Hokkaido Milk Bread With Tangzhong ~ Eggless Version

For this month's We Knead to Bake Aparna has given us this wonderful, soft, light and delicious Hokkaido Milk bread using Tangzhong and also this is an Eggless Version. This dough is versatile u can make a loaf bread, dinner rolls, stuffed rolls with both sweet/savory filling. If u are creative then u can play with the dough n make desired animal patterns also. Aparna tried tortoise n hedgehogs and shared us with detailed description n nice pics. And many of we knead to bake group members are creative n tried tortoise, bunny, hedgehogs, etc. I couldnt try anythis time but will try it in future ;)
Becoz of my finger injury i couldn't able to click pics well, i made this bread with V's help. Will try to update the recipe with better pics & step wise pics later.
We did the initial process in my Table Top Grinder with dough hook attachment, mixed the flour, other ingredients & wet ingredients and run for 5-7 minutes then took the dough out and knead it for 10-12 minutes. The bread was so so soft and it was like Soft buns which we get in India, Bakery & Tea shops. This dough is perfect to make coconut buns/dil pasand. In place of Milk powder i used Mawa powder which gives rich buttery flavor. I made 8" loaf and one mini rolls stuffed with mini chocolate chips that was loved by my kids. This bread tasted so good when dipped in Marinara sauce, V's choice if u haven't tried it..give it a try :)

Recipe Source : (Original Recipe from 65 Degrees Tangzhong “65C Bread Doctor” by Yvonne Chen, and adapted from Kirbie’s Cravings)
Ingredients

For The Tangzhong (Flour-Water Roux)

1. All purpose flour   1/3 cup
2. Water    1/2 cup 
3. Milk       1/2 cup 

For The Dough:

1. All purpose flour    2 1/2 cups
2. Sugar      3 tbsp
3. Instant Yeast       2 tsp
4. Salt          1 tsp
5. Milk Powder     2 tbsp
6. Heavy cream     1/8 cup
7. Milk                1/2 cup + 1/8 cup(add this 1/8 cup only if u feel ur dough to be dry n stiff)
8. Tangzhong         1/3 cup (half of the tangzhong from above preparation)
9. Butter         2 tbsp(softened n cut into small pieces)

Method
Tangzhong

• In a bowl, first mix flour, milk and water without lumps and then trasfer it to a sauce pan. Place it on stove in medium heat and keep stirring it until it thickened and start seeing "lines" forming in the tangzhong as you stir it. Take the pan off the heat at this point. Allow this to cool completely. You can keep this tangzhong in the refrigerator for couple of days.

Bread Dough

• If u have Food Processor/stand mixer u can use it n don't punish urself, if not no way u can use your hands to knead but u have to knead at least for 15 minutes.
• First in a bowl, mix half of the tangzhong, milk, cream whisk together to a smooth liquid and keep aside.
• In a processor/stand mixer/bowl add flour, sugar, salt, yeast, milk powder and pulse for few seconds or mix it well. Then to this add tangzhong-cream-milk mixture and keep running the fp/mixer and lasly add butter and run the processor/mixer until it forms a smooth and elastic.
• Initially the dough will be too sticky and it gets smooth and elastic on kneading. The right way to check the dough, when it stretched the dough will stretch out very thin and break in the middle forming a circle. Once done lay dough in a bowl greased with olive oil, then flip the dough, cover and let rise for 1 to 2 hours or until almost double in volume.
• After that Place the dough on your working surface. You don’t need flour to work or shape this dough.
• Divide the dough into 3 equal parts(if using 9" loaf pan). Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape, about 1/8" thick. Take one end of the dough from the shorter side of the oval and fold it to the middle of the oval. Take the other end and fold so it slightly overlaps the other fold.( click Aparna's link for detailed pictorials)
• Roll this folded dough with the rolling pin so the unfolded edges are stretched out to form a rectangle. Roll the rectangle from one short edge to the other, pinching the edges to seal well. Do this with each of the three larger pieces and place them, sealed edges down, in a well-oiled loaf tin. Cover with a towel and leave the dough to rise for about 45 minutes.
• After rising, brush the tops of the loaf with milk or egg wash and bake at 170C (325F) for about 20 to 30 minutes till they are done (if you tap on the loaf 'll sound hollow) and beautifully browned on top. Let them cool in the tins for about 5 minutes and then unmould and transfer to a rack till slightly warm or cool.
• For me it took 35-40 minutes @ 300 F

Sending this to We Knead to Bake # 3.