The steps of making bread are a little complicated. The following is my experience, using Tang Zhong method, because the bread made by Tang Zhong is much more delicious than that made by direct method, but it only takes one more step, but it can make you take fewer detours. I hope it helps you.
first, Tang Zhong
Tang Zhong is easy to make: 1 part of flour and 5 parts of water, mix them together, stir them evenly until there are no particles, and then heat them to 65 degrees on low heat. Stir constantly during the heating process, and when you see small bubbles on the side of the pot, the batter becomes thicker and thicker, and it will leave traces of stirring, you can leave the fire. Cover with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature. Or refrigerated until the next day, the effect is better.
Tang Zhong made of 2g flour and 1g water can make bread once. Tang Zhong made of 5 grams of flour and 25 grams of water can make bread three times.
second, kneading dough
Take the proportion of ordinary sweet bread as an example, because this recipe can be changed in many ways, as long as different fillings are added, it is bread with different tastes.
21g of high-gluten flour, 56g of low-gluten flour, 2g of milk powder, 42g of fine sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 6g of dry yeast (some adjustments should be made according to different brands of yeast and flour)
3g of whole eggs, 85g of water and 84g of Tang Zhong.
22g of salt-free fermented cream
1. Mix all dry materials except yeast.
2. Add the egg mixture and Tang Zhong, and stir slightly to make the dough agglomerate.
3. completely dissolve the yeast in water and add the dough.
4. knead the dough. The key point of this step is to keep folding and squeezing the dough until the dough is gluten and no longer grainy.
5. Add butter in several times and continue to beat and knead the dough. The goal is to expand the stage: drag a small piece of dough, you can open a slightly transparent film, and the hole is serrated.
The dough before adding butter is very sticky, which is normal. Do not add more flour. If it is too sticky to operate, it may be that Tang Zhong is too thin. Butter must be added in several times, and it must be kneaded well before adding. When the dough has oil, it will gradually become smooth and no longer stick to your hands.
Third, basic fermentation
1. Harvest the dough into a smooth ball. In this step, just put the dough on the table, circle it around the table with both hands, and exert force on the bottom of the dough at the same time, and you can harvest a beautiful ball.
2. find a big bowl, and put a layer of oil in it, just a thin one, so as not to take out the dough after fermentation.
3. Cover or seal with plastic wrap.
4. find a condition to reach the temperature of 28 degrees and humidity of 75 degrees as much as possible to ferment the dough to twice the size. It will take about 45 minutes.
You can turn on the oven or microwave oven for 3 seconds, turn it off, and just reach out and feel a little warm. Be careful not to touch the inner wall of the oven, even if it is only turned on for 3 seconds, it will burn to death.
if the room temperature has reached 28 degrees, also put a glass of water to increase the humidity.
Fourth, the division is loose
Take out the dough and cut it according to the required amount. When cutting, you should finish it with one knife, and you can't patch it up, so try to cut it as big as possible.
after dividing, round each small portion of dough. It is also placed on the table, surrounded by hands, and the fingertips are rotated and tightened while exerting force towards the bottom of the ball. Then spread plastic wrap and relax for 1 minutes.
v. plastic surgery
exhaust the air before plastic surgery! ! This step is to flatten the loose dough and let out the gas. Then you can carry out plastic surgery as required. There are many ways to shape bread, such as braided bread, flower-shaped bread and so on, and you can also use your imagination.
VI. Final fermentation
The final fermentation conditions are temperature of 38 degrees and humidity of 85 degrees, and the dough will be twice as big again. I filled a large salad bowl with boiling water, which was not 35 degrees, but it was ok. The time is about 3 to 45 minutes.
after the final fermentation, you can preheat the oven (preheating for 15-25 minutes varies according to different ovens).
Brush a layer of whole egg liquid on the dough surface, sprinkle with nuts or stick with coconut powder as you like, and then bake in the oven.
VII. Baking
Generally, the fire is raised and lowered at 18 degrees and baked for 15-22 minutes, but different breads have different requirements and different oven temperatures are not the same. But remember to crouch aside to avoid burning. Bread must be taken out as soon as it is baked, and it is not allowed to be baked by the residual temperature of the oven. This will cause the bread to lose too much water and the taste will be greatly reduced.
It is recommended to wear two layers of insulating gloves when taking out bread. It is very, very hot, and the dishcloth is absolutely not enough, and it is not safe enough. Especially if you use a small oven, you must pay attention, it is easy to touch the inner wall.
when the bread is cooled to about 38 degrees, and it is still warm when touched by hands, it can be sealed and preserved. The significance of Tang Zhong is to delay the aging time of bread, so it is still very soft to eat it the next day.
when heating in the furnace, it must be wrapped in tin foil before heating, otherwise the skin will become hard.