BBD #23 – 65°C TangZhong Nutella Buns

Nick from imafoodblog.com is the host of this month’s Bread Baking Day. The theme is Something You’ve Never Made Before. On my list are quite a few breads I want to try since a long time. Of course for this event I didn’t want to make an „everyday“ bread. So I decided to do 65°C TangZhong Nutella Buns.

What are 65°C TangZhong Nutella Buns you ask? Well, these buns contain TangZhong a special starter. TangZhong also called water roux is a mixture of flour and water that needs to be heat up to 65 C. This brings out the gelatinization of starch in flour and makes the final bread softer, more elastic-textured with a long-lasting freshness. If this is really true I can tell you in a few days. ;-)

The first time I heard about TangZhong was on World Bread Day last year. Florence from Do What I Like made Por Lor Pau, a bread that is representative of Hong Kong and contains TangZhong.

Florence has some other recipes with TangZhong on her blog but finally I did adapt the Nutella Bread recipe from Angie’s Recipes.

65°C TangZhong Nutella Buns
makes 10 buns

TangZhong
50 g flour
250 g water

In a bowl, whisk together the water and the flour until the mixture is well blended and lump free.

Stir the mixture while it cooks over the medium heat to reach 65C. This takes about 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat and cover loosely with plastic wrap to prevent from drying. Store the starter in the refrigerator after completely cooling down. To use the starter, measure out the amount called for in a recipe and let it warm to room temperature. Unlike sourdough starter, this special TangZhong starter doesn’t improve its flavor with age. So it’s preferably to use up in 3 days.

Dough
300 g flour +3 tbs
40 g sugar
8 g salt
15 g fresh yeast
30 g egg (use rest for glaze)
25 g butter, softened
90 g milk
90 g TangZhong

Filling
Nutella

Glaze
egg wash

Dissolve yeast in milk. Place all ingredients in the mixing bowl. Mix with dough hook at slow speed for 4 minute, if necessary adjust flour or liquid (I had to add 3 tablespoon of flour). Increase the speed, and continue to mix for 10 minutes until you get a smooth, non-sticky and leave from sides of the mixing bowl dough.

Let rise the dough in a lightly greased covered bowl for about 90 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Divide dough into 10 portions, each about 65 grams. Round up and rest for about 10 minutes.

Press the small dough, with the sealing side down, to release the gas. Turn the sealing side up and place 1 tablespoon of Nutella in the middle of the dough. Seal the edges of the round to make a bun shape. Place the sealing side down and roll out each into an oval shape. Fold into half and slice the folding part 4 times to obtain a hand pattern. Place them in a baking tray lined with baking paper. Turn each cutting edge over and let rise for about 60 minutes. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with almond slices. Bake in a preheated 175C oven for 15-17 minutes.

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I had not enough Nutella, so I made some plain buns, too.

In addition this is my submission to Susan’s YeastSpotting, the weekly showcase of yeasted baked goods and dishes.

More entries and recipes in English.