Thursday, January 10, 2013

Pumpkin Tangzhong Bread

The TangZhong method of bread-making is still my favourite, a never-fail way of ensuring soft textures and fluffiness, even up to 3 days later. It's also one way to incorporate whole wheat into my bakes as whole wheat tends to make bread tougher and the TZ balanced the texture and results in a soft but slightly chewy bread. I've also switched from using butter to yogurt as the fat for the dough; it makes the bread even softer. However, note that I've once added sweet potato mash and yogurt in place of butter for a all-breadflour dough and the resulting bread was too soft, to the extent that its limpy. So I will always sub 100g of the bread flour to a whole-wheat or rye flour when using yogurt instead of butter.


The baked pumpkin bread rolls rose beautifully. They were slightly chewy and the crisp seed topping added another dimension to the mouth-feel. My only note to self is that the pumpkin filling is not sweet enough. All in All, a rather satisfying breakfast!

Pumpkin Filling:
1/4 of a pumpkin, steamed/boiled until soft and mashed into a paste
Stir in Vanilla Yoghurt (up to individual taste preference, I used around half cup Yoplait Vanilla yoghurt to sweeten and make the paste creamier)

Tangzhong recipe:
25g bread flour
120g water

Mix all ingredients in a metal pot and stir until there are no lumps. Cook over med heat until mixture becomes very thick, and lines start to appear when mixture is stirred. (Alternatively, test the temperature, you will get Tangzhong at 65C). Remove from heat and cool to room temperature before using.

Bread recipe:
All the above Tangzhong
250g Bread Flour
100g Whole Wheat Flour
20g milk powder (I used coffemate)
50g sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon instant yeast
Pumpkin Puree 100g
80ml skimmed milk
1 egg
30ml plain yogurt
Pumpkin seeds

To make the bread dough:
1. Combine all wet ingredients except yogurt in breadmaker's loaf pan
2. Place flour, milk powder, sugar and salt into the wet mixture and stir the dry ingredients lightly. Add the yeast, ensure that it does not come into contact with the salt.
3. Choose dough program
4. Machine will start to knead the mixture. When gluten starts to form, around 10 minutes onwards, add the yogurt
5. After dough cycle completes (at this point, the first proof is already done), bring it out and gently press the air out. Divide into small balls. I used half the dough and made 5 balls. (Kept the other half in the fridge to make a whole loaf the next day. See notes below)
6. Roll each little ball out, add the pumpkin filling and seal the bottom. Place on tray lined with baking paper, brush with abit of butter to prevent bread from sticking to the paper.
7. Brush with milk and add pumpkin seeds or any topping of your choice. Proof for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C and bake bread rolls for 15 to 20 minutes. To test it, the bread is done when it sounds hollow upon tapping the bottom. Cool completely. Enjoy one when it's still slightly warmed! Keeps soft and moist up to 3 days. Warm it up slightly in the microwave before eating it over the next 2 days.

Notes:
I kept half the dough in the fridge for baking a loaf the next day. The overnight fermentation made the bread even more chewy. Took the dough out of the fridge, shaped into a loaf, placed on baking paper, cut couple of lines on top of dough, milk-wash the top and sprinkle pumpkin seeds on it. Proof for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C and place a crock pot (I used Le Crueset) in the oven to pre-heat the pot. I added a teeny bit of water to the pot before pre-heating it in the oven. Just before baking, carefully remove the dutch oven pot and drop the dough, with the baking paper into the pot quickly. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 5 minutes to brown the top more. I think my temperature is too high, my bread became too dark. 

Sharing this with
YeastSpotting
BYOB hosted by Roxana's Home Baking
 #TwelveLoaves January hosted by Cake Duchess

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