Bread!!........ Tangzhong Method.....step-by-step.

I love homemade bread....and baking bread is something which I have come to love from the day I found the Tangzhong method....thanks to the internet....I found the Tangzhong method.....I now make the most fluffiest, pillow soft....bread right in my kitchen......I love the aroma of freshly baked bread

Tangzhong is the secret ingredient which is originated from Japan, was introduced by Yvonne Chen. It makes the bread soft and let it stay soft for many days.

Flour and water is cooked to 65 degree to make a flour paste called Tangzhong, you do not need a thermometer to find out whether the paste reached 65 degree, you can know it from the lines that appear for every stir, which I will explain below.

I made these sausage rolls from half of the prepared dough; which I detailed below.

(Adapted from Kirbie's Cravings originally from Christine's Recipes)
How to make Tangzhong:
Flour: 1/3 flour.
Water: 1 cup.


Method:
1. Mix flour and water until it is completely dissolved and no lumps remain.

2. Place the pan on medium heat. Begin stirring constantly as the mixture heats up. It will begin to thicken.  When the temperature of the mixture reaches 65 degrees Celsius, I 've read from Christine's website and several others that you can eye it, while stirring the mixture will start to have “lines ” for every stir and then it is done. Keep aside.

# You have to bring this to room temperature to add to the dough. Pour the mixture to another pan and  keep it covered to keep it from drying out or simply stir it till it is cool.
# I used half of this mix to make the dough.
# I did not use bread machine for kneading the dough, I kneaded with my hands and it was worth the effort.


How to make the bread:
Flour: 2 1/2 cups.
Caster sugar: 3 to 2 tsp.
Salt: 1 tsp.
Egg: 1.
Milk: 1/2 cup.
Tangzhong: (I used half of the tangzhong I made earlier, see above).
Instant yeast: 2 tsp.
Butter, softened: 3 tbsp.
Black or white sesame seeds to sprinkle.
Whisked egg for brushing on top.


Method of making bread:

1. Combine all dry ingredients: flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Add milk, egg and tangzhong into the well of the dry ingredients. Combine all together and knead it.

2.Knead until you get a dough shape and gluten has developed, then knead in the butter. Keep kneading until the dough is smooth, not too sticky on the surface and elastic. I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes;The time of kneading all depends on how hard and fast you knead. When the dough is ready, you should be able to take a chunk of dough and stretch it to a very thin membrane before it breaks. When it does break, the break should be form a circle.

3. Knead the dough into a ball shape.  Place in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel or cling wrap.

4.  Let it proof till it's doubled in size, about 40 minutes.

5. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Knead one half of dough into a ball and cover with cling wrap or towel, let rest for 15 minutes. (Knead the other half into 5 equal balls and keep aside to make sausage rolls, scroll down)

5. Roll out one portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape.  Take one end of the dough and fold to meet the middle of the oval. Take the other end and fold to meet on top.

5.Flip the dough over withe the folds facing down and flatten with a rolling pin.

6. Place this flattened dough on a greased loaf pan seam side down, let it proof again for another 45 min. Brush the top with egg and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.Bake in a preheated oven for 35 min 180 degree C. Remove from the oven when done, transfer to a wire rack and let it cool completely.

Out of the oven!!!

Take a closer look!!

Now lets make the sausage rolls with the other half of the dough.

Ingredients:

1 half of the above made dough.

5 sausages.

Black or while sesame seeds to sprinkle.

Whisked egg for brushing.

Method:

1. Remember the other half of the dough which was divided into 5 parts and kept for 15 min. Roll out each part into a long tube depending on how long your sausage is. Roll the dough to enclose the sausage, with seals facing down.

2. Do the same with the rest of the sausage and leave the rolls on a greased baking tray for 2nd round of proofing for another 45 min or until double in size.

3. Brush whisked egg on surface and sprinkle sesame seeds and bake in a preheated oven for 30 min at 180 degree C until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack

Serve warm!!.