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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Tangzhong starter / Water roux starter



Angie's Recipe and Cornercafe are my favorite bloggers, who have shared so many of their experience on bread-making. This Water Roux is something new to me and thanks to them and so many other bloggers, i have made successful bread using it. Thank you Angie and Seadragon for sharing and not forgetting all the other bloggers who shared too.
A Tangzhong starter / Water roux starter is a mixture of flour and water. That is to combine together one portion of bread flour and five portions of water by weight in a pot.
Heat up the mixture to bring out the gelatinization of starch in flour. What makes the bread baked with this kind of starter different is Starch Gelatinization, which helps to engage more water, namely more water will be absorbed, to provide a characteristic softer, more elastic-textured bread. Moreover, the bread will have long-lasting freshness

I have made Cocktail buns using it and they are the best soft buns, forget about it in the Dum Sum restaurant and make some following the recipe which i will post tomorrow.


Ingredients:
50 g Bread flour
250 ml Water

Method:

.

In a bowl, whisk together the water and the flour until the mixture is well blended and lump free.
Stir the mixture while it cooks over the medium heat to reach 65C/150F. It takes about 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat and cover loosely with plastic wrap to prevent from drying.
Store the starter in the refrigerator after completely cooling down.
To use the starter, measure out the amount called for in a recipe and let it warm to room temperature.
Unlike sourdough starter, this special Tangzhong starter doesn't improve its flavour with age. So it's preferably to use up in 3 days.

Serves

15 comments:

  1. Hi Lily, I have tried many tangzhong bread recipes, and all of them are very good. I believe you will get to love them! Other than using water, milk can also be used, wholemeal flour, egg yolk, white rice etc... Enjoy!

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  2. any suggestion why i made bread with this 65C tangzhong but the result is a lil bit dry? cant obtain the softness
    thanks!
    rgds-YooLee

    ReplyDelete
  3. YooLee

    the dryness of the result comes from the initial dough - it has to have enough liquid to make into a soft dough and then the rising is very important. Let it become double and not following the time as in the recipe. The second rise after shaping too has to be double otherwise you will have a very dense bread.

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  4. limpepsi

    i know, i have been making alot of bread and loving it everytime i made them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I read a lot about this but have not tried it. Your words are very encouraging and I will it a shot. Thanks for sharing this.

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  6. Hi Lily, how about a Hot Cross Bun recipe using this with Easter not far away?
    Love your blog.

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  7. anonymous

    sure, hot cross bun - one a penny, two a penny, hot cross bun. i like this rhyme

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  8. hi;)
    I love your blog but I am new to baking and love all kinds of bread!
    You really inspire me to try baking it myself ;)
    May I know, for this Tangzhong starter, is it necessary to store in
    refrigerator? or I can use it after cooling it down? I mean baking on the same day?

    Many thanks Lily!

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  9. hi Lily

    For the Tangzhong starter, may I use it without storing in the freezer?
    which means I will use and bake in the same day.

    Thanks!

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  10. Hi Lily,

    Do you happen to hv a guide of how much portion of TZ o use for different types of bread making?

    Also, for bread recipes that requires bread improver, can we use this as a substitute?

    Cheers!

    Jackie

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  11. jackie

    i am sorry i don't have any guide. In fact i do not use bread improver for my breads and they turn out just as good.

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  12. Hi Lily

    Is there bread flour in the US. I have not come across any bread four in where I shop. Will all purpose flour do?

    Thanks, Kim

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  13. kim

    yes, any supermarket should have bread flour and if you would like to use all-purpose, use the unbleached one as their protien is higher than unbleached.

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  14. Thanks Lily, but I am not sure which flour are you suggesting. As per your respond "if you would like to use all-purpose, use the unbleached one as their protien is higher than unbleached". And while on this topic, do you think I can use wholewheat flour as Tangzhog starter as well?

    Thank you, Kim

    ReplyDelete
  15. kim

    sorry about the typo - i meant to say bleached. there are 2 types of flour in the supermarket - bleached and unbleached. I have not tried with wholewheat and can't say if it works.

    ReplyDelete