Salt Bread (Shio Pan) - Hard Crust

Source: Lisa — [Okonomi Kitchen](https://www.okonomikitchen.com/cracked-salt-bread-hard-crust/)

Yield: 1 batch(es) — 6 rolls

Time: ~4 hours active/proof + overnight poolish

About

Hard-crust shio pan with a thin crackly crust, chewy interior, and crispy butter-fried base.

Key Technique: Poolish + autolyse for extensibility, oven spring, and crackly crust.

Ingredients

Poolish (Night Before)

• 50g bread flour
• 50ml water (24–29°C)
• 0.5g instant dry yeast

Main Dough

• 117g bread flour
• 60g cake flour
• 120–128ml water (about 25°C)
• 100g poolish (from above)
• 7g skim milk powder (optional)
• 4.3g salt
• 8g sugar
• 8g unsalted butter
• 3.2g instant dry yeast

Filling + Topping

• 6 butter blocks, 12–14g each
• Topping salt (pretzel/rock/pearl/flaky)

Instructions

1. Poolish (Night Before)

1. Mix poolish flour, water, and yeast.
2. Cover and ferment 10–14 hours at room temperature until bubbly and doubled.

2. Main Mix + Autolyse

1. Mix poolish, bread flour, cake flour, and water on low for 3 minutes.
2. Rest 15 minutes (autolyse).
3. Add milk powder, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix low 5 minutes.
4. Add butter. Mix low 2 minutes, then medium 3 minutes until smoother.
5. Rest 15–25 minutes.
6. Mix medium 2–3 minutes until dough is smooth and mostly clears bowl.

3. First Proof

1. Shape into tight ball.
2. Proof at 27–30°C for 80–100 minutes until about 2.5× volume.

4. Divide + Shape

1. Divide into 6 pieces (~70g each at base batch).
2. Pre-shape into short teardrops and rest 15 minutes.
3. Roll each into long teardrop (about 40–50 cm).
4. Add butter block at base and roll down with gentle tension.
5. Place seam-side down on dark non-stick tray.

5. Second Proof + Bake

1. Proof at 30–33°C for 55–65 minutes until puffy and jiggly.
2. Preheat oven to 230–240°C.
3. Lightly mist tops, salt, then bake with short steam phase (about 3–5 minutes).
4. Vent steam, reduce to 190–210°C, and finish baking until deep golden and crisp (about 10–12 minutes more, adjust per oven).
5. Cool completely to maximize crackle.

Tips

Crackle factors:

• Dough strength, hydration, proof level, steam amount, oven heat, and humidity all affect cracking.

Hard-style butter target:

• About 14g butter per ~70g dough piece.

If crust is too soft:

• Reduce steam duration or extend dry-bake finish.

If dough resists rolling:

• Rest longer before final shaping.

Storage

• Best same day.
• Room temp airtight: 1–2 days.
• Reheat at 180°C (room-temp rolls 2–3 min; frozen rolls 5–6 min after light misting).

Tags: #recipe #bread #japanese #shio-pan #hard-crust #poolish #autolyse