Eggless milk loaf / pav

Get ready to prepare the softest and the fluffiest milk loaf aka Hokkaido aka Shokupan you will ever put in your mouth without using eggs. Make a feathery light loaf or a buttery pav, it is guaranteed to please everyone.

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Milk bread aka Hokkaido milk bread aka Shokupan is a Japanese milk bread, known for its buttery, pillowy crumb with a slight sweet flavour. It has a melt in the mouth milky sweet flavour with barely a hint of crust.

The milk bread is most often an enriched dough with ingredients like milk, eggs, sugar and butter. It also involves making a roux which is basically a paste of flour and water which is added to the flour mix to get soft, fluffy bread. This method is known as tangzhong method which gives a lighter, tender crumb to the loaf. Yudane is another method whereby the flour is scaled with hot water which pre-cooks the starch in the flour leading to a soft, pillowy bread. Both of these methods not only give a bread a soft crumb but it also keeps it cottony soft for a long time.

When I did a video on jowar roti on my Instagram account, we used the similar idea. Adding hot water to a gluten free flour like jowar (sorghum) flour activated its starch, which in turn increased the flour’s capacity to absorb more water and therefore leading to a soft jowar roti. I have saved it under highlights (Kathiawadi food) in case you are interested to know more about this roti.

In a bread, starch plays an important part in the structure of the bread, it helps develop a softer texture. Simply put, higher amount of protein leads to a chewier bread whereas higher amount of starch makes the bread softer. And therefore, the purpose of making a roux, either with tangzhong or yudane method, is to increase the starch in the dough which helps retain moisture in the bread.

Eggless milk loaf
Eggless milk loaf

In my recipe, however, I am using the humble potato to create a cottony, soft crumb. The potato in this loaf is not for flavour but to give that unique lighter, tender crumb without the use of eggs or a slurry. It makes not only a feathery light sandwich loaf but works wonderfully as a pav too. Most often Mumbai pav have a crust with a bit of a chew but a pav made with this loaf is totally different. A soft, thin crust with a buttery interior is what you will be making with this method.

So go ahead, make this amazingly delicious loaf/pav and enjoy the buttery goodness of a milk loaf without eggs.

Update: I updated this recipe on 1/6/2021 with new pictures, measurements in grams and more details. The recipe however remained unchanged.

If you liked this recipe, you may want to have a look at some of these too:

  1. Chili-cheese loaf (eggless)
  2. Sticky and gooey eggless rolls with rose sugar
  3. Eggless pull apart pizza/calzone loaf 
  4. Spinach sandwich loaf 
  5. Softest oats and whole wheat sandwich loaf 

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Let me know how this recipe turned out for you by writing to me in the comments below. And if you take a picture, please tag me on my instagram handle @acookwithin to share your creation😊 It would make my day!

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10 thoughts on “Eggless milk loaf / pav”

  1. Tried this recipe at home, i am a first time baker , got the taste right, but shape will take some tries. My kids loved the Pavs , something which is not easily available these days.

    Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!, happy to be bake from home during the current work from home situation:)

    1. It is wonderful to know that you and the kids enjoyed the bread. Thank you so much for providing your feedback 🙂

  2. What’s is starchy liquid in said recipe.secondly is it safe for otg to keep water in it while baking bread

    1. The starchy liquid is what you get after cooking potato. Do have a look at the recipe. It is explained there. I have always baked bread with a tray of water in the oven and haven’t had any issues at all. Creating an environment of steam in the oven keeps the crumb of the bread soft and gives a shiny, crusty exterior to the bread.

  3. This is the softest pav I’ve had so far! Adding potatoes and milk really makes it amazing. It was a lot of time and effort but totally worth it. Beats any store bought pav, hands down!

    1. Thank you so much for writing the feedback Swati!! I am super happy to know that the recipe turned out so well for you 🙂

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