The Best Tangzhong Recipe

Bread is such a staple part of the diet that many people overlook. The main reason I became interested in breadmaking was the ability to add unique flavours and add creativity to this food that has become accustomed to most of the world. Growing up in the UK, my main experience with bread was the simple, mass-produced, sliced, white loaf used for the school sandwiches that I had every day in my lunchbox. Bread became boring and I would complain about my lunch throughout my school days.

My aversion to bread, however, stopped at the sweet bread dough that my parents would buy from the chinese supermarket - my favourite being the sweet custard bun. The texture of the bun and the crust was so soft, the dough was ever so slightly sticky (which I liked), the top was brushed with thin syrup, and the inside was filled with thick, creamy custard. From my initial breadmaking trials with simple Western recipes, I had never come across recipes for this type of bread since it is not widely eaten here in the UK. But thanks to the global reach of the internet, I discovered the tangzhong method of bread making.

This method involves heating a bread flour and water/milk mixture to 65 degrees and letting it cool before adding it to the main ingredients. This creates amazing, soft, airy dough with a thin crust that is able to stay soft and not stale for at least 3 days. It requires less time than the pre-fermented dough method and is by far my favourite method of making soft, delicious bread.

I have tried many bread recipes to achieve the soft, cloud-like texture of the bread that I love so much, and this recipe is by far the best. As with all my bread recipes, I did not want to make plain dough, so I added chocolate paste to make this swirl design on the bread. However, the look of this bread is deceiving since the chocolate taste is not very evident and the bread is not very sweet. Next time, I will create a sweeter chocolate dough to create the swirls, but I was very happy with the texture of this recipe. This is definitely going to become one of my basic, tailor-it-to-suit-your-needs recipe!

Ingredients

Tangzhong
50g bread flour
250ml water

Main Dough
300g bread flour
6g instant dry yeast
30g sugar
4g salt
24g milk powder
150g milk
30g unsalted butter

Chocolate paste
6g unsweetened cocoa powder
6g water

Directions
1. Add tangzhong and all ingredients except the liquid and butter in a bowl, gradually add 1/2 of the water and knead well. Divide the rough dough into 3/4 and 1/4 portions, 1/4 portion add in chocolate paste, knead until well-blended (gradually add milk if required). Add 7g butter and knead to form elastic dough.
2. The other 3/4 remaining dough, knead well (gradually add milk as this dough required more water than the chocolate dough). Add 23g butter and knead to form elastic dough.
3. Spray water on doughs and place in separate containers. Cover and let it proof for 60 mins.
4. Punch down the doughs, roll into respective balls, cover and let it rest for 10 mins.
5. Flatten the chocolate dough into a rectangle shape 18x12cm. Flatten the white dough into a rectangle shape 20x15cm. Place the chocolate dough on top of the white dough. Flatten it into 30x20cm.
6. Cut into 2 equal portions. Place one piece on top of the other. Flatten the dough into 30x20cm, repeat for another two times.
7. Cut it into three strips and plait it together. Place the dough into a greased load tin. Spray water and cover. Let it proof for another 30 mins. or when the dough reach 90% height of the baking tin.
8. Bake at 200C for 30~35 mins*. Dislodge from tin once baked.

*Keep watch of the bread after 20 minutes. If it is browning too quickly, cover with foil.

Nutritious olive and mixed seeds bread loaf

My first encounter with olive bread was pretty primitive since it was during an expedition that I was doing in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. Travelling and exploration had always been a dream of mine, especially as a teenager, since the idea of being free and discovering new places was more exciting than the usual pace of life. I was always (and still am) on the lookout to try new experiences and learn about what the world had to offer.

Peru was the perfect change of scenery as the culture, the people and the landscape is wildly different from the UK. When I arrived, it was not just the humidity that shocked me, but the friendliness and the obvious interest that Peruvians take in foreigners. Since the country is not as open and diverse as London, we stood out as we browsed the markets and restaurants.

Food in Peru was an amazing cultural experience. The products that we discovered were overwhelming! The markets hosted produce such as horse's head, beetles, and cow intestines. These I did not try. However, some of the food highlights of my experience included sweet fried plantain, churros, and fresh juicy papaya. The taste of fresh, ripe fruit and vegetables do not even come close to the ones imported to the UK!

I have been going off track...back to my first experience with olive bread, which was during a jungle trek, so we had limited ingredients. Our group leader suggested being creative with the limited resources that we had and attempted to make olive bread using olive, flour and river water. Although there were no raising ingredients, the texture was not bad, although a tad stodgy. I had never really liked olives growing up, but as my taste buds have changed, I have become acquired to its taste. To me, it's distinctive taste is one that people have a love-hate relationship with.

With this recipe, I wanted to the taste of the olive to be highlighted in the bread, and I think the added mixed seeds really bring the flavours together with the wholewheat bread flour. This recipe has an earthy taste from the seeds and wholewheat, and the olives add the unique salty bursts.  Since I used a mix of plain and wholewheat flour, the texture was light and I was very pleased with the crunchy crust. However, this method of bread making does not create a loaf that can keep for very long. It is best eaten within 2 days, but it makes a great toasted sandwich if it becomes slightly stale.

Ingredients

1.5 cups white bread flour
1.5 cups wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped black olives
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup seeds (extra for topping)

Directions
In a large bowl, mix together flour, yeast, sugar, salt, black olives, olive oil, and water.
Turn out dough onto a floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside, and let rise about 45 minutes, until it doubles in size. Punch down. Knead well again, for about 5 to 10 minutes. Let it rise for about 30 minutes, until it doubles in size.
Round the dough on kneading board. Place upside down in a bowl lined with a lint-free, well floured towel. Let it rise until double in size.
Gently turn loaf out onto a sheet pan.

