Japan's 7-Eleven Egg Salad Sandwich - Part (Unknown) 1 (An Ode To Anthony Bourdain)

Japan's Tamago Sando! AKA Egg Salad Sandwich on Milk Bread

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Milk Bread Recipe (triple tested by me!)

Bread Ingredients:  3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup white sugar, 2 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt, 2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast. 1/3 cup whole milk, 1/4 cup unsalted  butter, 1 tbsp. neutral oil, Tangzhong recipe (see immediately below), 2 large eggs.

Tangzhong Ingredients and Recipe (the starter and magic potion):  1/3 cup whole milk, 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour. In a small sauce pan, mix up flour and milk, whisk until thick but still pourable.  Scrape out of sauce pan and put aside in a bowl and cool.

Bread Recipe:  In a bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment (or by hand), beat 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, yeast, on low speed until combined. In medium saucepan, heat milk, butter and oil over medium heat until 105 degrees F (I used a thermometer to get it just right).  Add warm milk mixture and Tangzhong to flour mixture.  Beat at low speed until well combined.  Add 1 egg and beat until well combined.  With mixer on low speed gradually add the rest of the 2 1/4 flour, beating just until combined.  Continue beating at low speed until soft tacky dough forms, about 12 minutes.  If dough is too sticky, add an additional 1/4 cup, 1 tbsp. at a time.  Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and kneed about 6 times, roll into a ball and put into a lightly greased bowl. Cover with Saran Wrap, and a tea towel and put in a nice warm place to rise.  Special Note:  Could take 1 hour, could take 3 depending on the warmth of your kitchen. For best results, your kitchen should be  72 degrees F.  Because my kitchen was cool, I actually set up a little heater on low near my bread dough and ahem, on the other side of the dough my warm coffee pot!  The second batch I made one day, it took three hours to rise in my cool kitchen.  The third batch in a warm house took 1 hour.

Next Step!  When dough has risen to double the size, punch it down.  Now spray a bread loaf pan. I had a regular sized one.   Here's the fun part.  Take dough and divide into 3.

Simply roll one ball of dough out at a time into a rectangle and roll up the short end like a jelly roll.  Tuck jelly roll shaped dough, seam side down, into the middle of the loaf pan.  Continue with other two balls of dough and put them on either side of middle rolled up dough.  Now cover again, like you did before to let rise for another 45 to 60 minutes.

Time to Bake!  When the dough is puffed and fills up the pan (about 45 minutes or longer) brush the top with an egg wash, which is 1 egg with 2 tbsp.  milk, mixed well.  Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes but put tin foil over bread about 20 minutes into baking so it doesn't get too brown.

Store bread for up to 3 days!  It will still be soft and succulent.

The Story

Anthony Bourdain loved, loved eggs.  He especially loved an egg salad sandwich he salivated over that he bought faithfully from 7-eleven in Japan.  What made this sammy so succulent I wondered?  I have made this sandwich in the past, using Kewpie Mayo on regular bread - but would soon find out, that at least 50 percent of this sandwich's allure, was in the bread - Japanese Milk Bread!  So here is what I am going to do.  I am going to make two posts.  One just for the bread, and then one for the egg salad.  The secret to this Japanese Milk Bread is a little easy peasy starter of flour and milk cooked in the pan called, TANGZHONG  You will be adding the Tangzhong to the flour mixture.  Trust me it is all so easy - don't let all of my words and wordiness intimidate you.  Keep on reading.....

The bread is no more difficult to make than any other bread.  Easy actually.  Making bread however takes, PATIENCE, which of course and for some, is the difficult part!  Below though are some tips I would discover after making this bread 3 times!  Yes, three times.  Turns out I had a lot more to learn about yeast and the bread-wisdom of a warm room!  

Tips for Using Yeast

 - Make sure it has not expired.  You can also test before using by putting a tsp. of yeast in a little bowl and drop 1/4 cup or a couple of tbsp. of warm water into the bowl.  If your yeast bubbles over the next 5 minutes or so, it is good to go.

 - Also, my Aunt Linda always keeps her yeast in the refrigerator, so I do too!

 - For yeast, when you add any warm liquid to your flour and yeast, the liquid temperature should be between 110 or 115 F.  Any more than that and you could kill your yeast.

 - Use a thermometer to test the temp of your water/milk.

 - Another tip - make sure the room you are in is at least 72 degrees F for your bread to rise.  Yeast is a very sensitive agent, so warmth will encourage the bread to rise.