Bread Magic

I am pretty sure people who are actually good at baking bread are fucking wizards, because I have never managed a result better than 'okay'. I've now tried this milk bread recipe three separate times and while the results have improved slightly each time (and been at least edible), none have managed that lovely soft brioche-like texture. The first version was very dense, most likely because the yeast I used was really old. Second try with new yeast was less dense, but still very.... crusty. Seeing some people in the comments succeeding with all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, I tried that for the third go, which came out notably softer but still not quite right.

On the plus side, I have a whole bunch of baked char siu bao in my freezer (and more in my stomach). Debating if I want to try again to make some red bean buns - it's a little frustrating to not get a great result, though, particularly with the time it takes.