Bake loaf at 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake for 30 more minutes, or until done*.

* Since I used wholewheat flour, I removed the loaf from the pan and placed it back in the oven after 20 minutes. From past experiences, I have found that wholewheat takes a little longer to cook.

How to make croissants

I've been wanting to make croissants for a while now. Now that exam season is over I have time to tackle them! As such a well known French pastry, they've always seemed quite daunting so I wanted to do them justice. I like to live by the "do it right or don't do it at all" motto.

Yummy croissants warm from the oven!

Ham and Cheese croissants

As a first attempt, I'm quite happy with how they turned out. They had a crunchy, flaky crust and fluffy, buttery layers. They do not keep well as they turned bread like the next day, but it's not something a few minutes in a hot oven can't solve. 

Dough structure after first proofing. Nature really is amazing!

Butter layers after the folds. The butter is not as evenly spread as I would like

Croissants ready for the oven

Reference for future improvements:
- Freeze the butter and then grate to form an even butter slab.
- Refrigerate the butter dough for only 30 minutes so the butter can spread more easily within the dough when rolling out.

- Only leave the shaped croissants to rise for 1-2hrs instead of overnight in the fridge.

Anyhoo, here's the recipe that I followed, but I would include the improvements above.

Ingredients:
1 cup (250 ml) warm milk (I used whole milk)
1/2 cup (125 ml) warm water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
3 3/4 cup (500 g) all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup + 2tbsp (9 oz/ 250 g) butter, room temperature

Method:
1. Stir the yeast and sugar into the milk and water and leave for 15 minutes until frothy.
2. Add the flour and salt and mix until it is all incorporated.
3. Knead for a 1-2 minutes and leave in an oiled bowl on the counter for 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, cut the butter and create a 8x5" rectangle slab on a piece of clingfilm. Wrap the slab and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Tip the dough out, knock out the air and roll into a 16x10" rectangle.
6. Place the butter slab in the middle third of the dough, then fold one end of the dough over the slab followed by the other end, like a book. Seal the butter inside the dough.
7. Roll the butter dough into a 15x10" rectangle.
8. Flip the dough over and fold into thirds like step 6. Wrap in clingfilm and chill the dough for 1 hour.
9. Repeat step 7 and 8 four times.
10. Cut the dough into quarters. Wrap each quarter individually and place 3 in the fridge whilst you work on one of them.
11. Roll the quartered dough into a 16x6" rectangle, cut into thirds, and cut each thirds into two triangles.
12. At this stage you can add fillings like cinnamon sugar, chocolate, ham & cheese, or just leave them plain.
13. Then shape the croissant by rolling the dough from the base of the triangle.
14. Place on a baking sheet, cover and leave on the counter for 1.5 hours. Then brush with egg to give it a nice shiny finish.
15. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes until brown.

It's a long process, but the outcome is so enjoyable!

Chocolate and Ginger Truffles

Truffles are a simple treat to make and creates the perfect gift. You can add a variety of flavours, such as alcohol, spices and flavoured extracts, or nuts and dried fruit for texture. Just adjust to taste and feel like a real chocolatier!

Truffle making can be a messy process, with all the handling of the chocolate, so as a perfectionist, I decided to use chocolate moulds. This meant coating the moulds with a thin layer of chocolate so that I could release the truffles without damaging their shape. I just poured a little melted chocolate into each mould and spread it around with a spoon, but next time I will use a small brush to avoid air bubbles.

Dark Chocolate and Ginger Truffles (about 30 truffles, depending on size)
Ingredients:
300g good quality dark chocolate, chopped roughly
180g double cream
2tsp ginger powder

100g good quality dark or white chocolate (to coat moulds, optional)
Cocoa powder (to dust, optional)

Method:
If using a chocolate mould, melt 60g of chocolate over a bain-marie, or in 20 second bursts in the microwave. Using a clean brush, coat the moulds with the melted chocolate and allow to cool and harden.
For the truffles, pour the double cream into a bowl over a bain-marie and heat. Then add the chocolate and ginger powder, and stir until it is completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
Once it has cooled, but is still in liquid form, spoon the truffle mixture into the coated moulds until it is almost full. Then place into the fridge to harden. If you are not using moulds, place the truffle mixture in the fridge to harden. This should take about 1 hour. Once hardened, you can spoon small amounts into your hand and roll into a ball. Then coat with cocoa powder.
To finish the moulds, melt the other 40g of chocolate and pour over the truffle mixture to cover them completely. Allow to cool and then unmould.
Truffles can be kept for upto 3 days in the fridge or frozen for upto 3 months.

It's been a while...Shiitake Mushroom, Peas Sushi Rice with Poached Egg

It's been a while since I've even thought about blogging! But now that university is over for the year, I have more time to experiment in the kitchen and share it here...I can't wait! For now, I'm going to post a backlog of things that I have done throughout the year.

Firstly, it's a sushi rice dish that I threw together. It was so quick and spontaneous, which makes me wonder why people say they don't have time to cook for themselves. It's so simple to put something quick and nutritious together. I can't remember the exact measurements, so I'm not going to post a recipe. I just used left over sushi rice, dried shiitake mushroom that had been soaked overnight, peas and a poached egg. I added the mushroom water to make it a risotto texture and create more flavour. So here are the pictures to drool over :) Don't you just love the look of the yolk?!