Hokkaido Milk Bread with Tangzhong Starter

Recipe by Cook's Hideout

Blogging Marathon# 29: Week 4/ Day 2 Theme: Bookmarked Recipes Dish: Hokkaido Bread from Sandhya's My Cooking Journey & Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen For day 2 of BM# 29 under 'Bookmarked Recipes', I made a bread that was featured on almost all of the food blogs. Every baking group in the blog world baked this amazing Hokkaido Milk Bread using Tangzhong starter. I've drooled over the pictures of a ton of my favorite bloggers and finally I made it and enjoyed it at home. Like the saying goes, "it's better late than never".

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup flour
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup water ((you can use all water or any other combination of milk & water to make 1 cup))
• 1 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup Wholewheat Flour ((or just use 2½cups of all-purpose ))
• 2 tsp yeast
• 3 tbsps sugar ((use only 2tbsp if you want a savory bread))
• 2 tbsp milk (Powdered)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup milk ((I used 2% milk))
• 2 tbsps cream ((this can be substituted with milk))
• ⅓ cup (1.25l) fish stock (Tangzhong Starter (HALF of the starter from above))
• 2 tbsps unsalted butter (-at room temperature)

Method

1. Make the Starter: Combine flour, milk and water in a small saucepan. Whisk until there are no lumps and well combined. Place the saucepan on stove and over medium heat, cook the flour mixture stirring constantly until a smooth roux forms. It is ready when the temperature of the roux is 150°F or 65°C. If you don't have a instant read thermometer, then it is ready when the mixture thickens considerably and it forms lines when whisked.
2. Remove the starter into a clean container and place a plastic wrap right on top of the flour mixture. Let the mixture cool to room temperature and rest for at least 2-3 hours before using. Or refrigerate it overnight and use it.
3. To make the Bread: Combine the flours, yeast, sugar, powdered milk and salt in a stand mixer bowl or a food processor or large bowl. Whisk milk, cream and tangzhong starter in a small bowl. Slowly add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until it forms a sticky dough.
4. Add the soft butter and knead the dough until it forms a soft, pliable dough -- this takes about 12-15 minutes in a stand mixer. To test the dough if it's ready, take a small piece and try to stretch it, it should not break right away. When it does break, it should will form a circle.
5. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover lightly and let rise until it doubles in volume, about 45minutes-1hour.
6. Gently deflate the dough and remove onto a work surface. At this point, this dough can be used to make any of the following: 1 (9"x5") loaf bread/ 2 (6"x4") loaves/ 12 muffin rolls or 9 pav buns.
7. Depending on what you want to make, divide the dough accordingly: I made 1 (9"x5") loaf with the first dough and with the other half of the Tangzhong, I made another dough that I used to make 9 pav buns.
8. For 9"x5" loaf: Divide the dough into 3 equal parts; roll each part into 1/8" oval. Fold the sides over and turn it over so that the seam side faces down. Roll it out into a 12" oval. Now starting from the farthest side, roll into a tight cylinder and place seam side down in a greased baking pan. Repeat with the other 2 parts. (Sandhya has clear pictures on how to do this).
9. Cover loosely with a plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes.
10. Preheat oven to 350°F.
11. Brush the top of the bread with milk or cream. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Make note that the different size breads bake at different times, so keep an eye on them.
12. Remove from oven and invert the bread onto a wore rack and let cool completely before slicing.

View the recipe instructions at Cook's Hideout