Shokupan
I’m not really one for a “white sandwich loaf” but I’ve been curious about shokupan for a while. I had some leftover bread flour and yeast from Thanksgiving, so I figured I might give it a try.
I used this recipe from King Arthur with a couple tweaks: instead of using melted butter, I slowly incorporated soft butter into the dough and instead of instant yeast, I used active dry and reduced the amount for a slower fermentation.
I know most recipes for this use a Pullman-style pan, but I don’t have one. I just used a 1.5qt Pyrex bread pan (9”x5”).
The dough took a while to mix in the Kitchenaid, but it became an absolutely gorgeous dough — extremely strong and lovely. It fermented and proofed slower than the recipe, as expected.
For shaping, I stretched out each piece like you would a pizza dough before folding and rolling them. In the oven there was a little cracking around the edge of the loaf, so I probably could’ve gone a bit longer on the proof.
When I cut into it, it was a very classic “white sandwich loaf”. The biggest reason I don’t typically like these breads is they lack structural integrity — I have no issues with a soft bread, but it needs to be able to hold up to spreading cold butter and not turn to paste when you make a sandwich.
This bread, though, was exactly what I’d want from a “white sandwich loaf”. It was very soft and fluffy, but it actually has good structural integrity and doesn’t immediately turn to mush in my mouth! This is definitely the best “sandwich bread” I’ve had, and I might actually be convinced to use it for a sandwich.
It’s a touch sweet and eggy for my palette, but it’s very nice. I thought it would be perfect for French toast, so I made some! It came out great.
I definitely want to try making a similar loaf again, but I’m probably going to search for a recipe without the egg and with a little less sugar. I still prefer a nice, crusty hearth loaf, but this is definitely not a bad bread.
Do any of y’all have other suggestions for what else I might do to improve? I do like the soft-yet-structurally sound texture and don’t want to lose it by cutting out egg.
I use an egg yolk, rather than whole egg, but can't tell you if it makes any difference.
I like my bread to be so soft it fails the cold butter spreading test. :)
You could try using egg whites instead of the whole egg; the protein in the egg whites will help add structure and maybe not taste as eggy. Also, I haven't been making the tangzhong for my recipes; it's an extra step that I can't find the time for when I bake during the week. The bread is soft and fluffy enough without it, and one loaf gets eaten quickly enough in my house that it doesn't need the preservative nature of the tangzhong. 😆
ChainBaker has a video and article on the effect of whole eggs, egg yolks, egg whites or no eggs, you might find interesting.
https://www.chainbaker.com/eggs/
Nama Shokupan 生食 パン does not use eggs in the recipe, but uses butter/cream. You can try to low the sugar amount in these type of recipes.
Here is one using a little sugar:
Flour 250g (total)- protein 8% only
Milk powder 20g
Milk 100ml
Cream 20g
Butter 20g
Honey 5 ml
Yeast 3g
Water 50ml
Make sponge first :
Flour 50g
Honey 5 ml
Yeast 3g
Water 50ml
Then, adding the rest ingredients -- adding butter/cream a little at one time.
Recipe from this video
I’ll definitely have to try all these out some time. Yet another one of many, many baking bread projects I have to try out!