Tangzhong Again: One Dough: Four Variations

Lately, as much as possible, I am cutting down on eating/drinking dairy products. Baked stuffs are usually made with butter, milk, etc. What am I to do? Of course, bake what I can eat/drink . Instead of butter, I use margarine: in place of cow's milk, I use soy milk or even rice milk.

For more than a month now, I have been really crazy about Hefezopf, braided yeast bread, made by a good friend. But since she uses milk, I am afraid I would just be disappointed if I bake it with soy milk. Thankfully, there are still lots of stuffs I want to eat and try out. The odd thing is, I end up wanting to eat soft, sweet bread. This kind of bread means baking with tangzhong for me.

As if you didn't notice, I like to eat raisin bread and cinnamon rolls. I couldn't possible bake tangzhong without these two. I tried another recipe with tangzhong this time around. I used my handmixer for about 30 minutes. I tell you, it had to work pretty hard and good that it didn't overheat. Needless to say, I stopped in between to give the machine and my arm a rest. During the first kneading part, I thought it was a bit dry what I had. After the dough had risen, I hardly needed any flour. It didn't stick all over like I had in my previous attempts. Part of me wondered if I made the dough correctly. I suppose the test will be tomorrow, if it is still soft and fluffy. I am even willing to wait until the third day to check if it is still so (the mind is willing at least).  I am very happy with the way my dough turned out. I didn't secretly wish my husband were home to help me with kneading/rolling the dough. It was just so easy to work with. It didn't stick to my hands like crazy. Then again, it hardly stuck to my hands, to the rolling pin, and on the working surface at all. I wonder if I would have the same success when I try to do it again. 

With the dough, I made raisin rolls, mini cinnamon buns, mexican buns, and sweet rolls/pai pau.

A sign of success

Before

After....from another point of view

Hmmmmm........yummy!!!!

Baking: Tangzhong / Water Roux Method

Read that Tangzhong method is the latest craze among Asian homemakers. It supposedly makes the bread stay soft for the next days using no bread improver. I certainly miss soft and fluffy bread/roll/bun that we have in the Philippines. So I was excited to try this method. 

Water Roux: 1 Part Bread Flour:5 Parts Water/Milk

I have hardly any experience baking with yeast but still, I was yearning for asian-type of bread. What choice but to make it. The first time I attempted to bake with tangzhong method...hmmm.....it was a huge mess in the kitchen. I baked one loaf of raisin bread and 12 cinnamon rolls. 
For the raisin bread, I used my hand to knead. I couldn't even roll it because the dough kept on sticking. Kneaded for 30 minutes and I simply gave up. I didn't have the "membrane" that supposedly should be to know when to stop to knead. I let it rise for an hour and punched it down. I simply couldn't work with the dough because it was way too sticky. As a sign of defeat, I had to ask my husband to help me with the dough. He is the expert in baking between us though he had not heard of this method.
For the cinnamon rolls, I used the hand mixer. The dough was way better to work with. The only thing I was afraid of is that my hand mixer would overheat. After 25 minutes of kneading, I stopped. Unfortunately, I didn't achieve this "membrane" phase again. 
The end products were softer than the usual bread/roll here in Germany. The next day, I felt that they weren't any different from the normal bread/roll: no longer soft and a bit dry.

Check out the texture and how many I ate....hehe

After reading the raves and rants about this method, I figured, I had to try it again. So within a week, I attempted the method again with cinnamon rolls. From the start, I used the hand mixer. I even got to the point when the dough was shiny and elastic. Yohooo!! It took about 35 minutes with the hand mixer. To cut it short, the end product was SOOOOOO SOFT AND SOOOO FLUFFY. The next day, it was still soft although not as soft as the day it was baked. Ok, I have to give credit to my husband once again for helping me with the dough and finishing the proofing/rolling. I was too tired to make/finish it.
The photos below illustrate how soft the roll was even on the second day.

Couldn't stop pressing it down and seeing it rise back to its size :)

In the future, I will only bake with this method every now and then. Whatever we normally bake gets eaten up within 2 days. The long process from making the roux, waiting for it to cool, kneading,  proofing, etc...........it isn't for me. When I feel I miss the soft asian bread once more, I know what I can do. 

Lessons learned:
1) Never stop kneading until the dough is shiny, elastic, and not sticky. 
2) Need time and patience to work with this method. If you don't have both, don't do it.
 
Note:
Purposely didn't put any glaze. Tried to make the rolls healthier...grins.