Natural Yeast Tin Loaf - Sandwich Bread with 65C tangzhong Starter

We had been long looking for the perfect recipe for sandwich bread; well this is one. We tried the 65C tangzhong starter method (also known as water roux method) which was introduced by Japanese author, Yvonne Chen. A method basically using a slightly warm water roux (a combination of water and bread flour) which helps generate a light and tender loaf of bread. Her book ‘The 65º Bread Doctor’ popularized the method and revealed the secret to produce a soft and fluffy loaf.

First of all this recipe uses liquid Natural Yeast with 100% hydration, so the night before baking refresh your yeast with 100% of its weight in flour and 100% of its weight in water. You will only need 100g for this recipe so refresh about 60 g or so.

update: we have baked this bread using our Natural yeast with 50% hydration and it works just as well; also, I am not a big fan of milk in my bread, so I only used water , and the bread is less briochy ( is there such a word?!!) and more bread like, which I prefer

Ingredients:

100 g  100% Hydration Refreshed Natural Yeast

525 bread flour

20 g butter

2 tbsp olive oil
100g milk

200 g water

1 tsp salt
20 g sugar

First lets make the 65C tangzhong starter. Put  125g of water and 25g of flour in a pan then whisk to dissolve the flour ( I used a hand blender just to be quick!). At this point you will need a food thermometer  or, if you have it, a thermospatula ( I used this one from Lakeland).

Put your pan on the stove on a low heat and stir until you reach 65C.  If you do not own a food thermometer don't worry, just wait for the mixture to start thickening ans switch off well before it reaches the boil, you have to look for a  smooth besciamel consistency.

Put the chinese starter in a bowl to cool, cover it with cling film, so that the cling film actually touches the surface of the starter, to avoid the formation of a skin. Wait until it reaches room temperature. 

Once your starter is at the right temperature put it in a bowl, add  Natural  Yeast , water and the sugar then mix. Then add the milk and finally start incorporating the flour. Once you have a nice dough you can add the salt and eventually the butter and the olive oil. Work the dough until it is smooth and elastic.

Put your dough in a bowl and cover it with cling film and a damp towel, then put it in your oven with the light on for about three hours. After three hours dust your work top with some flour, take the dough out of the bowl and fold it as per the diagram below: 

Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it, put it back in the oven and let it rest for an hour.

After one hour flatten the dough in a rectangle as long as your baking tin, then roll it tightly along the short side. You will have a cylinder that will fit your baking tin which you will have lined with a sheet of baking paper.

Cover the dough with cling film and put it back in the oven with the light on for about 4 to 6 hours. When the bread is ready to be baked, remove it from the oven and preheat the oven at 200 C.
After inserting the bread in the hot oven turn the temperature down to 180C and bake for about 30 minutes.

Cool it completely on a wire-rack outside the tin before slicing it.

If stored in a plastic food bag it will last up to a week, if not you can slice it and freeze it, then you will be able to pop the slices into your toaster straight from the freezer!