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- There are many ways to bake or make bread. One of the rave in the recent years is the 65°C TangZhong (湯種) method which is said to produce soft and bouncy bread which keeps well too.
What is TangZhong (湯種)?
Apparently TangZhong dates back to ages ago where the Chinese uses hot water to cook their flour for dough which is used in the making of all sorts of noodles and dumpling skins. In recent years, this has extended to the use in the baking of bread and buns.
What is so different about this 65°C TangZhong then?
The difference lies in the temperature of the water used. In 65°C TangZhong the flour and water mixture is cooked to 65°C. At 65°C, the gluten in the flour absorbs the moisture and become leavened. This moisture absorbed at 65°C is then mixed to the main ingredients of the bread and hence the moisture in the bread dough will be heightened. The end result will be a softer and bouncier bread.
How to make 65°C TangZhong?
I used 250ml water and 50g bread flour.
Mix flour and water till it is smooth in a small saucepan.
Cook over medium heat and stirring constantly with a hand whisk to prevent burning. You will see lots of small bubbles forming on the top. Keep stirring and when the bubbles disappear, you will see streaks in the mixture for every stir you make with your whisk. Stop at this stage and you will have the 65°C TangZhong.
Pour the hot TangZhong into a bowl and cover it with a piece of glad wrap with the wrap touching the surface of the mixture. This is to prevent a film from forming on the TangZhong.
Leave the 65°C TangZhong to cool till room temperature before using it. Leftover TangZhong can be kept refrigerated and should be used within 3 days. All chilled TangZhong must return to room temperature before using. If your chilled TangZhong has turned greyish in colour, you should discard it.
This is the bread loaf that I made using 65°C TangZhong.
Texture of bread.
I used my bread machine to do the dough kneading twice in the dough cycle and achieve the membrane stage of the dough. If you achieve the membrane stage, it means that your bread is kneaded to the best stage.
Ingredients:
250g bread flour
1 tbsp skim milk powder
80g TangZhong
105ml warm water
4g salt
25g sugar
5g dry yeast
25g butter
Method:
1. Dump all ingredients into the bread machine and start the dough cycle.
2. Once the dough cycle is completed which is 80 minutes for my bread machine, remove dough and punch out the air from it. Rest the dough for 15 minutes.
3. Divide dough into 2 pieces, shape into a long rectangular shape and roll it up swiss-roll style.
4. Place dough pieces into loaf pan and let it prove till about 85% full. I had to prove for about 75 minutes as the room temperature was about 19°C.
5. Cover the loaf pan with its lid and bake at 175 - 180°C for about 25 - 30 minutes.
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