Salt Bread (Shiopan)
Salt bread, also known as shio pan, is the Japanese bakery roll that took Asia by storm — especially in Korea, where every café now sells it. These fluffy bread rolls are wrapped around a stick of butter, which melts as they bake and fries the bottom for a perfectly crisp, golden crust. With a pillowy interior, a salty-buttery flavor, and endless possibilities for fillings and toppings, this homemade salt bread recipe is bakery-quality right from your kitchen.
Ingredients
- 400 g bread flour
- 120 g cake flour
- 365 g water ice water
- 26 g sugar
- 10 g salt
- 30 g non-fat milk powder
- 40 g cold unsalted butter, straight from fridge
- 7 g instant dry yeast
- 12 x 15 g butter chunks COLD, straight out of fridge! I cut 1 stick of butter into 8 pieces so you'll need around 1.5 stick of butter
- pretzel salt
Instructions
Make the dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine bread flour, cake flour, sugar, salt, milk powder, yeast, and cold water.
- Mix with a dough hook on low speed until a shaggy, cohesive dough forms.
- Add the unsalted butter (fridge-cold, not softened) and increase to medium speed.
- Knead for 15 to 25 minutes (may be longer depending on your mixer!) until the dough is smooth, elastic, and passes the windowpane test — stretch a small piece thin enough to see light through without it tearing. The dough will look very sticky at first. Keep going and you will not need to add extra flour!
First rise (bulk fermentation)
- Shape the dough into a smooth ball by rolling it taut.
- Place into a bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size.If you want to cold proof your dough, place it in the fridge before the first rise.
- Test readiness by poking the dough with a floured finger — if the hole stays without springing back, it’s ready. If it springs back immediately it needs more time. Do not overproof — you're looking for doubled, not more.
- While the dough rises cut your cold butter straight from the fridge into 12 even chunks of about 15g each. (1.5 sticks of salted butter bc 1 stick of butter = 8 chunks). Place them all back in the fridge! Keep them refrigerated the entire time you’re shaping and only take out a few at a time as you need them. Cold butter is essential for getting that crispy fried bottom and big butter hole.
Portion and bench rest
- Once risen degas the dough and divide into 80g portions.
- Roll each into a smooth ball. Start your 15 minute timer as soon as you finish rolling the first ball, by the time you’ve rolled all 12 the first one will have had its full rest. Cover all the balls and do not let them sit too long! You’re just relaxing the gluten to make shaping easier, not proofing further.
Shape the rolls
- Before shaping smear a very thin layer of softened butter onto your work surface, this helps the dough detach cleanly without adding flour which would tighten the dough. If your dough is properly proofed, this step isn’t necessary but it can help if you’ve been struggling with sticking during shaping.
- Working one ball at a time roll each into a long teardrop shape.
- Start with the bottom half of the tear drop shape (narrower part.) Use a rolling pin to flatten the bottom half while using the other hand to slightly pull downward.
- Do the same for the upper half to flatten the wider end into a triangle base about the same width as your butter stick.
- Place a butter stick at the wide end and roll down toward the point, gently tugging for tension.If the dough tears against the surface rather than rolling smoothly your dough may be overproofed — see the troubleshooting section for help.
Final proof
- Place rolls on non-stick baking tray (no parchment paper) with space between them.
- Cover and let rise until doubled in size. Again use visual cues over time, the rolls should look noticeably puffed and feel light and airy when you gently shake the tray. To check if they’re ready gently poke the edge of a roll with your finger. If the indentation springs back slowly and partially the rolls are ready to bake. If it springs back immediately they need more time. If it doesn’t spring back at all and the indentation just stays the rolls are overproofed. You want that slow, gentle spring back!
Bake
- Preheat oven to 450°F (232°C). My oven takes about 20 minutes to fully preheat and my rolls typically take about 1 hour for the final proof, so I turn my oven on 40 minutes into the final proof. This way the oven is fully up to temperature right as the rolls finish proofing and I'm not leaving them sitting around overproofing while I wait for the oven to catch up. Adjust the timing based on how long your oven takes to preheat.
- Spray rolls lightly with water and sprinkle pretzel salt on top.
- Just before baking, spray each roll generously (about 15-20 pumps) for added steam.
- Lower oven to 400°F (204°C) and bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the tray halfway if needed for even browning.
Serve
- Enjoy hot out of the oven — the bottoms will be crisp and buttery, the insides fluffy and soft.
