Hand kneaded shokupan(tangzhong)
In our video on modern bread we explain how to make Japanese shokupan. In there we use the Japanese yudane method and a stand mixer. Here we’re going to use the Taiwanese tangzhong and we will be kneading this by hand. The big difference is that we’ll be adding in an egg.
Make the tanzhong
Ingredients:
90 ml of water
15 grams of strong white flour
Mix both ingredients (you’ll get a runny batter) and heat them on low heat to medium-high heat and don’t stop stirring. Eventually you will get a oddly gelatinous looking blob. This blob is your tanzhong. Remove this from the heat and let it cool down.
Make the dough
Ingredients:
300 grams of strong white flour
20 grams of milk powder
50 grams of caster sugar
150 ml of milk or water (rich vs light)
One large egg
60 grams of unsalted butter (room temp)
A pinch of salt
a teaspoon of instant yeast or a teaspoon and a half of active dry yeast
Your tangzhong
Method
Take a bowl or cup and add in all the wet ingredient but the butter (i.e. the water/milk and the sugar… yes the sugar) and dissolve your yeast to this. Let it sit for about 5 minutes so the yeast can bloom and the sugar dissolve.
In a nice deep bowl put your flour, salt and milk powder.
Make a well in the flour in the bowl and drop in your tanzhong in the well and pour over your liquid ingredients.
Mix everything gently.
Once everything is mixed but still rough. Let is sit for about 15 minutes.
After it has rested, knead it vigorously. You don’t need a stand mixer but you need to knead as well as you can for about ten minutes. As you knead, add in the butter bit by bit. You’re don when all the butter is incorporated and the dough is smooth and bouncy.
Leave it to rise for an hour.
After and hour, knock back the dough and weigh it on scales. Take the weight and divided it by three, use this to divide you dough in three equal parts.
Rolls the three parts into balls and let them rest for 15 minutes.
After they’ve rested roll them into rectangles, then fold in the sides and roll them into tight logs.
Pop the logs in a loaf tin which you’ve buttered up. Please check our video for reference as we explain the process in more detail there.
Cover it with cling film or some other quasi airtight lid and let it rise until if fills around 80-90% of the tin.
Pre heat your oven to 180°C.
Once the oven is up to temperature, pop the loaf in the oven and leave it in there for around forty minutes or until and inserted thermometer (if you have one of these) reads 90°C , whichever comes first.
Take your shokupan out of the oven and let it cool down for an hour.