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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!!





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16 comments

  1. Beautifully done white bread looks so soft

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  2. Love how soft the bread looks!

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  3. Beautiful Bread , you did very well.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Swathi!! This was a really fun and useful challenge - now we can all bake our own bread easily!

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  4. Beautiful.Bread looks wonderful

    Tc
    Humi

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  5. wow... beautifully done... :)

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  6. Replies
    1. Yes Pallavi, it was a treat to eat such soft bread :-)

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  7. Your bread looks so soft and pillowy..store bought!! Love the nice brown tinge on top.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Amrita!! Yes, the egg wash gives the brown - once I forgot the egg wash and the result was not satisfactory!

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  8. Tangzhong method ...now that is the first time I heard of it...those slices look so yum...and soft.. :D

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    Replies
    1. I know, the first time I heard of it was for this challenge!! This is an easy way to get soft bread :-)

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