Late to the shokupan (Japanese milk bread) game but better late than never. After overkneading the dough, underproofing the bulk fermentation and then overproofing the 2nd rise (all the wrong things to do, by the way), I’m pleased that it still turned out pretty well.

I’ve learnt a couple of things:

1. Shokupan bread making technique is pretty forgiving, don’t worry too much;
2. If you’ve overproofed the 2nd rise, you can save it by flattening, reshaping and giving it a 3rd rise(and of course, don’t overproof it again, but if you do, give it a 4th rise?);
3. Letting the bread cool on a rack before cutting into it is so important. The center part of the bread if very soft and moist so it will shrink into itself without the outer crust holding the structure while it is still warm.

Also, I used the Ninja Indoor Grill (Bake function) to bake it in instead of the oven, it’s the perfect size for a single loaf pan! Just reduce the recipe temperature by 25-50deg and at then end, stick a temperature probe in to get a reading of 200F and you’ll know you’re done.

Will definitely try this again and share my recipe when I get it down pat.