The Fresh Loaf

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soft

wayne on FLUKE's picture
wayne on FLUKE

I have been wanting to try the Tangzhong method for a while when I want soft, fluffy bread. I also was very impressed with txfarmer's demonstrations of kneading technique to get soft and fluffy (and everything else she does!). I finally got around to it. I made up the Tangzhong yesterday and put in fridge overnight. There are good videos of this process on youtube, but it is easy. Just 5 parts water, 1 part flour (by weight) and medium heat, stirring till it thickens (149 degrees F).

This morning I mixed the dough from Karen's Kitchen in my Bosch compact. I kneaded (mostly on speed 2) for around 30 minutes total, trying to follow txfarmers instructions. I finally got something close. I shaped into 6 - 65 gram hot dog buns and 4 - 95 gram burger buns, two knotted, two not. ;-)

Soft and Fluffy.

Burger Buns close up.

Not sure how much of the texture is due to Tangzhong method vs extensive kneading.

Submitted to yeastspotting.

wayne

brian@clarkeiplaw.com's picture

Crust on Tartine Country Loaf Seems Soft

May 4, 2012 - 9:32am -- brian@clarkeipl...

Hey all,

I bake pain au levain out of Tartine Bread, see pictures.  I have had relatively good success with oven spring, adjusting proofing time, crumb, flavor etc.  I find that the bread out of the oven has a nice crackling crust.  However, this crust over time substantially softens and does not remain crusty.  I feel I have left it in the oven sufficiently long becuase the bottom of the bread has significanly darkened.  Any suggestions are appreciated.

MNBäcker's picture

No decent crust on French Bread

December 4, 2011 - 11:34am -- MNBäcker

So,

I finished my WFO earlier this fall and am baking in it now. Breads are great and sell faster than I can bake them, but I encountered one particular issue:

I seem to have a problem gettin that nice, crispy crust on my French Bread. I am told that with my Whole Wheat or even Whole Wheat mix, the crust usually gets softer after the loaves cool off, but I'm a little disappointed that even the French Bread (Reinharts recipe, made with Sam's Club high-gluten bread flour) gets soft after it cools off.

jennyloh's picture
jennyloh

Another Simple White Loaf.  I got this from this Japanese website:  http://kneader.jp/recipe/14.  Thanks to Koby.  It was a light,  fluffly bread,  just like those you find in those Japanese Bakery.  I doubled the recipe here.

What I find interesting is the method:  1.  The Biga Mix -  it includes sugar first.  its quite a high content of yeast,  I probably would like to try a little less instant yeast.  This only requires 10 minutes although I extended it to 30 mins because of the temperature here.  2.  The baking -  3 different degrees within the span of 35 mins baking time.  Here's the details in this site:  https://sites.google.com/a/jlohcook.com/jennycook/latest-postings/simplewhiteloaf

What do you think of this method?

 

 

amy bassett's picture
amy bassett

I just love this recipe, thanks to Floyd for posting it!  It is just sweet enough and soft enough that you can't stop eating them!  I made these to go with my blackened salmon burgers............YUM!!  The sweetness of the roll was just a delicious combo!

stephy711's picture
stephy711

For more cooking adventures, check out http://dessert-before-dinner.blogspot.com/Soft Garlic Knots

Ingredients 

  • 3 cups (480 grams) bread flour
  • 1 pack active yeast (2 ¼ tsp)
  • 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 cup + 2 Tbsp lukewarm water
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 Tbsp melted salted butter
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried parsley or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped italian parsley

Directions

 

  1. Mix sugar, yeast and ¼ cup warm water to let yeast proof for 10 minutes
  2. Combined flour, yeast mixture, salt, olive oil, milk and remaining water in a large bowl, stirring until it comes together.
  3. Knead for 8 minutes on floured work surface until dough passes the window pane test.
  4. Form dough into a lose round and let proof in a greased, covered bowl for 1 hour until doubled in size.
  5. Divide dough into 8 pieces and shape into knots. Roll dough into a long rope like you would a pretzel. Tie a knot in the center.
  6. Fold the rope underlying the knot over the top, and fold the rope overlying underneath, securing in the center.
  7. Let rise another 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  8. While dough is rising, melt butter and combine it with garlic, oregano and parsley
  9. Brush butter over knots just before baking. Bake around 15-20 minutes until golden
cranbo's picture
cranbo

So in a recent thread I posted a recipe that I based on a bread someone had seen on TV. I just did my best guess, based on provided ingredients and my own experience. 

I figured I should post the results, because it was mostly theoretical, but I believed it would work. The goal was yeasty, soft, fluffy bread, and use of a preferment. 

Here's the recipe, makes eight (8) 92g rolls/buns, or one good-sized loaf of bread...hence BreadBuns!

  • 100% hydration starter (sourdough or not) 100g (26.50%)
  • All purpose flour 375g (100%)
  • Water 218g (58%)
  • Brown sugar 38g (10%)
  • Salt 10g (2.65%)
  • Yeast (instant) 12g (3.30%)
  • Melted butter 26g (7%)
  • FINAL DOUGH WEIGHT (g) 778g

First, make a 100% hydration starter with 50g flour, 50g water and a pinch of yeast, mix, cover and leave at room temp for at least 6 hrs (or use some existing sourdough starter). In this case, I used some starter that I had around. 

Combine starter with remaining ingredients. This is after 1 minute of mixing at low speed. 

Mix with dough hook for 6 minutes total at KitchenAid speed #2 (low speed); this is the end result: soft, supple, quite smooth and satiny. 

Flatten, then roll into log and/or shape into ball and let rise for 1 hr in warm place, covered. 

Shaped and ready for rising...

In the bucket, ready to rise

After a 1 hour rise, it's doubled.

I decided to shape into 92g rolls, placed in a greased 9x13 pyrex dish:

Cover and let them rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, til doubled. Preheat oven to 400F

Bake for 23 minutes at 350F on middle oven rack.

Here's how they look after 10 minutes, just starting to get a hint of browning.

After the full 23 minutes, they're looking nice and brown. 

Remove from oven, carefully remove from pan and let cool on rack about 10 minutes before devouring. 

Crust and crumb are soft, light, tender and fluffy as expected. I think they could use a bit more brown sugar though, a touch more sweetness for this kind of bread. 

I like to store these in a Ziploc plastic bag to maintain that fluffy softness. Enjoy!

Dasme2004's picture

Zojirushi Mini Cycles and Texture

October 24, 2010 - 7:36am -- Dasme2004

So far when baking bread I have only used the Regular or Quick Baking Cycle with the "Light Crust" option.  For what types of recipes would I use the "Firm" or "Soft" option? Can someone please explain how the bread results will differ if I use the "soft" option for a Whole wheat bread recipe?  Also I love a bread texture that has holes.  Is there a particular name for that texture?

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