I Tried Making The Viral Japanese Salt Bread That The Internet Is Obsessed With, And It Blew My Mind
I’ve had shio pan from a few local bakeries and quickly became a fan. The contrast between the pillowy bread and that crispy, buttery bottom is ridiculously good. So when I kept seeing Erin Lim’s viral salt bread recipe all over my feed, I had to know: How would a homemade version compare to the bakery ones?
Naturally, there was only one way to find out, so I tried making Erin’s shio pan (the one viewed by 11 million people) to see if it’s really worth the hype.
Ingredients
Note that these measurements are all in grams, since it’s important to be as precise as possible when making any sort of bread.
How To Make Shio Pan (Japanese Salt Bread)
STEP 1: Add both flours, sugar, salt, and non-fat milk powder to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Pour in the cold water — and yes, it really does need to be cold. I stuck mine in the fridge overnight to make sure it was properly chilled, but if you forgot, tossing a couple of ice cubes in your water for a minute works too. Mix everything on low speed until it comes together into a shaggy, slightly messy-looking dough.
STEP 2: Next up: the butter. And just like the water, it should be cold straight from the fridge, not softened. Add the unsalted butter to the dough, then bump the mixer up to medium speed and let it knead until smooth. This part takes some patience. The recipe calls for 15 to 25 minutes, but my dough needed 30 minutes.
