Tangzhong Milk Bread
Being at home this semester, our chemistry lab final project was very flexible to self-design and investigate a chemical principle. Naturally, I chose to bake bread. I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of tangzhong, and I decided to test out different percentages of tangzhong to get the softest loaf. I won’t bore you with the science details here, but I definitely had to share my results of the best one!
This is modified from my original buttery milk bread recipe with the traditional loaf shaping. For my experiments, I scaled down the loaves to 6x3.5 inch tins, shown in the pictures. However, I rewrote the instructions to be made in a standard 9x4.5 loaf pan.
I have added images of the shaping steps above. Note that these pictures are from when I made a 6x3.5 inch loaf, so there is considerably less dough than that of the instructions. The steps are the same, and you can click and hover on each image for specific descriptions.
Active Prep Time: 25 mins
Inactive Prep Time: 90-120 minutes
Cook Time: 30 mins
Yield: 1 9x4.5 inch loaf
Ingredients
For Tangzhong:
- 15 g bread flour
- 75 g milk
For Dough:
- 285 g bread flour
- 40 g white sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp active dry or instant yeast
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 105 g warm milk, more for brushing
- 50 g unsalted butter, softened (not melted)
Directions
For Tangzhong:
- Add bread flour and milk to a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk continuously until the mixture reaches 149°F, or until the mixture is thick enough to leave a trail on the bottom of the pan with a spoon.
- Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, placing the wrap directly on the surface of the tangzhong to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool at room temperature.
For Dough:
- Add remaining flour, sugar, salt, and yeast to a medium-sized bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add the egg, room temperature tangzhong, and milk, and knead with a hand mixer with a dough hook on low speed for 5 minutes. The dough will be relatively sticky.
- Cut the butter into small pieces and slowly add them to the dough as you knead. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic, for 5-7 more minutes. If you do this by hand, it may take a bit longer.
- Transfer the dough to a separate, greased bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for 45 minutes.
Shaping, Baking, Storing:
- After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide it into three even pieces.
- For each section, use a rolling pin to make a rectangle approximately 1/8th inch thick. Take one end of the dough and fold it to the middle of the oval. Fold the other end so it slightly overlaps the top fold. Flip over and roll using a rolling pin, so the unfolded edges stretch to form a rectangle. Flip over again. (View photos above for shaping insructions)
- Repeat with each section of the dough. Place the formed rolls into a non-stick loaf pan and cover with a towel. Set aside to rise for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 325°F.
- After the bread rises, brush the tops lightly with milk. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
- Remove from pan immediately after baking and let cool on a cooling rack. Either cut slices with a serrated knife or peel back thin layers of the bread!
- Store in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
