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Home All Categories Breads and Pastries

Easy Milk Bread Rolls with No Tangzhong

Posted:12/07/202211 Comments
Recipe Print
milk bread dinner rolls

Milk bread rolls are the softest and fluffiest roll you will ever make. It’s also an easy recipe because you don’t need to make Tangzhong but it will be just as delicious! Make popular Ang-Butter and Salad Sandwich with these.

milk bread dinner rolls baked in green pie dish

Every Holiday dinner always needs some bread rolls and so I adapted my Milk Bread for Bread Machine without Tangzhon recipe to make these sweet and pillowy soft milk bread rolls easily at home. These also work great with my Korean Potato Salad Sandwich so try that for your next day’s lunch.

How to best enjoy Milk Bread Rolls

Enjoy these rolls with some butter as dinner rolls or simply with some jam for breakfast! For lunch, make an egg salad sandwich with it. My neighbor Michelle (who is a great baker) has been making egg salad sandwiches for her kids weekly using my milk bread recipe – ever since I taught her how to make it at home a couple of years ago.. when we were all stuck at home and she started a wonderful baking group of neighbor moms teaching each other bread recipes via zoom.🥰

The other wonderful way to enjoy this fluffy and amazing milk bread is to fill it with Ang-Butter (앙버터)!! I believe this combination of a big slab of cold butter with Danpat 단팥 (sweet red bean paste or anko) in different breads originated from Japan but has become very popular in Korea now. During my recent visit to Korea, I saw them in almost every Korean bakery – made with baguettes, sweet rolls, salted buns and even inside Hodu Kwaja (Walnut Pastry).

Watch my video and at the end, I show you how you can make Ang-Butter sandwich!

sweet red bean paste ang butter sandwich

Ingredients for Milk Bread Rolls

Wet Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup 2% low-fat milk (whole milk is OK too)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 large egg
  • 60 g unsalted butter (at room temp)
  • 1 tsp sea salt

Dry Ingredients

  • 365 g unbleached bread flour 365g = 2 3/4 cups
  • 50 g sugar 50g = 3.5 Tbsp
  • 2 Tbsp milk powder for bread
  • 2 Tbsp potato starch
  • 1 packet instant yeast = 7g

For coating bowls and bread pan

  • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350℉.
  2. Bring egg and butter to room temperature. Use the microwave to soften the butter if needed.
  3. Warm milk + water (to bath water temperature) – I microwave for 40 sec.
  4. In the stand mixer bowl – add wet ingredients – warm milk, water, butter, egg and then salt.
  5. To the mixer bowl wet ingredients, add flour, sugar, milk powder and potato starch. Then make a little divot and add yeast to it. This is NOT absolutely necessary if you are using Instant Yeast but just so you make it a perfect environment, I recommend adding yeast on top of the dry ingredients and letting the salt stay in the bottom so the salt doesn’t touch the yeast directly.
  6. Using the dough hook, start the stand mixer on low speed for 1-2 min until the dry ingredients are all mixed in. If using a bread machine, use the basic dough function to mix the dough.
  7. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high (8 out of 10) and continue to knead for 12 min until it’s one dough ball. When the dough is ready, there should be very little stuff left on the sides of the bowl. See video.
  8. While the dough is mixing, coat the inside of a bowl with butter. Also, coat the cake or pie pan with butter.
  9. Once the dough is done, remove it and form it lightly into a ball. Then put the dough ball in the buttered bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap or towel and let it sit in a warm location 40 to 60 min or 100℉ oven for 40 min until the dough doubles in size. step by step pics of how to shape dough balls for dinner rolls
  10. Once the dough has risen, transfer the dough onto a floured smooth surface (granite/marble or wooden cutting board works well). Divide dough into 2 equal parts then divides each 1/2 into 4 to 5 equal size pieces to make a total of 10 balls. If you want to make it exact, I weighed my dough ball and it weighed 780 which means each dough ball should weigh around 78g to make 10 milk bread rolls. UPDATE 12/24/2023 – For smaller dinner roll size, the 78g size bread rolls were too big. I divided it into 48 – 49g size and made 16 balls and that was a perfect size.
  11. Roll and shape each dough ball into a round ball. There are different ways to do this. One way is to use a circular motion with the palm of your hand and gently roll the dough on a floured surface until you get a smooth ball shape. What I like to do is to stretch the top and tuck it under and close it with your hands like closing up a dumpling so it’s smooth on top. Watch my video to see how I do it. dough balls in pie dish for milk bread dinner rolls
  12. Place the dough balls on a buttered cake pan or pie pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 min in a warm location again or in a proving oven. proved dough balls in pie plate on top of wood cutting board
  13. When the dough balls have risen, lightly brush the top with milk or egg wash.
  14. Bake in 350℉ oven for 20 min. Adjust time depending on the size of your rolls and if you made 16 balls like I mentioned above, reduce cooking time to by 3-4 min.milk bread dinner rolls baked
  15. Remove from oven and let it cool for 15 min or longer and enjoy. Note, the bread may be too soft and get squished if you try to handle it when it’s still too hot.

