Hokkaido Milk Loaf with Raisins

This is one of the bread that has been sitting in my to-do list for quite some time. I used tangzhong starter dough a.ka. water roux for this loaf. It produces a very soft and fluffy bread. This method originated from Japan. It involves mixing 1 part of flour to 5 parts of water (in gram) at 65ºC to form a paste. This starter dough will then be added to the other ingredients at room temperature to produce a fluffier bread.

The girls love this Hokkaido milk loaf. It tastes very nice. I also love it. It is different from the bread that I have been making all these while. I believe the difference in taste comes from whipping cream that I used for this loaf. I used milk in the rest of my dough recipe. So, it can't be the milk. It must be the whipping cream! Since I used tangzhong starter dough method, it stay very soft even on the next day. 

Tangzhong Starter Dough (can make at least 2 loafs)

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1/3 cups flour

Method:

1. Mix the water and flour together in a saucepan/pot and stir till it is not lumpy.

2. Cook it over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to prevent the paste to stick to the pot. Once it reached 65ºC, it is ready. If you do not own a thermometer, the rule of thumb would be to turn off the heat once the mixture turn into a gluey paste, and you are able to observe "lines" with every stirring.

3. Once ready, the paste should be immediately removed from the heat and transferred to a clean bowl. Wrap with a clingwrap to prevent it from drying up.

4. The tangzhong starter dough can be used once it has cool down to room temperature. The leftover portion can be kept in the fridge for 3 days. It should be discarded once it turn grey. Before using, ensure that it is in room temperature.

Hokkaido Milk Loaf

Ingredients:

43 g whisked eggs
26 g whipping cream
31 g full cream milk
92 g Tangzhong starter dough
270 g high protein flour
4.5 g milk powder (may ommit if don't like, purpose is to enhance the milk taste in the loaf)
43 g caster sugar
4 g salt
5.5 g instant yeast

25g butter, melted

A handful of raisins (Wash and put in a bowl. Fill water into the bowl just enough to cover the raisins and put aside for 1/2 hour to 1 hour, then drained)

Method:

1. Add in all ingredients into the breadmaker based on the order listed, except for the melted butter and raisins.

2. Run the breadmaker on dough function according to the manufacturer's instructions.

3. Once all the ingredients has form a rough dough, add in the melted butter. Let the breadmaker work on the dough.

4. When the dough is ready for further processing by hand, remove it from the breadmaker onto a greased surface.

5. Punch down the dough to deflate it and divide it into 3 portions.

6. Cover with a damped cloth and rest for 15 minutes before shaping.

7. Transferred the 3 doughs out onto a greased surface.

8. Take a piece of the dough and roll out into a longish shape.

9. Roll in from both ends (top and bottom) towards the middle. (For this step, my method is different from most of the people. The method which is mostly used is to fold 1/3 from the right to the middle and 1/3 from left to the middle.)

10. Flip over so that the opening is at the bottom. Then flatten it into longish shape again. Sprinkle some raisins on the surface and roll up Swissroll style.

11. Place it into a greased 9" x 4.5" x 4.5" loaf pan and repeat step 8 to 10 for the remaining 2 doughs. Cover with the loaf pan's lid and proof for 1 hour or until double in size.

12. Preheat the oven to 175ºC. Brush the surface of the loaf with egg wash. Be very careful not to let the egg wash drip to the sides or else it would be very difficult to unmould later.

13. Remove the lid and bake at 175ºC for 15 minutes. You should adjust according to your oven. (Most people bake their loaf at 180ºC for 30 to 35 minutes)

14. Immediately remove from pan onto a wired rack to cool.