Eggs & dairy · Milk & cream
Milk powder
Dried milk that keeps in the cupboard; reconstituted with water or added to doughs, sweets and drinks.
Also called: powdered milk, dried milk, whole milk powder, dry milk
A kind of milk
Photo: ProjectManhattan, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
What it is
Milk that has been spray-dried to a fine, cream-coloured powder. Whole milk powder contains the fat and tastes richer; skimmed milk powder keeps longer. Unlike evaporated or condensed milk it holds no liquid, so it adds milk solids without thinning a dough or batter.
How it’s used
- Indian sweets such as gulab jamun, barfi and milk peda
- Enriching bread and roll dough
- Reconstituted for tea, porridge and cooking
- Boosting creaminess in homemade yogurt
- Baked goods and spice blends for camping or travel
Characteristics
- Taste
- Milky and slightly sweet; toasted notes when browned.
- Texture
- Fine, slightly clumping powder.
- When cooked
- Dissolves best whisked into lukewarm water. Milk solids brown quickly, so doughs with milk powder colour faster in the oven.
- Sold as
- powder
- Cooking uses
- Suitable for baking, Commonly cooked
- Common in
- Indian, Pakistani, West African, Middle Eastern, Malaysian
Storage
Cool, dry and dark. Keep tightly sealed in a cool, dry place; moisture makes it clump and fat-rich powders can turn stale or rancid over time. Reconstituted milk goes in the fridge like fresh milk.
Diet, allergens and safety
Contains Milk.
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
- Egg-free
- Gluten-free
- Nut-free
- Soy-free
- Caffeine-free
- Contains milk (allergen).
Nutrition per 100 g
- Energy
- 496 kcal
- Protein
- 26.32 g
- Carbohydrate
- 38.42 g
- Fat
- 26.71 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
- Sugars
- 38.42 g
USDA FoodData Central: Milk, dry, whole, with added vitamin D.
Substitutes
Optional — what works if you don’t have it, and how it changes the dish.
- Milk — Replace the powder plus its water with the same volume of fresh milk; not possible in dry mixes or sweets that rely on the powder.
Related ingredients
Recipes with milk powder
Agege bread
Nigerian · 3 h 35 min · 210 kcal · Vegetarian
Gulab jamun
Indian · 2 h 45 min · 132 kcal · VegetarianJapanese milk bread (tangzhong shokupan)
Japanese · 4 h 5 min · 158 kcal · Contains eggLadi pav
Indian · 3 h 22 min · 151 kcal · Vegetarian
Pineapple bun (bo lo bao)
Hong Kong · 2 h 36 min · 346 kcal · Contains eggTaiwanese pineapple cakes
Taiwanese · 2 h 20 min · 178 kcal · Contains egg
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