The Asians use a mixture of hot water and flour that they incorporate into their breads and biscuits to obtain very soft, moist and very thin crust doughs. They call this mixture tangzhong and the results are incredible. The cake recipe I offer is so soft that you can press it to reduce its volume by half. Once you reduce the pressure, the cake recovers its usual volume. To make the tangzhong it is necessary to use a kitchen thermometer and a scale. Follow exactly the measures that I indicate.
INGREDIENTS (you can make 1 large cake or divide the dough into 2 and make 2 cake):
For the Tangzhong:
40 grams (1.4 oz) of flour
200 grams (7 oz) of water
1 thermometer
For the brioche:
580 grams (20.5 oz) of flour
260 grams (9 oz) of warm milk
60 grams (2 oz) of sugar
50 grams (1.7 oz) of unsalted butter, diced
24 grams (0.8 oz) of fresh yeast or (1 envelope of dry yeast, usually called "baker's")
10 grams (0.35 oz) of milk powder
1 beaten egg
2 teaspoons salt
2 heaped tablespoons of the tangzhong that we have done previously
To brown the brioche:
2 egg yolks
Milk
First we must prepare the tangzhong.
To do this we heat the water in the microwave or in a saucepan until it reaches exactly 65 degrees Celsius (149 F). Neither one more nor one less. Without a kitchen thermometer, you can't do the tangzhong because it wouldn't work. Then we mix the sifted flour with the help of some rods until a kind of jelly is formed. That is all. Once we get that kind of jelly - something that only happens at 65 degrees (149 F) - we store in an airtight container for at least 6 hours in the refrigerator and when it is going to be used it must be left out of it, at room temperature, at least for 1 time.
Later I will explain why it makes bread or brioche so fluffy.
Now let's do the brioche. To do this, we warm the milk and dilute the yeast in it.
In a kneading machine - thermomix or similar - or by hand mix the flour, salt, sugar and powdered milk. Use the lowest speed or if you do it by hand, as the usual manual force.
Once we have the homogeneous mixture we add the milk with yeast, the beaten egg and the tangzhong, while still kneading at low speed.
When all the above is integrated, we add the butter and increase the speed to obtain a smooth and non-sticky dough.
Once we obtain the non-sticky dough, we leave it in a bowl in a cool place, without air flow and covered with a cloth. We let grow for about 2 hours.
Once the dough has grown, we decide if we want to make 1, 2 or more breads. Think that a brioche made with tangzhong endures 5 perfect days. If you divide it, let it grow again for 30 minutes. Otherwise, place it in a pan for bread, silicone or similar disposable aluminum or metal (greased) and put it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees (356 F).
With 25 minutes it will be more than enough. You will get a soft brioche, with white and fluffy crumb, with a "wet" (fresh) texture, nothing to do with dry breads, with a thin crust and that will last for many days.
And why does he act like that in tangzhong? Because being a jelly it captures moisture and air, preventing the dough from drying out. Once you try it you will make all your cakes, biscuits, breads and doughs with tanzhong.
By the way, to make any amount of tangzhong the ratio between flour and water is 1 to 5. That is, for 300 grams (10 oz) of tangzhong (an exaggerated amount, it is only as an example), 50 grams (1.7 oz) of flour would be needed and 250 grams (8.8 oz) of water yes, always at 65 degrees. And how much tangzhong is required for any dough or cake? Well, if a dough needs 300 grams of flour (10 oz) , about 10 to 12% should be tangzhong. That is, 270 flour (9.5 oz) and 30 grams (1 oz) of tangzhong.