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.