This is the step most people rush. And it's the one that determines whether your Japanese Milk Bread looks like it came out of a bakery or like something went sideways. So before we bake together this weekend, I want to make sure everyone is set up and confident. I put together a short video covering everything you need to know. Watch it before Saturday. Here's what we cover: The Sharpie method for precision dividing, the three-piece shaping technique, how to degas properly, seam placement, and why snug rolls in the pan matter more than most people realize. We also cover pan options because I've been getting a lot of questions about this. Standard 9x5 Loaf Pan: Use the recipe as written. Three rolls, proof until one inch above the rim. This gives you the classic domed top with three humps. In Japan they call this Yama style, which means mountain. Pullman Pan with Lid On: Fill it 65 percent full before proofing. Proof until the dough just touches the lid. Bake with the lid on and remove it for the last five to ten minutes if you want some color. This gives you the perfectly square Kaku style loaf, ideal for sandwiches and toast. Pullman Pan with Lid Off: Same setup, lid stays off the whole time. You get straight sides with a domed top. The best of both styles. The universal rule for any pan: Fill it 60 to 65 percent full before proofing and let the dough do the rest. Scaling quick reference: 8x4 pan → scale to 0.85x, about 535g of dough 9x5 pan → use recipe as written, about 630g of dough 13x4 Pullman → scale to 1.5x, about 945g of dough Each piece should weigh right around 190g at the default scaling. Weigh your bowl ahead of time, write the weight on the bottom with a Sharpie, and you'll know your exact dough weight every single time. The full recipe is right here: 👉 https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread?variant=yeasted Watch the video, get your ingredients together, and I'll see you Saturday. Drop your pan question in the comments below if you've got one and let's get everyone sorted before the weekend.

Last week you stood at your stove stirring milk and flour into a thick paste for your cinnamon rolls. Most of you did it because the recipe said to. That paste is the only reason your rolls were still soft on Sunday. Today we're breaking down what actually happened in that saucepan, why it matters for every enriched bread you'll ever bake, and how a five-minute step gives you four to five days of softness without a single preservative. You'll learn: What starch gelatinization actually is (and why 65C changes everything) The difference between tangzhong and yudane, two methods that solve the same problem Why enriched doughs go stale faster than lean breads, and how tangzhong fixes it A universal rule you can apply to sandwich bread, dinner rolls, burger buns, anything you want to stay softer longer This is the science behind Saturday's bake-along. Understanding why your bread works is what separates someone who follows recipes from someone who actually knows how to bake. Watch the full lesson above, then tell me: did you notice how long your cinnamon rolls stayed soft? Drop your answer below. Recipe for Saturday: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread Tomorrow: The Three-Piece Shaping Method. The technique that gives shokupan its signature layered crumb. You aren't building a recipe collection. You're building a skillset.

Hey everyone, I'm going to be honest with you. I've been out of town for a day and a half and I'm playing catch-up this morning. But we're rolling. This is your overview for the week. We're making Japanese Milk Bread (Shokupan) on Saturday, and if you baked cinnamon rolls with us last weekend, you already know the most important technique in this recipe. More content is coming out this afternoon and we'll follow our normal schedule the rest of the week. I'm working through your messages now, so if you've reached out, I see you and I'm getting to it. In the meantime, the full overview lesson is dropping in the Classroom shortly with the history, the science, and exactly what we're covering each day leading up to Saturday's bake. 📖 Full recipe (yeasted and sourdough versions): https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread?variant=yeasted More this afternoon. Let's have a great week. 🙌

You just spent a week learning tangzhong. You felt what it did to your cinnamon roll dough. You watched how it changed the texture, the softness, the way those rolls stayed pillowy hours after baking. Now we're going to take that same technique and use it to make one of the most beautiful loaves of bread in the world. Japanese milk bread, also called Shokupan, is the softest sandwich bread you'll ever pull out of your oven. Cloud-like crumb. Barely sweet. Tears apart in layers. Stays soft for days without any preservatives. And the secret is the exact same tangzhong you made last weekend. This is what I mean when I say we're teaching you to think like a baker, not just follow recipes. Last week tangzhong gave you soft cinnamon rolls. This week it gives you the perfect loaf. Same science, completely different result. Once you understand what tangzhong does and why, you can use it anywhere. Here's what the week looks like: Tuesday: Tips for working with enriched dough (butter timing, kneading patience, reading the windowpane) Wednesday: The science behind why milk bread stays soft for days when most homemade bread goes stale overnight Thursday: Shaping techniques, the three-piece log that gives Shokupan its signature pull-apart look Friday: Game prep audio + recipe walkthrough so you hit Saturday ready to go Saturday: Bake-along. We're doing this together. The recipe is already in the Pantry: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread?variant=yeasted If you baked cinnamon rolls with us this weekend, you already have a head start. You know tangzhong. You know enriched dough. You know what butter does to gluten development and why we add it last. All of that carries forward into this bake. If you're new or you missed cinnamon roll week, no problem. This is a great place to jump in. The recipe walks you through everything from scratch, and we'll be here all week building up to Saturday.

Jill Hart woke up at 3am thinking it was 4:30. Instead of going back to bed, she just… started baking. By the time most of us were sitting down with coffee Saturday morning, Jill already had her rolls baked, double-frosted, and resting on the counter. Three photos and a quote that summed up the whole weekend: “Overall very happy with the results.” That’s the kind of energy this community runs on now. Three weeks ago we were at about 300 total engagements for a bake-along week. Two weeks ago the focaccia broke through with 521 comments. This weekend, the cinnamon roll working thread alone blew past that number, and the full conversation crossed 1,600 interactions before Sunday was done. But the numbers aren’t the story. The people are. THE FRIDAY BUILDUP It started with the game prep audio and the commitment poll. Twenty-seven of you voted to say you were in. But the real energy was in the comments. People were staging ingredients, checking pan sizes, refreshing starters, asking about tangzhong before they’d ever tried it. Rhonda Talamo posted her own thread knowing she couldn’t bake this round. She’s made this recipe many times and loves it, but life had other plans. Seven likes, 23 comments of encouragement, and her promise to cheer from the sidelines. I told her: “I knew they were good when they got past your test kitchen.” Karen Castillo posted “We have a problem…” because she only had a hand mixer and no bread hook. Before I could even respond, Shannon Boyer was in there: “Knead the old fashioned way! You can do it!” Colleen Vergara followed with detailed instructions on doing it by hand. Judy Lyle shared how her mom did it that way her whole life. Karen got her answer in minutes. That’s not me coaching. That’s a community coaching itself. SATURDAY MORNING: THEY SHOWED UP Candi Brown-McGriff was first through the door. She’d done her dough the night before, cold-proofed overnight, and was ready to roll by 8:30am. Her first comment hit 10 reactions: “Going to take them out of the fridge at 8:30am and get this party started. Good morning Unc!”