Baking Partners,
Food
Recipe for the Week - White bread with Tangzhong method (Baking Partners Challenge #8)
7:19:00 pm
After the Macaron disaster
during the last Baking Partners Challenge, I found the March challenge a relief
– bread. I have baked bread before, but this is a completely new technique,
including the making of a paste called Tangzhong. It results in a pillowy soft
loaf of bread J. I
split the dough to make a small loaf as well as some buns.
For the Tangzhong:
You’ll need – 1/3 cup flour and
1 cup water.
·
Mix the flour in water without any lumps.
·
Cook the flour-water mix over a medium low heat,
stirring all the time with a whisk.
·
As the mixture becomes thicker, you’ll notice some ‘lines’
in the mix as you whisk or stir. Now’s the time to turn off the stove.
·
Transfer the paste into a clean dry bowl and cover
with cling wrap, making sure that the cling film sticks to the surface of the
paste, to prevent it from drying out. Let it cool to room temp.
Moving on to the actual bread
preparation.
What you’ll need:
2.5 cups flour
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
½ cup milk
120 g Tangzhong paste (about
half of the paste made as shown above)
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp caster sugar
3 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
and softened to room temperature
Note: The original
recipe calls for instant yeast, but I didn’t have any. So I used regular yeast
and fermented it.
What you’re going to do:
1. Warm the milk a little (not too hot)
and dissolve 2 tsp caster sugar. Add the yeast and leave to ferment for about
15 minutes.
2. Combine the flour, remaining caster
sugar and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
3. Whisk together the egg and Tangzhong
and add it to the well along with the yeast mixture. Knead until it forms some
semblance of a dough.
4. Knead in the butter. Apparently at
this point, you keep kneading and you’re supposed to get a non-sticky, elastic
dough. I did the whole thing by hand and so ended up with an extremely sticky,
nearly unmanageable dough. Just dust with some flour and roll it into a ball.
5. Place the ball in a greased bowl and
cover with a wet towel. Let it prove for about 40 minutes (in warm weather).
6. Transfer to a clean floured surface.
Punch down the dough and knead again (as best as you can).
7. I divided the dough into half and
made one loaf and four buns. You can use the whole thing to make a loaf. For
the buns, I just rolled them into balls and let them prove on a baking sheet. For
the loaf, I rolled it out into an oval and folded it in thirds, just to fit
into the baking tin. Prove for another 40 minutes till the dough rises inside
the tin.
8. Preheat oven to 180° C. Brush
whisked egg on the surface of the buns and loaf. Bake for about 30 minutes. (It
will take longer if the whole thing is one single loaf). Tap the top of the
loaf. If it sounds hollow, it’s done.
9. Remove from tin and cool completely
on a wire rack before cutting into it. On cutting, you get a nice, soft yummy
slice that you cannot resist popping into your mouth!! Be sure to have some Nutella
on hand to enjoy!!
