Hot Cross Buns (Tangzhong) SUCCESS

So after failing twice using Christine's recipes (sightly modified at times) for hot cross buns, I decided to go and create my own recipe like I usually do - of course, using what I've learnt in food chemistry and food science.

If only someone could research and publish in a proper scientific journal on the 65°C / Tangzhong / Water Roux. Anyhoo, putting away my scientific side...

So, started googling, found a few interesting articles about Tangzhong, which is apparently also called 'Water Roux'. Also some confusion about the origins of this method - supposed to have originated from Yvonne Chen, who some believe are Chinese, whilst others believe is Japanese. I wonder Yvonne would say. Or is this another great example of how people just can't tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese? *Sigh*. 'Chen' to me sounds like a pretty typical Chinese name, not sure how the Hiragana (Japanese) would work for 'Chen', there is just no sound for 'che'...unless its 'chi' + little 'e', I guess.

Maybe she's a halfie. Anyway. Probably best if I had bought her book in HK and read her biography if there was one in the inner cover of the book.

Ok, the interesting part - new recipe creation!! Some sites said tangzhong must be in 1:5, bread flour: liquid ratio (milk and/or water). Other sites had 1:3, plain/all purpose flour: liquid ratio (milk and/or water). So me being me - that is dietitian and rather mathematical and scientific about my food - i wanted to compare the amount of protein (and so then assuming the gluten content) in bread flour used in ratio 1:5 versus the amount of protein in the plain/all purpose flour type of recipe. Since all sources so far have said that its because that gluten best absrbs moisture at 65°C, i assume that as long as you have the same amount of gluten that's effectively absorbed moisture at this 65°C in your recipe then whether you use bread flour or plain/all purpose flour wouldn't matter... right?

So anyway.

Protein content in bread flour - typically 13 - 14%

Protein content in plain/all purpose flour - 10% (Coles smart buy, anyway) I know this varies a lot between brands. E.g White wings - perhaps due to it being a 'branded' flour, and rather a lot more expensive than generic supermaket brands, their regular white plain flour is like.. 12% protein from memory. Which means white wings plain is probably nearly as good as being sold as a bread flour.

All that aside.

Recipes somehow always state to use only half the mixture made. (1 cup flour = 150g)

Bread flour recipe called for 1/2 cup bread flour for 2.5 cup liquid.. (75g x 13-14% )/2 = 4.8g protein

Plain flour recipe called for 1/3 cup plain flour for 1 cup liquid.. (50g x 10%)/2 = 2.5g

Both recipes were going to use 4 cups of their respective flours.

Theoretically, this means that bread flour recipe should result in a softer/lighter/fluffier/longer lasting bread.... but I was hopeful. And also, I had no bread flour on hand. Hence, decided that I wanted to use plain flour recipe.

BUT. Me being me again,  I had not 1/3c measuring cups at home!!

So I ended up using 1/4 cup with plain flour - the only cup measure I have at home. And so i made the Tangzhong as a 1:2 ratio. OR 1:1:1 = plain flour: cold water: cold soy milk. (1/4 cup of each). but instead of using just half of the Tangzhong made, I used the whole lot. this means that, the amount of protein in the Tangzhong was... 150g/4 = 37.5g plain flour x 10% = 3.75g protein......

This is right in between..!!! (4.8g vs 2.5g) what a great compromise, and I didn’t even mean to do it.

So recipe time. I dont have much time to continue writing as much as I’d like to recall my entire experience and through processes and justification using food chem in making this recipe. At least I can be proud to say that this is truly an original recipe that works.

And it’s quite clear that i shop at Coles. Hate their ads, but 'you know, saving money is never annoying'. ARGH.. I'm turning into a poster girl for Coles... This is exactly what they want. NOOOooo...

Hot Cross Buns (Tangzhong / Water Roux) recipe

For those with no bread machine, no mixmaster/kitchenaid, no bread flour, who typically have no time except a weekend afternoon to spare.

Made by hand & from scratch

Makes: 12 "mini" hot cross buns as you would see in Coles and Woolworths. 

But really, if compared to Australian Guide to Healthy eating, it would be 12 medium sized hot cross buns

Time: Total start to finish 4 - 5hours - because it so cold and the dough took a long time to prove. Would have about 1 - 1.5 hours to do your own thing when waiting between steps. Probably less time if making it in the middle of summer.

Utensils/Materials:

Saucepan / stove

Clean hands & lots of arm muscle. Forget the mix master, especially if just a small bench top one e.g. Sunbeam, its faster using elbow grease.

