Bread That's Still Fresh Tomorrow: Tangzhong Method

Ah, bread... such a simple, simple pleasure. In some parts of the world, access to bread is a human right, and I can see why!

However, sometimes homemade bread doesn't live up to expectations for a variety of reasons: it's dry, it's dense, it's doughy, or sometimes it simply doesn't last for more than a day before going stale. That's not a problem if you have lots of people in your house to eat the bread, but if not even the biggest bread lover couldn't (or if they could, shouldn't) eat an entire loaf of bread in one day. 

So, I took to the internet to do some research on how to keep my bread fresher for longer and lasts for three days without having to become bird food. And it's all to do with the relationship between the flour and the water.

Now, for some science

In the breadmaking world, people talk about dough hydration percentage. Sounds fancy, but all that really means is if you have a bread dough that has 1000 grammes of flour, and 500 grammes of water, that dough has a 50% hydration, because there is half as much water as flour. The higher the percentage of hydration, the chewier and sturdier the texture of the dough after baking, and the fresher it stays for longer. The lower the percentage, the quicker it goes stale. 

Doughs that have a higher hydration percentage need flour with more gluten, so an 80% hydration dough would need strong bread flour that has a high percentage of protein on the label, more than 11%. Lower hydration dough, however, can be made using regular plain or all purpose flour which makes them much more accessible for beginners or occasional bakers who might only have plain flour at home.

Regular beginner's bread doughs often have roughly 60-65% hydration, or a pound of flour (455 grammes) to about half a pint of water or milk (285 millilitres). That's how my Mum taught me, and it's easy to handle. Often very experienced or artisan breadmakers can use bread doughs that have up to 80% hydration, like sourdough, which has great keeping qualities and a delicious chewy texture. However, this kind of dough needs particular handling techniques that take a long time to master that would absolutely frustrate and discourage a beginner. I've tried, and failed, and cried over way too many wasted loaves of bread.

Is there a compromise?

To have a dough with a nice high percentage hydration but can be easily handled, you need to trap some of the water. Introducing a method that's very popular in East Asian countries: the tangzhong.

This method takes a small amount of the flour used in your recipe to make a paste with some of the water. This paste traps the water in the starch of the flour, which has two advantages: the water isn't all in your dough, making it hard to handle; and the water is trapped which makes it harder to escape, keeping the bread moister for longer!

Now, that's some massive oversimplification: the real technical reason has way more longer words in it like gelatinisation and other words I couldn't spell out loud from memory. But all you need to know is that it works very well.

So, the takeaway is

Higher Hydration: 65%<

Needs strong (bread) flour with more protein

Makes bread that has a chewy texture

Can have big air pockets, depending on how it's proofed

Sticky dough which needs specific handling techniques

Almost has a life of its own

Makes bread that keeps longer

Lower Hydration: >65%

Can be made using plain (all-purpose) flour

Make tender, soft bread

Has a more cake-like texture

Easy to handle dough that's good for beginners

Quite a forgiving dough that doesn't need special treatment

Can stale quickly if not eaten or frozen immediately

Tangzhong Method

Traps some of the water in a cooked flour-water paste

Results in a dough which is a happy middle ground between low and high hydration properties

So, for my delicious loaf of white bread that's in the pictures, I used 1 pound (455 grammes) of strong bread flour, 12 fluid ounces (340 millilitres), one quarter-ounce (7 gramme) sachet of dried yeast, 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter or oil, 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) salt, and two teaspoons (10 millilitres) sugar.

One pound is 16 ounces, which means 12 fluid ounces of water is 75% of the flour measurement. If you use more or less flour, the water must be scaled to always be 75% of the flour.

Take 1 ounce (30 grammes) of the pre-measured flour and cook it with 6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) of the pre-measured water and cook it into a paste in a saucepan over medium-low heat and allow to cool with cling film directly touching the surface to prevent a skin. The paste should be thick and translucent. Notice that the ratio of flour to water is 1:6, and also that half of the overall water is being trapped in the paste. 

Make the bread as usual, adding in the paste and the remaining ingredients. It will take longer to knead and sometimes get a little sticky, but don't be tempted to add a load more flour to knead it easier. You can use plain flour for dusting.

Bake as normal and cool as normal and you'll be presented with some of the most deliciously impossibly soft and fluffy bread you've ever eaten. Just like from the Chinese bakery!

This method can be used to make cinnamon rolls and other kinds of bread treats like dinner rolls, hot dog buns, or hamburger buns. You can use milk in the dough, but always make sure you make the flour paste with water; it just works better that way.

For more information on tangzhong method dough, please read through my sources and explore what the world wide web has to offer on the subject!

SOURCES

https://pastrychefonline.com/tangzhong-bread/

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2018/07/23/how-to-convert-a-bread-recipe-to-tangzhong

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2018/03/26/introduction-to-tangzhong

Something Savoury: 叉燒包, or BBQ Pork Dim Sum (Wheat-, Egg-, and Dairy Free)

My experimentations with yeast continue today, with a foray into actual food as opposed to sweets. I present to you, some delicious pork dim sum!

