The Bread Trilogy
Most of the time my recipes come from a desire to avoid a store bought food item. Usually it ends up saving money, gives better flavor, and gets rid of all the extra ingredients that companies use for things like texture and freshness. We recently moved to Japan and bread at the American commissary is much more expensive and the quality is lacking. While I do love the bread at the local grocery stores, the situation pushed me to come up with a sandwich bread recipe we enjoy. Now to be honest, if you are looking for a recipe that will perfectly replicate commercial bread, this just won’t happen. Some of the taste and texture in commercial bread comes from the chemicals and preservatives they use. But this recipe is a great substitute to make the switch to homemade sandwich bread!
Let’s talk about the process! We are going to use a technique called Tangzhong. This is a technique where you take a portion of the flour and water and cook them into a roux. This is a great way to add moisture, fluffiness, and even a natural preservative to your loaves of bread!
[The Tangzhong] process pre-gelatinizes the starches in the flour, and as a result they can absorb more liquid. The result? More moisture in the dough, which translates to a softer texture in the baked bread and a longer shelf life.
Rossi Anastopoulo – King Arthur Baking Company
You can use this technique with any yeasted dough. Just take 1 tablespoon of flour from each measured 1 cup of flour from your recipe, and cook it with 2.5 tablespoons of water for each 1 tablespoon of flour from your measured water. Whisk them together in a saucepan and cook over medium high heat. Whisk the entire time until with turns into a thick paste. Then you will add that paste into the flour with the rest of your wet ingredients and knead as usual.
From this base recipe and with this technique, you can then get creative and add to the recipe to make different flavors! Our favorite is to turn it into Cinnamon Raisin Swirl bread.
Follow these link to each of the recipes!