top would have burned, as it was quite dark when I removed it after 20-plus minutes. I will definitely try this recipe again, because the flavor is great, but I wonder if it would be better to use a 9x9 or a 9x13 glass baking dish to ensure the bread is properly cooked.  I welcome any advice.  Thank you!

This recipe is incredibly tasty and easy to make. It was my first time making bread of any sort and it was a success. The scallions flavour is delicious. I got creative with my second batch and added some Chinese sausage and pork floss with the scallions, ah! Dangerously delicious. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. ❤️

What a delicious and easy bake. 
This recipe is super similar to my ride or die focaccia recipe and you've inspired me to play around with flavours when it comes to savoury baking! This was a massive hit with my whole family including my 4, 5 and 7 year olds. Husband has asked me to make it again already! 
Thanks Tiffy and thanks mama for sharing your delicious food with us.

Excellent, I let it ferment extra long with sourdough, and it ended up extra fluffy and chewy.

I tried the overnight version and it’s very tasty but noticed when I had the dough at room temperature after removing it from the fridge, it wasn’t jiggly. Should I have let the dough proof longer before incorporating scallions?

Top 6 asian bread recipes from across the web

The most viewed asian bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Japanese Condensed Milk Bread

Matcha Braided Loaf

Milk Bread (Soft and Fluffy Asian S...

Pandesal ( Filipino Bread Rolls)

The FLUFFIEST Marble Chocolate Milk...

Scallion Focaccia: Same Day OR Over...

Top 6 asian bread recipes from across the web

The most viewed asian bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Japanese Condensed Milk Bread

Matcha Braided Loaf

Milk Bread (Soft and Fluffy Asian S...

Pandesal ( Filipino Bread Rolls)

The FLUFFIEST Marble Chocolate Milk...

Scallion Focaccia: Same Day OR Over...

The most viewed asian bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine