Hokkaido milk bread with tangzhong
Baking naturally leavened bread requires a bit more planning on my part now since I've been storing my starter in the refrigerator. My cold starter likes to wake up by being fed at least twice over 24 hours before being used to build a levain. Sometimes I will feed it only once, then do a three stage levain build (using dabrownman's build ratios and schedule). Either way, I have to plan to refresh my starter, build the levain, and make the dough. Even though there is very little active hands-on time, it still takes a minimum of 36 hours from cold starter to hot bread.
So what's a gal to do when there's no more homemade bread in the freezer and she wants fresh bread fast? The answer is commercial bakers' yeast which, in my case, is instant dry yeast. I am not a fan of lean breads made with bakers' yeast. Even the long cold retarded ones lack the flavor, texture and character of those naturally leavened. But I do like enriched breads made with bakers' yeast. So I usually go with enriched when I want bread fast. [Since we're talking about homemade bread, fast is a relative term.]
I made the softest and fluffiest enriched bread a couple nights ago using Floyd's Hokkaido milk bread with tangzhong recipe found here. The only change I made was to decrease the sugar. I won't go into detail about the tangzhong method (aka water roux) since it's well documented on TFL, but I will say that it makes a difference in the bread's keeping quality. Today is day 3 and the bread is still soft and moist. I'm sure the butter, milk, sugar and eggs helped too, but I want to believe that tangzhong is magic.
One last thing...
This loaf is the opposite of what a German knight in the 1500s would have. Even if he did have something like this, it's so soft and fluffy that he would crush it with his iron hand.
:) Mary
Comments
unflavored pudding. We've been adding pudding to cakes for years to make a moister cake. Pudding cake. I believe something similar is happening with Tangzhong roux. It's an unflavored pudding added to bread which results in a moister, lighter bread.
Beautiful loaf of bread.
I make my Tangzhong roux in a microwave. It only takes 45 seconds to heat 1/2 cup (125 gm) of water mixed with 3 Tbsp (25 gm) of flour to 149-F (65C). Heat for 25 seconds, stir, heat for another 20 seconds, stir, done!
As I was making the tangzhong I felt like I was making a pastry cream, but you are correct that it seems more like an unflavored pudding. Thanks for the microwave tip!
Mary,
Lovely loaf. My family's favorite ww loaf is one that I add a roux to which works wonders with whole grains.
Recently I ran across another METHOD that is similar but a bit simpler. Results, as far as I can tell, are the same. Formula came from a baker whose name is Alex Goh and it is from his book MAGIC BREAD.
Thanks for the post and photo.
Janet
Thanks for the link to Alex Goh's bread recipe. I will definitely try it since it's simpler,
I would love to hear what your opinion is after baking a loaf. Curious if the scald ingredients make a difference in texture, overall flavor and keeping qualities since both formulas contain the same ingredients in more or less the same proportions….
Janet
Hi Janet,
I made Alex Goh's sweet bread dough using the recipe you linked, but I made a few changes. I used whole milk instead of milk powder+water and half the amount of instant yeast. As you can see from the photo the bread is very similar in texture to the Hokkaido milk loaf with TZ. The flavor is very similar too.
I just baked it today so I won't know if the scalded dough increases the keeping qualities yet. If it keeps as well as the TZ bread, I will be using this recipe again and again. Thanks for sharing this recipe with me.
Mary
Hi Mary,
Thanks for the report. I changed the recipe too :) Hard not to tweak. I had extra whipping cream in the refrig. so have made it with that as well as with 2% milk. Turned out just fine both ways. I did decrease the IY too because I let it bulk ferment all night in the refrigerator. Nice to know that there are more ways to do this and this one is by far the easiest that I have run across to date.
If you want to try another loaf that is similar but takes 3 days to make, you might like to try Syd's Asian Style Pan de Mie. Most of the time is down time so don't let the time line throw you.
Have fun.
Janet
what this bread should look like. Has to make great French toast. Well done. If you drop the butter and use lard instead the bread might even be better and keep longer too. Half lard and half butter might be interesting as well and is the basis of my favorite pie crust..
Another good way to get some whole grains and better flavor in these kinds of breads is to make some Toadies (bran, sifted hard millings and wheat germ dry toasted in a pan) and then tang zhong them with a bit of the dough flour if you want. Just let them soak in the roux water for an hour before heating them up to the gruel or tang zhong stage :-)
Happy Baking .
I'm definitely going to try the lard next time. I'm out of leaf lard right now since I used all of my stash to make pie dough. I do a 20% leaf lard / 80% Plurga butter for my pie dough. Good tip about soaking the whole grains.
did 100% lard pie dough. .My Mom did 50% lard and 50% shortening and I do 50% each butter and lard and use vodka for the liquid. I make better pie dough than both of them combined and, since they have passed on, I don't get any trash talk unless Lucy uses her Swami Channelling Swabi app for the iPhome!
Happy Baking .
Great job Mary. I've used this method before as well with IY and with a SD starter as well.
Yours looks perfect.
Regards,
Ian
I normally add about 10% SD starter discard to my IDY breads, but I was out since we had just taken out the compost. Thanks for commenting, Ian!
I made Floyd's recipe for Hokkaido Milk Bread with Tangzhong cutting the quantities in his ingredient list in half (except for adding a little more salt) to make one loaf. It turned out great. One of the best loaves of white bread I have ever tasted.
I made it in a unique way due to the summer heat. I used my Zo Virtuoso bread machine to knead the dough.
Then I took the dough from the Zo bread machine after the 45 minute rise, formed a traditional Hokkaido Milk Bread with Tangzhong loaf and placed it in a regular 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. I formed the dough into 3 rolls in the loaf pan.
Here's where I did something different. I removed the regular mixing bread pan from the Zo bread machine. I replaced it with the standard 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with the Hokkaido Milk Bread dough. Closed the lid of the machine and let the bread rise 45 minutes (the Zo was unplugged at this point). When the dough had risen about 3/4-inch above the rim of the loaf pan, I brushed the top of the loaf with an egg wash and started the manual bake cycle on the Zo bread machine. It was programmed to bake 70 minutes.
Picture of rising Hokkaido Milk Bread dough in conventional 9x5-in loaf pan in Zo Virtuoso - prior to baking in the Zo for 70 minutes on manual bake cycle.
is a great way to beat the heat. I don't have to worry about my oven heating up the house since today's high is 64F!