Shelf · Dough & batter · Low heat
Tangzhong
Cooking a small part of the recipe’s flour with some of its liquid into a thick paste, then mixing that paste into the rest of the dough.
- The temperature band
- The liquid · 65 to 70 °C
- The time
- About 5 min
Why it works
Heated with water, starch granules swell and lock the water inside them. That trapped water stays put through baking and for days afterwards, so the crumb is softer, and it stales far more slowly — this is why milk breads made this way stay pillowy on day three.
The tell
The paste thickens abruptly into something like a stiff pudding, and a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a track that holds.
- Runs off
- Coats
- Lumpy
How it fails
Taken too hot the paste goes gluey and the bread turns dense — it needs to reach the thickening point and come straight off. Let it cool to room temperature before it joins the dough, or it will kill the yeast on contact.
In the app, the card opens on the recipe step that names it, with the tell drawn.
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