I like big breads and I can not lie (tangzhong milk bread recipe)

Formula

Flour	500
AP *.25	125
Bread *.75	375
Hydration *.75	375
Tangzhong flour = Total * 0.05	25	Bread flour
Tangzhong water = tangzhong flour * 5	125	Water
Remaining Bread flour	350
Remaining liquid	250
50g egg @ 75% hydration	37.5
50g butter @ 15% hydration	7.5
50g honey @ 20% hydration	10
Total hydration from additives	55
Remaining liquid	195	Milk
Yeast @ 1%	5
salt @ 2%	10
Milk powder @ 3%	15

Technique

1. Mix 25g of bread flour with 125g of water in a saucepan
2. Heat over low heat stirring constantly with a whisk until thickened, set aside to cool for 15-20 minutes

3. In the bowl of your stand mixer put 195g of milk, 50g of butter, 50g of honey, and 1 large egg (50g). Always put liquid in the mixer first. There will be a note below on the hydration and how to adjust.

4. Measure 125g of all porpoise flour and 350g of strong bread flour (13% protein). I used Cairnspring Mills Organic Edison for my AP and their Glacier Peak for my bread flour. I have not been paid to say this. I am just a huge fan of their flour. Place the flours on top of the liquid.

5. Measure 5g of dried yeast (which I call “yeets” to the annoyance of my daughter), 10g of salt, and 15g of whole milk powder. Add that on top of the flour.

6. Add the tangzhong from step 2.

7. Mix the dough for 7 minutes on medium speed. It will start out Shaggy but start to turn Velma around 7 minutes. Stop the mixer and perform a windowpane test. It will probably look like this:

8. Mix some more.

I don’t know many people who have overkneaded a loaf of bread. I do know a lot of people who have underkneaded a loaf of bread.

9. Once the dough is mixed, place it in a bowl to proof for an hour or so. Until it’s puffy and smells like love.

10. Preshape, this is important and cannot be skipped. Using a scale, divide the dough into 3 equal pieces (around 300g) and form each piece into a ball by pulling the corners up and tacking them to the center of the dough mass. Then roll the ball on the counter to get a good round shape. Do this three times.

11. Allow the balls to rest for 15 minutes. Butter a bread pan. I use a 9 inch “pan de mie” pan for this. I do not recommend placing the lid on the top for this size loaf. You would need to reduce the formula to probably a total of 400g if you want to make square bread.

12. Shape. Take a ball. Flatten the ball a bit but keep it roughly the width of your pan.

Now roll the dough up in a cylinder.

You may have to squish the edges a bit. But go ahead and fit the dough in your pan. Do this two more times.

13. Place a large plastic bag over the loaf and allow to rest until it is almost to the brim of the pan. I use clear plastic garbage bags for all my bread because they are reusable and very versatile. I have used the same three plastic garbage bags for over a year now. Please be conscious of your consumption of plastic.

14. While the loaf is rising, heat the oven to 375F or 190C. Also, take another large egg and whip it with some water (a splash). This is called an egg wash.

15. When the loaf is ready to go, brush the egg wash on top and pop it in the oven. Set your timer for 20 minutes.

16. When the timer goes off, rotate the loaf and tent it with a piece of tin foil. Bake for another 15 minutes.

17. Remove the loaf from the oven and take its temperature. It should be about 195-200F, 90C. Remove from the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool. DO NOT CUT INTO THE LOAF FOR TWO HOURS.

Notes

If you don’t have a stand mixer you can absolutely knead this bread by hand. You should knead it by hand, honestly, because it will teach you what developed gluten feels like. It will be sticky and messy but will eventually come together to form a smooth ball. In the immortal words of Dory, just keep kneading.

If you want to reduce the liquid, you cannot. Sorry! When you make a tangzhong bread, you must use at least 75% hydration. I haven’t tried this formula without the tangzhong but trust me when I say that it makes your bread “heavenly”. It also helps preserve the bread by trapping water in the loaf. I suppose you could skip the tangzhong method and try mixing all the ingredients together but be warned: it will be even stickier and messier, until it’s not.

Tangzhong is a finicky thing. You can’t really go offroading here. I guess you can but it won’t have the same consistency. You need to take about 5% of the total flour and trap 5X that weight in water. And now that you know the two secrets (5% x 5 + 75% hydration) you can convert any bread to a tangzhong.

Uses for this loaf: grilled cheese, croque madame, croque monster, pb&j, jam sandwich, chip butty, toast and jam, toast and butter, monte cristo, french toast (this makes incredible French toast), and tonkatsu (カツサンド)!

Oof.. I think I’ll make PB&J for lunch and カツサンド for dinner tonight.

Qq