Here’s a close-up picture of how soft, fluffy and pillowy, these amazing milk bread rolls are –

milk bread rolls ripped separately w closeup showing texture

Milk Bread Rolls Recipe FAQ

Can I use the bread machine to make and prove the dough?

Yes, you can! This recipe is actually very similar to my Milk Bread for Bread Machine recipe so you can follow instructions from that recipe up to the step of making the dough and 1st proof. But my milk bread rolls recipe is different after that so be sure to come back and follow the instructions in this recipe.

What if I don’t have milk powder?

Using milk powder for bread is my solution to making fluffy and light milk bread without Tangzhong. Dry milk powder helps to make the bread rise higher, softer and lighter. If you can’t get milk powder, you can just simply leave it out. If you absolutely don’t want to sacrifice the fluffy lightness then follow my regular Milk Bread recipe dough and make and use the Tangzhong starter – that should definitely give you similar results. Finally, although I have not tried it myself, research says you can substitute soy powder or rice milk powder so look into that.

How to best store the rolls?

It can be stored in a closed container or plastic bag for 1-2 days but should be refrigerated or frozen after that.

Do I need Potato Starch?

First, note potato starch is NOT potato flour. You can read more about that HERE. Potato starch is a new addition to my milk bread recipe after reading a comment from a reader (thank you Bab!) who said it came out even more perfect after adding some potato starch to my recipe. I tried it and I had to put it in!! But it’s NOT a must. Adding it does make it a little less sticky.

Quick HOW TO make Milk Bread Dinner Rolls VIDEo (4 Min)

Fully Narrated Video (8 min)

Easy Milk Bread Dinner Rolls is the BEST for dinner parties + Korean bakery sandwiches! No Tangzhong
Follow along on social for more Korean recipe inspiration!
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5 from 3 votes
milk bread rolls baked in pie pan with christmas decor in background

Milk Bread Dinner Rolls

Sweet and Fluffy milk bread dinner rolls with no Tangzhong! It's a perfect smaller version of the full milk bread.
Prep: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes
Cook: 20 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour 50 minutes minutes
serves: 10 rolls

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients + salt

  • 3/4 cup 2% low fat milk can use whole milk
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 large egg
  • 60 g unsalted butter room temp
  • 1 tsp sea salt

Dry Ingredients

  • 365 g unbleached bread flour 365g = 2 3/4 cups
  • 50 g sugar 50g = 3.5 Tbsp
  • 2 Tbsp milk powder for bread
  • 2 Tbsp potato starch optional but recommended
  • 2 tsp instant yeast 2 tsp = 1 packet instant yeast = 7g

