For my first bake again residence in Toronto I needed to experiment with my candy rice flour (glutinous rice flour which is gluten free in fact). I had learn in Critical Eats the next which I discovered fairly informative and fascinating.
“ …the presence of a scald makes a bread way more proof against staling than dough made with out one. Extra precisely referred to as starch retrogradation, staling is the reversal of gelation, the place the water within the starches will get pulled out of them, inflicting the starches to crystallize and harden. The extra water in a bread, the longer it takes for the starches to retrograde. (Stale bread appears dry, nevertheless it isn’t essentially, at the least not initially. The starches have crystallized in a stale bread, however the water should still be hanging round close by; that is the rationale that toasting stale bread can restore a few of its authentic tenderness.)
Which brings me to candy rice flour. As I discussed above, starch is made up of two sorts of molecules: amylose and amylopectin. Amylose molecules are lengthy chains of glucose linked collectively, with only some branches hanging off the central chain right here and there. Crystals type most readily when the molecules in query can stack collectively neatly. As a result of amylose molecules are largely straight chains, they’re particularly vulnerable to crystallizing as food cools. (For this reason long-grain rice, which comprises round 20% amylose, turns into particularly exhausting and brittle when refrigerated.) In the meantime, amylopectin molecules are highlybranched, making them unable to stack collectively and crystallize as effectively.
The starches in wheat flour are 28% amylose and 72% amylopectin, which makes it a less-than-perfect alternative for a flour scald—one of many massive advantages of utilizing a flour scald is it slows staling, however wheat flour has a wholesome dose of staling-prone amylose. Candy rice flour, alternatively, is almost 100% amylopectin, making it preferrred for utilizing in a scald—particularly if you’d like the bread to remain tender for so long as doable.
One other benefit to utilizing candy rice flour as a substitute of wheat flour in a scald: It’s a lot simpler to make. The usual tangzhong technique has bakers mix flour and chilly water (normally in a 1:4 ratio) till it’s uniform. Bakers then cook dinner the combination on the stovetop till it gels. Whereas that is an efficient method, it’s—merely put—a ache within the ass, because it’s difficult to get the sticky paste out of the pan and into the dough fully.
I take advantage of a way much like the yudane technique, the place I pour boiling milk over glutinous rice flour and sugar and whisk the combination till it thickens to a pudding-like consistency. In contrast to the standard yudane technique, although, I take advantage of far more flour than is typical—20% of the whole weight in comparison with the 5 to 10% most shokupan recipes include—and as a substitute of bread flour, I take advantage of candy rice flour for all the explanations talked about above. I additionally use a unique ratio of 1 half flour to three elements liquid. This strategy produces a clean, thick gel simply and shortly, with no lumps in sight.”
For my bake I needed to attempt utilizing the candy rice flour within the tangzhong however ready as I normally do with a 1:2 ratio to the milk. Sadly I made an error with hydration and the ensuing dough was a lot larger in hydration than I needed and thus I couldn’t form it with the 4 lobes. Additionally, the rising bread had a blow out on one aspect above the rim of the pan. This might have been prevented by doing a rating which I seldom do after I bake enriched doughs which are egg washed.
For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.
Directions
Levain
Combine the levain substances in a jar or pyrex container with area for at the least 300% progress.
Press down together with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform floor and to push out air.
At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it usually takes as much as 10-12 hours for this candy stiff levain to be at peak. For my starter I usually see 3-3.5 instances improve in dimension at peak. The levain will odor candy with solely a light tang.
Tangzhong
In a sauce pan set on medium warmth, stir the milk and glutinous rice flour till blended. Then cook dinner for a number of minutes till nicely thickened, stirring usually with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool within the pan or, for quicker outcomes, in a brand new bowl. Theoretically it ought to attain 65ºC (149ºF) however I don’t discover I have to measure the temperature because the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature. You may put together this the evening earlier than and refrigerate it, be sure that it’s lined to forestall it from drying out.
Should you plan on utilizing a stand mixer to combine this dough, arrange a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to organize the tangzhong.
Dough
Within the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (think about holding again 10 g of milk and including later if that is the primary time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain. Combine after which break up the levain into many smaller items. Subsequent add the flour. I like to make use of my spatula to combine till there aren’t many dry areas. Enable the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-Half-hour. Combine on low pace after which medium pace till reasonable gluten growth this may occasionally take 5-10 minutes. Chances are you’ll wish to scrape the perimeters of the bowl in the course of the first 5 minutes of blending. Subsequent add room temperature butter one pat at a time. The dough could come aside, be affected person, proceed to combine till it comes collectively earlier than including in additional butter. Once more, knead till nicely integrated. You’ll want to verify gluten growth by windowpane throughout this time and cease mixing if you get a very good windowpane. You must be capable of pull a very good windowpane, not fairly nearly as good as a white flour as a result of the bran will interrupt the windowpane considerably. Add the seeds, then combine once more till they’re nicely distributed.
On the counter, form the dough into a decent ball, cowl within the bowl and ferment for two – 4 hours at 82ºF. There needs to be some rise seen at this stage.
You may subsequent place the dough into the fridge to sit back the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough simpler to form. Bear in mind, for those who accomplish that the ultimate proof will take longer. Alternatively, you are able to do a chilly retard within the fridge in a single day, nevertheless, it’s possible you’ll discover that this will increase the tang in your bread.
Put together your pans by greasing them with butter or line with parchment paper.
Evenly oil the highest of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clear counter high and divide it into 4. I prefer to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Form every tightly right into a boule, enable to relaxation 5 minutes. Utilizing an oiled rolling pin roll every ball out after which letterfold. Flip 90* and utilizing a rolling pin roll every out to at the least 8”. Letterfold once more from the perimeters so you might have a protracted slender dough. Then utilizing a rolling pin, roll flatter however retaining the dough comparatively slender. The explanation to do that further letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when positioned within the pan won’t contact the perimeters of the pan. This enables the swirled ends to rise throughout last proof, that is solely finished for look sake and isn’t vital. Subsequent roll every into a decent roll with some pressure. Prepare the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the route of the swirls. This could enable a larger rise throughout proof and within the oven.
Cowl and let proof for 4-6 hours at a heat temperature. I proof at 82°F. You have to longer than 4-6 hours for those who chilled your dough for shaping. I proof till the highest of the dough involves inside 1 cm of the highest fringe of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash. Simply previous to baking brush with the egg-milk wash once more.
Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or till the inner temperature is at the least 190ºF, rotating as wanted to get even browning. Protect your loaf if it will get brown early within the baking course of. After 50 minutes take away the bread from the pan and bake an additional 10 minutes by putting the loaf instantly within the oven on the rack with the oven turned right down to 325ºF
This bread is exceptionally tender and the subsequent day after slicing it was nonetheless as contemporary textured as the primary. Now whether or not that is fully associated to the a lot larger hydration than I normally use or the candy rice flour I don’t know as each are more likely to have affected this. I’ll need to do one other bake with the hydration corrected. Nevertheless, the tangzhong was straightforward to include and straightforward to make and it was a very good use of the candy rice flour that I already had in my cabinet. I’ll undoubtedly make the up to date model of the bread.
