Tangzhong Wholemeal Milk Bread (Bread Machine)

I think I found it.

My dream was to be able to replicate a loaf of store bought bread with my bread maker. I'm not ashamed to say that we love our store bought bread. We love it so much that we can finish the whole loaf before the week ends. So I think it's cheaper to make our own bread instead of having to buy it. Besides, I see it as a personal accomplishment. :)

The problem is, everybody claims that their recipe is soft/moist/fluffy, but they still turned out a little dense. I think it's because the Westerner's preference in bread is different from us Asians? So I tweaked my search to "soft asian bread maker recipe" instead. The results were mainly Hokkaido Milk Bread and Tangzhong Bread. I didn't have any whipping/heavy cream on hand, so I did the Tangzhong method last night.

If you see my last blog on Tangzhong bread, it explains that a water roux with a 1 : 5 (bread flour : water) ratio is added to the ingredients, resulting in a soft, fully and moist bread.

I am SUPER happy with the bread. Very touched. Very 感动. Finally, a bread that is SOOO close to the ideal texture! It's soft, very fluffy and quite moist. It was an emotional morning. :') Thank you The Wonder Mummy! See how soft the bread is!



OK, before we go to the recipe, please TAKE NOTE!

• The original recipe select dark crust, but because every machine is different, mine ended up a little too dark. I will use medium or light crust next time. 
• Dough using the Tangzhong method is known to be wetter, so don't be worried if it looks very wet. As long as the dough is able to come together during the kneading process, it's ok. 
• Different brands of flour have different absorbency rate. Don't follow the recipe blindly. My dough was a little too wet and couldn't come together during kneading, so I sprinkled about 1 tablespoon of extra flour to the dough. Use your own judgement! 
• This is considered a small loaf for my SEVERIN bread maker so I have to adjust the settings to "small loaf". This affects the baking time.

Tangzhong paste (I super love that it makes exactly enough for a loaf of bread without any leftover!)

50 ml Water
10 gm Bread Flour

- Mix flour and water together and keep stirring over low heat with a whisk until mixture turns thick and swirl lines appear.
- Cover with a plastic/cling wrap. Make sure it is in contact with the tangzhong.
- Let the tangzhong cool down to room temperature before using.

Bread Dough Ingredients

210 gm bread flour
40 gm wholemeal flour
3 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Instant Yeast
1 Egg (lightly beaten)
100 ml Milk
20 gm Butter (softened)
1 batch of Tangzhong

1. Place the Tangzhong, milk, egg into the bread tin. 
2. Add in the flour, sugar, salt and butter. Lastly dig a shallow pit in the middle of the flour and add in the instant yeast. 
3. Select white loaf function, small Loaf, light crust. 
4. Press START.