Japanese Milk Bread
Japanese Milk Bread, or Shokupan, is a bakery staple in Japan. To make a true artisan version of Japanese Milk Bread, we partnered with the experts, Yamazaki Baking of Japan, to develop exceptional products using authentic Japanese bakery methods.
Not your average white bread, our Shokupan is rich and delicious thanks to generous helpings of heavy cream and honey. The result is a delicious blend of age-old Japanese tradition and the best American artisan baking techniques in new shapes that will fit any table or menu.
The Breads
How it's made
Creating a new bread
At Tom Cat, we do our homework when making any new bread. For Shokupan this meant bringing in shokupan loaves from all over the US and from Japan so that we could understand all the qualities and textures that make Japanese Milk Bread special.
The best you can imagine
Making the Yudane
Our goal was to make the best shokupan, what in Japan would be considered supreme or best quality shokupan (極 食パン). Working with master bakers at Yamazaki Baking of Japan we created our shokupan dough with lots of heavy cream, honey, and the special ingredient, yudane.
The magic of Shokupan lies in a unique technique called the "Yudane" or "Tangzhong" method in which a portion of the flour and water are cooked to create a thick, pudding-like roux before adding it to the dough. We bought special equipment to help us cook our yudane to the perfect consistency, giving our Japanese Milk Bread the incredibly moist and fluffy texture that makes it special.
More than sandwiches
Once we started making this incredible bread, we knew we wanted to use it for everything! We have already adapted it to be a burger bun and a dinner roll. How will you use it? Let us know!
Find out more
Our Story
Tom Cat Bakery, New York City’s leading artisan bakery has been serving our city for over 35 years. We handcraft fresh Italian, European style, and French breads, including dinner rolls, buns, baguettes, batards, boules, pullman loaves, and gourmet sandwich rolls. Almost all of our breads are baked to order and delivered daily to the New York Metropolitan area — from Four Star restaurants to famous hotels to leading sandwich chains and more. To meet the demand of chefs and retailers across the country, we also sell fully baked frozen artisan breads.
Your sales representative will customize a selection that fits your business needs.
