Exploring Japanese Tangzhong Bread

[Bonnie G #2]

Red Apple Guy wrote:
I failed to tell my beautiful wife that my water roux was in the fridge (image that, a husband who's a less-than-perfect communicator). And....she cleaned the fridge out today. So....I have no water roux. I don't know if I'll make some more tonight or no.

Red

Oh Red, that is so funny, my DH won't even go near the fridge as he's no idea what I might have in there experimenting with.

[Red Apple Guy]

Well there were several dishes with clear plastic wrap that needed cleaning out, so I can't blame her. Nonsense, I always blame her.

[duonyte]

Oh, gosh, I've done that with stuff I put in there myself for experiments or whatever!!!!

[Donna M.]

Haha, well at least it isn't labor intensive or made from expensive ingredients! You can whip up another batch in a flash

[Red Apple Guy]

I did make another batch. Rolls are proofing some and will go into the fridge for tomorrow. Soft, pretty dough.

[Bonnie G #2]

OK, got my dough proofing in the fridge, it is a sticky dough (at least mine is) but I resisted the urge to add more flour. Hope it's OK, I have it in the fridge with the hope it'll be easier to handle. Can't wait to see how it turns out. I don't have my scale over here so glad you included the measurements, then I had to use my hand mixer, but it's a strong one with dough hooks so it worked pretty well.

Figure I'll check on it in about 2 hours to see if it's rising enough in the fridge.

[Donna M.]

Red and Bonnie, how long did you guys mix your dough on the mixer before it looked ready to quit? I had a hard time believing that I could mix for 30 minutes and not over develop the dough. Mine turned out fine, though.

[Red Apple Guy]

Yeah, I saw the long time and thought the same thing. I used the dough hook for about 10 minutes and did 3 stretch and folds. My dough was cold and took longer to rise than I had time for, so I went for rises of 1.5 times original volume vs twice the volume.

Looks like this method is to take 6.7% of the flour and half of the liquid in a recipe and make the roux. I don't see why you can't do that with just about any soft bread recipe.

It's also a sweet bread. That's quite a bit of sugar. Not that I don't like sweet things.....after all, I married Charlotte, didn't I?

[Bonnie G #2]

I mixed mine for about 10 minutes too; after that my arm was getting tired of holding the mixture, hope it's OK with that short but it sure looks good so we'll see. If I had my KA here I might go for the 30 min but even then I'd worry about burning the motor, mines in the oven now - it rose lovely so here's hoping it turns out good

[Donna M.]

Red Apple Guy wrote:
Looks like this method is to take 6.7% of the flour and half of the liquid in a recipe and make the roux. I don't see why you can't do that with just about any soft bread recipe.

Yeah, Red, I actually made a loaf of my regular sourdough bread and added 1/2 cup of the tangzhong to it. It turned out really well. I didn't do any math. It is a fairly low hydration dough to start, with about 1/4 whole wheat in it. It turned out really nice and kept its soft texture for days. I think you could incorporate this roux into just about any recipe that you wanted to make a softer bread.

[Bonnie G #2]

Made it and it turned out great and just as described, I am very pleased with the results. Think this is going to be a nice sandwich bread and will make DH's lunch with it tomorrow. Nice, soft, and easy to slice.

[Donna M.]

Nice looking bread, Bonnie! Thanks for trying it. Did your dough firm up quite a bit after being refrigerated? It doesn't look like you had any problems shaping it.

[Bonnie G #2]

After refrigerating it was pretty easy to cut and shape my problem was getting the separate pieces the same size and that I think comes with practice, but it was fun with good results.

[Karyl Lee]

Ok, got to tell you how it went down--I will have to try again, as I really just threw it together so I don't know if my present bread is the best it can be.
I made the roux, looked at the process I use for no-knead, and instead of trying to mix the roux in by kneading, I broke it down with the rest of the water and a whisk. Did I basically kill it off?
Well, on first shot, I'd say no---the bread is tender enough without being wet or stodgy. It's a whole grain spelt bread, more water sensitive than wheat, so I really shorted the water a bit from my full measure. I stirred the whole thing together per normal, and the dough was a bit sticky, but I oiled my hands and just worked it enough to have a nice smooth ball.
I left it to rise over night in my gas oven, with just a pilot light to warm it. In the morning, it was bubbled per usual, so i poked it down, turned it out on an oiled Silpat and shaped it once into a loaf, then rounded that down. An hour later I shaped it again and let it rise in the loaf pan. It was slower there than normally, but I baked it at 400 for 55 minutes and it's nice~next time I do it I'll try longer kneading at the start.
I think the flavor is milder? not sure if that's the word I want, but I'll for sure give it another shot the next time too.

[duonyte]

Bonnie - that is terrific!

Karyl Lee, yours sounds promising too. I suspect there is a range that has good results.