FOOD NEWS
Tangzhong Is The Crucial Method For Achieving Ultra Tender Bread
By Elias Nash
Tangzhong is a Mandarin term referring to a mixture of flour and liquid cooked over low heat to form a thick paste and then incorporated into bread dough.
Making bread with tangzhong prevents the bread from becoming stale, as cooking the flour and liquid together before adding it to the dough pre-gelatinizes the starch.
This will incorporate more liquid into your bread, and consequently, it will take longer for that moisture to be lost, delaying the time it takes for your bread to go stale.
The result is airy, melt-in-your-mouth bread that will last for days without hardening. Another great thing about tangzhong is that you can adapt it to almost any bread recipe.
To use a tangzhong, you want the bread to have about 75% hydration, so you may need to add extra liquid to your recipe to reach that level.
Place 5-10% of the flour in a pot and add five parts liquid to each part of the flour. Then, cook this mixture over low heat until it reaches the consistency of paste.
Once the consistency is achieved, let the tangzhong cool to room temperature and add it to your dough to begin making ultra-tender bread.