Tangzhong 湯種

What is Tangzhong?

I hope I'm not mistaken in calling it an Asian or Japanese style soft milk bread. My understanding of this method of bread making is that it yields a wonderfully soft loaf which can stay soft for days! Once I read about the possibility of making such a loaf at home, with the help of my bread maker, I just couldn't wait to try.

But everyone seems to have their own recipe for their own machine...I have yet to find online someone who happens to also be using the Panasonic 105T. Looks like some experimenting is necessary.

In order to make Tangzhong bread, a mixture of flour and water needs to be prepared ahead of time, which is subsequently added to the dough. But how much tangzhong mixture should I make?

One very useful tip I found online is to add all the dry and wet ingredients of a bread recipe together, then multiply this by 0.2 (essentially taking 20% of the total weight of ingredients), and you get the net weight of tangzhong that you need for the recipe.

Then, the ratio of flour to water for tangzhong is 1:5.

For example, a recipe like the following

Bread flour            250g
Butter                       15g
Sugar                        17g
Milk powder             6g
Salt                           5g
Water                      190ml

Would require approximately 16g of flour to 80 ml of water, for the tangzhong mixture.

(Please note the above example is my own interpretation of the information I found online, so I could be completely wrong...hahaha)

This is exactly what I did for my first attempt at Tangzhong bread.

Taking 80 ml of water, I added 16g of bread or high gluten flour. The flour is dissolved in the water first before heating the mixture over the stove. It is essential to stir continuously, until a paste forms ("swirl" lines appear). Supposedly, the mixture thickens and forms a paste at a temperature of around 60 to 65 degrees Celsius. The mixture actually takes almost no time at all to thicken over heat, so it is important to keep stirring and take it off heat once the paste forms. Saran wrap is used to cover the mixture (actual contact with the mixture is necessary), so that a film does not form on top of the paste. The mixture is then refrigerated overnight, ready for use the next day.

When making the actual loaf, the weight of the tangzhong mixture is subtracted from the original recipe. So for my example, I would only use 234 g of flour (250g-16g), and 110ml of water (190ml-80ml).

In reality, I used milk instead of water, thinking it would add to the "softness" and "milkiness" of the final product. Also, I only added 70ml of milk (instead of 110ml), to compensate for the humidity. Amounts of all other ingredients stayed the same (I still added milk powder, by mistake, haha). Obviously, the tangzhong mixture is added to the dough ingredients.

I used Mode No.2 on my machine.

Hmm...I had expected more of a rise from my tangzhong...Honestly the loaf was just mediocre. Not at all the fluffy, soft, milky loaf I was expecting to see. It wasn't bad, and no one complained at home, but I was still disappointed. I think more experimenting is definitely called for.

Did the loaf stay fresh longer? I don't know, because people at home were really supportive and finished the loaf on that same day...