Sweet Japanese Milk Bread

This sweet and soft bread is similar to Hawaiian dinner rolls and also in Asian countries, like China and Korea. The Japanese use this basic soft dough to make all kinds of bread with bean, pineapple or custard fillings. I looked for Asian bread recipes for quite some time, and finally I found this recipe on the Internet. The secret for making this soft bread is from the water roux called Tangzhong. Making Tangzhong is very simple, and the leftover bread can be refrigerated for a few days. I am so happy with this bread because the soft dough can be used for many different recipes for desserts that are selling in Asian bakeries, and a bread machine is a big help.
Ingredients:
The Tangzhong starter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water

Bread dough
1/2 cup Tangzhong
1 egg
4 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
3 tbs butter
3 cups bread flour
2 tsp active dry yeast

1 tbs soft butter for greasing the loaf pan

Directions:
To make the Tangzhong starter:
Whisk flour into water and cook in a saucepan over medium heat until the flour thickens. Remove from the heat and let it cool off before use.

Place the starter and all the bread dough ingredients in the order as listed above in the bread machine. Select the dough function and press start. Using soft butter, grease the inside of a 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pan. When the dough cycle is done, the machine will beep. Remove dough from the bread pan and place onto lightly floured surface.

 Let dough rest for 5 minutes then divide dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each portion of dough into a small rectangular size. Fold two ends to meet in the center. Roll each of them like a small log. Place each of them side by side onto a prepared loaf pan.

Butter the top of the bread dough and cover with a kitchen towel. leave the bread dough in warm place to rise for a second time (about 45 minutes or until double in size). Bake bread in a preheated oven set to 375° for 25 to 30 minutes.