High altitude homemade bread
This recipe uses the tangzhong technique to make the bread super soft and stay fresher, longer. Typically homemade bread is great the day it is made, but quickly dry out after a couple of days. Using the tangzhong technique makes the rolls even softer and makes the bread stay fresh longer.
Explanation of the tangzhong technique from King Arthur Baking:
Tangzhong is a yeast bread technique popularized across Asia by Taiwanese cookbook author Yvonne Chen. Tangzhong involves cooking some of a bread recipe’s flour in liquid prior to adding it to the remaining dough ingredients. Bringing the temperature of the flour and liquid to 65°C (149°F) pre-gelatinizes the flour’s starches, which makes them more able to retain liquid — thus enhancing the resulting bread's softness and shelf life.
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tbsp butter
- 5 tsp active dry yeast
- 8-10 cups bread flour
- 1tbsp salt
- 6 tbsp melted butter
In a small saucepan, whisk 1 cup of milk with ⅔ cup of flour. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture turns into a paste. Remove from heat and let cool while making yeast mixture.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the water, remaining milk, sugar, honey, and 2 tbsp butter until it reaches 110-115 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Do not add the yeast if it is over 120 degrees! Stir in the active dry yeast, and set aside to bloom for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbly and foamy.
Transfer the yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer, and add in two cups of flour along with the salt. Mix until combined with a paddle attachment. The mixture will be liquidy and lumpy at this point.
Add in another cup of flour, and the flour/milk paste, then continue adding in 1 cup portions until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Switch to a hook attachment at this point. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky when you stop adding flour.
Knead for about 5 minutes with the dough hook. The dough may still be slightly lumpy, but should spring back when you touch it.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled large bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise by about 1/3 in size, which takes about 30 minutes for me, but keep an eye on your dough size to avoid over-proofing.
Grease two 9” bread pans and set aside.
Roll your dough into a large rectangle. One side should be about the same length as the length of your loaf pan. Roll the dough, starting on the loaf-pan-length side, into a tight log, and place seam-side down into your prepared loaf pan. Cover with plastic.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. It will be just slightly puffed. Brush the top of the loaf generously with some of the melted butter, and bake for 45-48 minutes. The dough should reach a deep golden brown color, and you can use an instant read thermometer to see that the inside reaches 195 degrees.
Brush the remaining melted butter over the top of the loaf immediately when you take it out of the oven. Turn the bread out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Wait until the bread is completely cool to slice. Enjoy!
References
Dough-eyed - High Altitude Baking - High Altitude Sandwich Bread https://www.dougheyed.com/high-altitude-sandwich-bread/
King Arthur Baking - Perfectly Pillowy Cinnamon Rolls https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/perfectly-pillowy-cinnamon-rolls-recipe