When I was in Birmingham in November, my companion and I went to a restaurant in the city's Chinese district. This wasn't a Westernised Chinese restaurant with gloopy sauces and egg fried rice with everything, this was a restaurant ran by Chinese people. catering for Chinese people, with the menus in their own language. There was an English section at the front of the menu for us 鬼佬 people, but the better food was at the back.

My companion told me that the last time he went to this restaurant he ordered some steamed bread buns with a barbecue pork filling. I went with his recommendation, and was not disappointed. I had no idea what they were, or what their name was, but I was thoroughly impressed.

When I returned home to Ireland and told my brother about them, he responded enthusiastically. He told me he had eaten the same thing when he was in Hong Kong, and had thought they were absolutely delicious, and pretty much the highlight of his visit. He said he'd go back there again in the future just to eat those buns.

I decided, as such, to do some research. Turns out that Cantonese cuisine is full of recipes for small buns, filled or not, made from yeast leavened dough and steamed instead of baked. These morsels are called dim sum, and there are many kinds. The ones that my brother had had in Hong Kong, and my companion and I had had in Birmingham, were filled with pork and barbecue style sauce, and called 叉烧包, or char siu bao in the Latin alphabet.

Armed with this knowledge, I typed the name into YouTube and proceeded to watch hours upon hours of videos about making these buns. It seems there is no one prescribed way to make the dough, or the filling, but in every video they are folded and cooked in the exact same way.

Two things all the dough recipes had in common though, were the inclusion of baking powder in addition to yeast, and using what's called a sponge. This is where the mixture is made very loosely with only some of the dough—and absolutely no kneading—before the first rising. After the sponge has risen, the rest of the flour is added and then the dough is kneaded and risen as usual in a bread dough. This makes for super soft, and super light dough.

So, let's make some actual dinner!

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts
☑ Eggs
☑ Dairy

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Yeast
☒ Refined sugar products


INGREDIMENTS
For 16 small buns, or 12 large buns

• 12 ounces (340 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 quarter-ounce (7 grammes) package of instant yeast
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking powder
• 6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) hand hot water
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) sugar
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) sunflower oil

For filling

• 12 fluid ounces (330 millilitres) diet cola drink
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) tomato ketchup
• 4 teaspoons (20 millilitres) dark soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons (20 millilitres) white vinegar, to taste
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) Chinese five spice powder
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) ground mixed spice
• About 10 ounces (about 300 grammes) roasted pork, cut into tiny cubes (pork is sold in different pack sizes so if it's in and around this figure it'll be fine)
• Half a red onion, chopped very finely
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) cornflour, dissolved in 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) cold water

METHOD
First, prepare the yeast dough.

• In a large mixing bowl, mix 8 ounces (225 grammes) of the flour, the yeast, sugar, oil, and warm water together. Mix into a sticky paste, cover, and leave to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size and very spongy in appearance.
• Once risen, remove from the oven and sieve in the rest of the flour, the baking powder, and salt and mix together by hand until fully incorporated.
• Knead in the bowl until it forms a dough ball, and until the bowl is completely clean. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead continuously for 4 minutes.
• Return the dough to the bowl, cover again, and leave to rise again for 1 to 1½ hours, or until about doubled in size.

While the dough is rising, make the filling.

• In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients except the meat, onion, and cornflour mix. Mix until blended and smooth, then heat over a high flame. Bring to a boil, and cook vigorously until the mixture has reduced by about three quarters into a thick syrupy sauce. This could take up to half an hour.
• In a large frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) of cooking oil, and sauté the onion until translucent. Add the meat, and heat through in the pan.
• Add the sauce mixture and toss the meat and onions until completely coated. Add the cornflour and cook until the sauce thickens. 
• Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature before using.

Next, assemble and cook the buns.

• When the dough is fully risen, take it out and gently deflate it. Gently knead back into a dough ball, then cut into 12 or 16 equal pieces, depending on how big you want your buns. I cut mine into 12, and the final buns were about the size of a small apple. You can make smaller ones for appetisers, if you like.
• Flour the work surface sparingly, and a rolling pin, and roll each dough ball into a circle, keeping the other dough balls covered with a damp tea towel so the don't crust. Make sure the outside edge of the circle—maybe about an inch (2 centimetres) or so—is thinner to allow for shaping and pinching.
• Put a heaped teaspoonful of filling into the circle, then form into a little bun following these instructions. In this case, a video speaks a thousand words.
• Put the buns into paper cake cases, and cover them with the damp cloth while you heat the steamer.
• Set up your steamer according to its instructions, or simply place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, fill it with about an inch of water, cover, and bring to the boil.
• Put three or four buns at a time into the steamer, making sure there is plenty of space for them to grow, cover, and steam on medium for 10 to 12 minutes.
• When cooked, carefully take the buns out, cases and all. It helps to momentarily take the pan off the heat, and use a spatula. Allow to cool or 2 or 3 minutes before serving. 

If you don't eat all of them, allow them to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate in an airtight box for up to 3 days. These will also freeze well for up to a month, I am told. To reheat, simply re-steam for about 5 minutes, or until heated all the way through.