Rainbow Milk Bread Recipe
This Rainbow Bread is a burst of colorful magic in every bite! Imagine fluffy clouds of Japanese milk bread transformed into a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of vibrant hues. Soft, pillowy, and delicately sweet, each slice tells a tale of whimsy and imagination.
So host a tea party, surprise the little ones with a rainbow grilled cheese sandwich, celebrate Pride, or simply infuse a pop of color into your everyday life. This Rainbow Bread recipe is here to spark joy and spread smiles all around.
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Ingredients
Milk bread, or Shokupan (“plain bread”) is a Japanese bread made using a tangzhong or yudane. It’s an enriched bread made with egg, milk, and butter or oil like challah dough, brioche, and dough for cinnamon rolls or honey bun. Using a roux-like starter gives the bread its characteristic softness and prevents it from becoming stale as quickly as other white bread.
I use artificial food coloring in this rainbow bread recipe for the most vibrant color. You can use a rainbow of natural food colors, but in my tests they made a pastel rainbow bread.
If you’re looking for more rainbow-inspired recipes, check out these collections of rainbow desserts and savory rainbow recipes like rainbow sugar cookies, homemade rainbow sprinkles, a rainbow crudite platter, rainbow pizza, rainbow poke bowl, a rainbow fruit tart or fruit tray, or a rainbow salad with maple dressing? Except for the sugar cookies, the colors in those rainbow recipes are all naturally occurring!
Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Recipe tips and tricks
Making the starter
I use a technique and recipe for this rainbow bread that are nearly identical to my purple cow bread. First I made a tangzhong and let it cool.
Making the rainbow bread dough
In order to make the purple cow bread, you divide the dough into two halves with one purple and the other white. To make this rainbow bread recipe, you also divide the bread dough into half.
One half of the dough stays white, and the remaining dough is divided into sixths that are colored into rainbow colors. I use kitchen gloves to keep the food coloring off my hands and knead the smaller balls in a bowl in the following order – yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, and then green.
How to make rainbow swirl bread
To make the bread with a rainbow swirl, first use a rolling pin to roll out the white dough into a rectangle on a lightly floured countertop. Then, roll out the purple dough to a rectangle of the same length.
Place the purple rectangle on top of the white dough and use the rolling pin to seal the two together. This will reduce the change of air bubbles getting trapped between the layers. Repeat with blue, green, yellow, orange, and red dough in that order.
Starting from the short end, roll up the rainbow swirl bread as tightly as you can and place it in a greased loaf pan. Let the bread rise until it is about an inch above the side of the pan and bake.
Variation: shape a rainbow
I’ve tried multiple different shaping variations of the same recipe, often trying using logs of dough. Once colored, you roll the dough into logs about the length of your loaf pan.
The pictures below show how to form the rainbow bread. In the bottom of your pan, place four white logs to form the base of the rainbow (Panel #1, below). To get an arc of color, add a middle layer made of the red log, then two white logs, and then purple (Panel #2). The final top layer will have the orange log on top of the red, then yellow, green, and blue on top of the purple (Panel #3).
Let the bread rise in a covered Pullman pan, then bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the internal temperature is 190°F. Let your rainbow bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then cool on a rack completely before slicing.
Recipe FAQs
Most other rainbow bread recipes have you swirl a few different colors around each other in a spiral. I wanted my recipe to give you the arc of a rainbow.
The milk bread method results in a bread that stays fresh at room temperature for longer. If you keep the loaf in a plastic bag on the countertop, and it should last a week. If you want to enjoy it over a longer period of time, I would recommend slicing it and freezing it in a freezer bag with all of the air squeezed out.
This is a Pullman loaf pan or pain de mie pan. It’s what gives this bread its nice square shape, but it is not critical for this bake.
Related bread recipes
Check out other breads for sandwiches from the Ugly Duckling Bakery yeast bread archives like:
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-heart 💜💜💜💜💜 rating in the recipe card below. Let me know how much you loved it, or any problems you had, in the comments section further down.
Recipe
Rainbow Bread
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer
- 1 13 inch Pullman loaf pan or two standard bread pans
Ingredients
Tangzhong (roux starter)
- ⅓ cup (45 grams) bread flour
- ½ cup (120mL) whole milk
- ½ cup (120mL) water
Dough
- 4 ⅔ cup (600 grams) bread flour plus more as needed
- ¼ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup (60mL) whole milk plus more as needed
- roux starter
- ½ cup (8 tablespoons or 113 grams) unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes plus more for greasing the loaf pan
- food coloring
Instructions
Tangzhong (roux starter)
- Make the roux starter (tangzhong). In a small pot, combine the flour, milk, and water. Over low heat, whisk until smooth and continue stirring until the whisk leaves a clear, thick track at the bottom of the pot.⅓ cup (45 grams) bread flour, ½ cup (120mL) whole milk, ½ cup (120mL) water
- Remove from heat, scrape into a glass measuring cup, and cover the starter with plastic wrap, pressing down the wrap onto the surface of the tangzhong to prevent a skin from forming (see photo). Let cool.
Dough
- In the bowl of a mixer, use the paddle to combine the flour, sugar, and yeast and mix on low speed briefly. Add the salt and mix for about 10 seconds.4 ⅔ cup (600 grams) bread flour, ¼ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar, 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast, 2 teaspoons salt
- Add the egg, milk, and the starter. Mix on low speed.2 large eggs, ¼ cup (60mL) whole milk, roux starter
- When the dough starts to come together, switch to the dough hook. (If the dough doesn't come together, add an additional tablespoon of milk at a time).
- Add the butter cubes a one at a time, waiting until the butter has been incorporated before adding another.½ cup (8 tablespoons or 113 grams) unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
- Increase the speed to medium and knead for 7 to 10 minutes. At the end of kneading, the dough should be soft and tacky but not sticky and it should pull and stretch easily.
- Divide the dough in half, and place one half into a greased bowl and cover it with plastic.
- Divide the remaining dough into sixths. Because the amount of dough is so small, it is easiest to work the food coloring in by hand (although you may want to wear a glove to prevent the coloring from getting on your hands). Once you've worked all of the color in as evenly as possible, form the dough into a ball. Leave the rainbow colored balls on a tray or plate and cover with plastic wrap to rise until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.food coloring
- Lightly butter a 13" by 4" by 4" Pullman loaf pan, including the lid or two standard loaf pans.
- There are multiple ways to shape the rainbow bread. To make a rainbow swirl bread, use a rolling pin to roll out the white dough into a rectangle. Then roll out the rainbow dough, starting with purple. After each addition, use the rolling pin to seal the dough together. After you have added the red, roll up the loaf starting with the short end and place it in your prepared pan or pans.
- Put the lid on the pan or cover your loaf pans with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free location until it is nearly up to the lid, about 2 hours.
- Thirty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the internal temperature is 190°F.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then cool on a rack completely before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
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