Clean bench for kneeding

A warm, dry place (e.g. sunny place, warm stove, under laptop that heats up excessively…)

Ingredients:

 Tangzhong / Water roux:

1/4 cup Coles Smart buy Plain flour

1/4 cup room temp, cold water

1/4 cup Coles lite soy milk

Yeast activation mixture

~125ml hot water - boiled and from thermos.

~125ml Coles lite soy milk, straight from fridge (cold, to even out the temperature of the hot water and not kill the yeast with the heat)

1 pkt / 7g Tandaco dry yeast

Dry ingredients:

2.5 cup Coles Plain flour - blue bag. unbleached, triple sifted. Protein 10.9%

4 heaped tsp white sugar - Coles smart buy, can adjust according to taste/liking for sweetness

1/2 tsp salt - Coles Smart buy iodised

Sprinkling of each of: (I assume it would be ~1/4 tsp)

Allspice powder

Cinnamon powder (I probably put more than 1/4 tsp because I love cinnamon)

Nutmeg powder

Supposed to put cardamom powder and ginger powder, or “mixed spice” powder, but I don’t have it!

Wet ingredients:

1 large Egg, whisked. From Box of a dozen at 700g

1 tb extra virgin olive oil (most other recipes call for butter. The fat/oil’s role in bread making is for flavour, and I can’t see why we should encourage people to make it a bread that’s higher in saturated fat than it needs to be. This is a perfect example of replacing saturated for monounsaturated fat. Although, you still shouldn’t be eating hot cross buns for health reasons, apart from mental health reasons.)

Additions:

~1 cup total of additions will give a bun that has whatever additions in every bite of the bun! Adjust amount to liking of course.

·         Sultanas

·         Craisins

·         Chocolate chips

·         Other interesting ideas? Woolworths does toffee and caramel. I’ve always dreamed of adding chai powder or instant coffe to dry ingredients then choc chips later… like a mocha hot cross bun. Would marshmallows work? Jelly babies? Pop rocks/Nerds?

The Cross:

2tb + 1 tsp Plain flour

3tb Fridge-chilled cold water (stops it from going all elastic-y and sticky compared with warmish/room temp water)

(? corn flour)

The Glaze:

2 tb white sugar

3 tb boiling water

Method

Make the Tangzhong / Water Roux

Note: This recipe uses ALL the Tangzhong at once whereas most other recipes call for only ½ the Tangzhong mixture to be used. I can’t see the logic in saving half for a later day… I’m too busy to be at home all the time baking bread.

1.       In a saucepan, add the liquids, then sprinkle in the flour to try get as minimal lumps as possible. Stir until lump free.

2.       Cook on low heat & small gas top, stirring or whisking continuously. A small diameter whisk is particularly effective. When you see Tangzhong has thickened to the point where you can see lines being formed (i.e. as you stir, you see the path of your stirring, and hence revealing the bottle of the saucepan in the lines), take off heat put into a bowl immediately. It takes less than 2 minutes to do this and the thickness of the Tangzhong and increase very quickly and suddenly, so be vigilant (and also use low heat!)

3.       Put cling wrap against surface of Tangzhong to prevent it from drying out

If using immediately: Set aside for at least 30 min – 1hr to let the gluten rest and cool down to room temperature. Go and do what you like around the house for 1 hour.

If using later: Store in fridge for up to 2 – 3 days. Don’t use if it’s turned grey. Let it get back to room temperature before using it.

Activate the yeast

What I call “lazy recipes” will call for you to add yeast directly in with the dry ingredients, but I found that this doesn’t work as well. And it’s also not the traditional way of using dry yeast. AND you never know if your yeast are actually active and alive and working unless you actually do these steps.

1.       In a mug/jug (400ml), put in sugar then hot water. Stir to dissolve.

2.       Then add cold milk. Check to make sure the liquid isn’t too hot, or it’ll kill the yeast. It should feel luke warm and quite comfortable to touch, and would be nice temperature to take a bath in (30 – 37C)

3.       Add yeast to the liquid, and give a quick stir to make sure all yeast is in contact with the liquid

4.       Let stand for 5 – 10 minutes or until frothy. In the meantime, prepare the dough.

Prepare the dough

1.       In a separate small bowl, whisk the egg and oil until well combined. Set aside ready to be used.

2.       In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients together. Mix well with a wooden spoon or other similar utensil.

3.       Create a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Add all the Tangzhong and frothy yeast mixture (a bit a time with mixing in between).

4.       Then add the egg/oil mixture. Keep mixing with wooden spoon, later knead with hands to form a smooth, pliable ball of dough. Add little bits of milk or flour to adjust the dough. It should come together as a soft, ball, just short of sticky. Most of the ball should not be sticking to your hands.

