Tangzhong Whole Wheat Bread

This Tangzhong Whole Wheat Bread is absolutely the best sandwich bread ever! And guess what? I am the host kitchen for the Bread Baking Babes, and had the privilege of choosing this month's bread.

Bread Baking Babes you ask? We are a small group of bold, boisterous, and hilarious women who share the love of baking bread (and wine). We live across the globe, and come together every month on the 16th to share our experiences with a recipe chosen by one of the members. Everyone gets to play around with the recipe, so be sure to click on the thumbnails at the bottom of this post after the recipe to see the rest of the Babes' versions of this bread.


If you'd like to be a Bread Baking Buddy and bake along, make your version of this bread and send me a photo and your impressions of this bread to karenskitchenstories at gmail dot com by October 29th (Subject: Bread Baking Buddy). Your bread will be featured in a round up post on my blog near the first of the month. If you are a blogger, send me a link to your post as well and I will include your link (you don't have to be a blogger, all Buddies are welcome!). You'll also get a fabulous Buddy Badge.

Have you ever seen the bread in Asian markets? It is the fluffiest bread I've ever seen, and it is so tall. The crumb is amazingly soft, and the bread stays fresh for a long time. The white version of this bread is wonderful, so I wanted to try this whole wheat version. I am so happy with the results!

It's sometimes called Japanese milk bread, or Hokkaido milk toast (when toasted, buttered, and topped with condensed milk).

The bread uses a Tangzhong, a concoction of cooked flour and water or milk that is cooked to 65 degrees C or 149 degrees F. If you don't have an instant read or candy thermometer, cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and your spoon forms lines in the pan. It will have a pudding like consistency. It happens fast!!

This recipe is based on the book 65 degrees C by Yvonne Chen, and adapted by Christine Ho. She has great photos of the shaping technique. Christine baked this bread in a large Pullman pan with the lid, but when I tried that, the lid popped off.

You will never believe when you put this bread in the oven that it will grow so tall. It starts out below the top of the pan, and ends up several inches above the top. It's kind of magical. This is the kind of bread that kids will love.

I doubled the recipe and made one in a one pound loaf pan and one in a Pullman pan.

Here are my other tangzhong posts:

Tangzhong checkerboard rolls.
Whole wheat and rye.
Hokkaido Milk Bread.

Tangzhong Whole Wheat Bread

Tangzhong mixture (makes enough for two loaves)

50 g/1/3 C bread flour

1 C water

1. Mix the flour and water in a saucepan together until there aren't any lumps.
2. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and registers 149 degrees F or 65 degrees C. If you don't have a thermometer (get one!), look for lines in the mixture made by your spoon as your stir. Remove from the heat immediately.
3. Scrape the mixture into a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it onto the surface of the tangzhong. Let it cool. You can refrigerate it if you want to, or use it immediately once it has cooled. 
4. Bring it back to room temperature when you are ready to use it. 

This will last a couple of days. If it starts to turn gray, toss it. 

Whole Wheat Tangzhong Bread

Makes one loaf, and is easily doubled

110 grams milk

45 grams whisked eggs (about one large egg)

100 grams Tangzhong

40 g sugar

5 g salt

200 g bread flour

150 g whole wheat flour

6 g instant yeast

40 g unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into pieces

1. Add all of the ingredients except the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer. You can also mix by hand or bread machine. 
2. Mix the ingredients until they form a dough. Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Knead until the dough becomes very elastic. More is better. 
3. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes. I think you could also do a cold ferment overnight, but I haven't tried it.
4. Now for the shaping: Divide the dough into 3 or four equal pieces and form each piece into a ball. 
5. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 10 inch long oval. Fold the oval into thirds, widthwise, like an envelope. Turn the envelope so that the short side is facing you, and roll it into a 10 to 12 inch length. Roll that piece like a cinnamon roll, with the folded sides on the inside, and place the piece in an oiled bread pan, seam side down. Repeat with the other pieces, placing them next to each other. To see a diagram of how to shape the pieces, check out this post. 
6. Cover and let rise for about 40 minutes, until about 4/5  the height of the bread pan. 
7. Bake in a 175 degree C/ 350 degree F oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the loaf from the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.