For coating bowls and bread pan

  • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350℉
  • Bring butter to room temperature or use the microwave to soften butter
  • Bring egg to room temp and warm milk + water (to bath water temperature)
  • In a bowl, add all dry ingredients (not the salt) and mix.
  • In a stand mixer, add all the wet ingredients (milk, water, butter, egg) + salt.
  • To the stand mixer bowl with wet ingredients, add remaining dry ingredients. Then make a little divot and add yeast to it. Using the dough hook, start the stand mixer in low speed for 1-2 min until dry ingredients are all mixed in.
  • Increase the mixer speed to medium high (8 out of 10) and mix the dough for 12 min. Until it forms one dough ball.
  • While the dough is mixing, coat the inside of a bowl with butter. Also, coat the cake or pie pan with butter.
  • Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and form it lightly into a ball and ransfer into a buttered bowl.
  • Cover with a plastic wrap or towel and let it sit in a warm location 40 to 60 min or 100℉ oven for 40 min until the dough doubles in size.
  • Once the dough has risen, transfer dough onto a floured smooth surface (granite/marble or wooden cutting board works well). Divide dough into 2 equal parts then divide each half into 4 to 5 equal size pieces to make 10 milk bread rolls.
    step by step pics of how to shape dough balls for dinner rolls
  • Roll and shape each dough ball into a round ball. Watch my video to see how I do it.
  • Place the dough balls on a buttered cake pan or pie pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 min in a warm location again or in a proving oven.
    dough balls in pie dish for milk bread dinner rolls
  • When the dough balls have risen, lightly brush the top with milk or egg wash.
  • Bake at 350℉ oven for 20 min.
  • Remove from oven and let it cool for 15 min or longer and enjoy. Note, the bread may be too soft and get squished if you try to handle it before it's cooled down a bit.

Equipment

  • 1 stand mixer
  • 1 glass mixing bowl
  • 1 8" or 9" cake pan or pie pan

Tips & Notes:

  • Use this milk bread roll to make my Potato Salad Sandwich or Ang Butter (앙버터) sandwich. 
  • If you want to use a bread machine to make the dough, you can use my Milk Bread for Bread Machine recipe up to the step of making the dough and 1st proof. But my milk bread rolls recipe is different after that so be sure to come back and follow the instructions in this recipe.
  • If you don’t want to use milk powder, follow my regular Milk Bread recipe dough and make and use the Tangzhong starter – that should definitely give you similar results.
  • Note potato starch is NOT potato flour.  Potato starch is a new addition to my milk bread recipe after reading a comment from a reader (thank you Bab!) who said it came out even more perfect after adding some potato starch to my recipe. I tried it and I had to put it in!! But it’s NOT a must. Adding it does make it a little less sticky.
  • STORAGE – It can be stored in a closed container or plastic bag for 1-2 days but should be refrigerated or frozen after that.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 227kcal (11%)| Carbohydrates: 34g (11%)| Protein: 6g (12%)| Fat: 7g (11%)| Saturated Fat: 4g (25%)| Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g| Monounsaturated Fat: 2g| Trans Fat: 0.2g| Cholesterol: 18mg (6%)| Sodium: 126mg (5%)| Potassium: 109mg (3%)| Fiber: 2g (8%)| Sugar: 7g (8%)| Vitamin A: 234IU (5%)| Vitamin C: 0.1mg| Calcium: 44mg (4%)| Iron: 0.4mg (2%)
Author: JinJoo Lee
Course:Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine:American, asian, Japanese, Korean
KoreanCategory:Bread (빵)
Did You Make This?I love seeing what you’ve made! Tag me on Instagram at @Kimchimari or #kimchimari and don’t forget to leave a comment & rating below!

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11 Comments
  1. Joey says

    Posted on 20 January 2024 at 11:22 pm

    5 stars
    These turned out so nicely! Thank you for testing and sharing this simplified method. I appreciate all your details, especially the weight measurements. I opted for 16 rolls in a 9×9 and they were still a good sized roll. Also made several very delicious an butter sandwiche. So good!

    Reply
    • JinJoo says

      Posted on 20 January 2024 at 11:43 pm

      I’m so happy to hear that!! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your review and for appreciating my work.

      Reply
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Nutritional Facts in my recipe cards are provided PER SERVING and it’s an estimate and may not be accurate. Due to different brands of ingredients having different nutritional values, the values I provide here may be different from your preparation.

– Gluten-Free recipe assumes you are using gluten-free soy sauce (since many soy sauces contain gluten or wheat) and/or gluten-free gochujang.

– MSG & Corn Syrup FREE – these are never used in my recipes

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