5.       Take the dough to a clean, floured surface to knead for a total 15 mins (If you’re weak like me. Other sources range from 5 – 15 minutes). Be careful not to add too much flour to working surface, or you’ll need to add more milk/water. Kneading ‘develops the gluten’, which basically means you are physically restructuring and aligning the gluten strands in the dough so that they will be capable of trapping the gasses that the yeast produces. The gasses make the bread rise; make the bread bouncy (i.e. when you press on it, it’ll bound back to shape before).

6.       Ideally, do and pass the Window Test. (see below) I have never passed this test when kneading by hand. Not sure if it’s my low gluten flour, or my lack of arm muscle and patience to get it to that point.

7.       Oil (brush or spray) a bowl - (preferably with a large opening so the dough has plenty of space to rise). Roll the dough into a nice smooth ball and place in the bowl. Spray the top of the dough with oil, or turn the dough so the top surface is also greased. Cover tightly with cling wrap or a warm, moist tea towel.

8.       FIRST PROOVE: Leave in a warm place until dough is double in size. ~1.5 hrs for me on a 19°C day!

9.       In between this time, prepare a baking tray (~23cm x 18 cm). Grease the tray, add baking paper, then grease the basking paper surface again (especially if using cheapo Coles baking paper. Would definitely be trying Glad Bake baking paper next time seeing as how stuck my buns were to Coles Baking paper)

Window Test:

1.       Pinch off a piece of dough the size of your fist

2.       Using both hands, grasp opposite sides of the piece of dough with your fingertips.

3.       Slowly pull your hands apart and stretch the dough by approx 3 - 5cm.

4.       The dough should look like a window with a thin membrane in the centre.

STOP KNEADING: If the dough forms a window-like membrane and stretches
without breaking.
KEEP KNEADING: If the dough doesn't stretch easily and tears.

Make the buns

So the dough has now doubled in size.

1.       Preheat the oven at 200°C, or coordinate as you anticipate to finis

2.       Punch down the dough, and knead for 1 – 2 minutes in the bowl or on the bench

3.       Add any additions e.g. sultanas or choc chips.

4.       Knead for another 10 mins (if you’re weak like me). Other sources say 5 – 10 minutes. Or knead until you’re satisfied that you’ve incorporated all sultanas/choc chips

5.       Roll into a large sausage shape. Cut to divide into 12 equal portions.

6.       To really develop the gluten further, use the knead each ball before forming into desired shape. For me, hot cross buns are rolled into a sphere then + 1 – 2 rolls as an oblong. Ends up like a nice oval

7.       Place on the greased tray. Cover with cling wrap. Leave in a warm place for 10 – 15 minutes or until risen slightly.

Just about to go into the oven

Bake the buns

It’s really important in this section to get the temperature and timing right, especially as this recipe calls for plain flour and not bread flour. The higher temperature at the start is aimed to make the buns rise as quickly as possible, form a crust and hence set in its final shape and brown the surface. Since plain flour is relatively lower in gluten, using a lower temperature means the bread will rise slowly, brown and eventually set in its final shape – after it has released all the gases because there wasn’t enough gluten strands in the plain flour to hold it in. Hence, this would result in a product that rose when in the oven, but collapsed with cooled later.

The lower temperature after 10 mins is to actually cook the inside of the bun, so you’re not eating raw dough.

1.       Preheat oven to 200°C. Use top grill/heat and fan forced

2.       Bake for 10 minutes in the centre shelf. In the meantime prepare the Cross mixture. (See below)

3.       Turn down to 160 – 180°C after the first 10 minutes. Adjust according to the amount of browning that’s already happened.

4.       Take out the whole tray of buns. Draw crosses across all the buns.

5.       Bake for another 10 – 15 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean at 160 – 180°C.

6.       Serve with a strong cup of tea and good company! Forget the butter, margarine, jam and other spreads. This hot cross bun is delicious just by itself!

The cross

1.       In a small bowl, combine flour and water. Some recipes also call for sugar, but I don’t see the point in adding more calories.

2.       Mix with a spoon until smooth.

3.       Adjust thickness as required with more water or flour (? Corn flour)

4.       Put into a piping bag or a zip lock bag, later snipping off a corner to pipe.

5.       Keep in fridge until ready to use

The Glaze

1.    In a small bowl/mug, melt the sugar with boiling water.

2.    Microwave the mixture to get it hotter if needed

3.    Use a pastry brush to glaze the buns immediately when out of the oven. In my case, I didn’t have a pastry brush, so I used clean paper towel instead, worked a treat.

 

So fresh out the oven, I haven't even tried one yet!