Tang Zhong Starter

[Deeau]

I made this recipe yesterday, used the total amount of sugar and made it into finger buns then  I later iced them....the family said they were so soft just like Bakers delight ones ( Australian bakery  franchise ) Will definately use this recipe again.... I am stunned how soft and fluffy the bread was.

[judydawn]

Now I am confused - is this a bread or a yeast bun recipe, or either 

[Bonsai]

I tried this yesterday following meganjane's recipe - didn't have any mixed seeds so pulsed up some rolled oats. Bread rose quickly and overflowed the tin during second rising (OK have to admit I spent too long in the longed-for Saturday afternoon spa bath). Bread was nice but not as nice and fluffy as others have mentioned. Maybe over-risen or the rolled oates added something.

I wonder if it is the starter that makes it so fluffy or the extended kneading time???  I'm hoping to experiment with a tried and true recipe such as Isi's - half kneaded for usual time and half for much longer to see if it makes a difference.

It seemed to me that the dough became stickier as it kneaded - was OK after a few mins but after 15 mins of  kneading was really sticky and a challenge to get out of the bowl even after rising!

If I get a chance to experiement with kneading times I'll post the outcome

[meganjane]

Bonsai, the next time I made it, the dough became stickier the longer it was kneaded too. I thought I'd made an error with the flour measurement!
I'd be interested to hear how your experiment goes. The thing I noticed with the bread made with this starter is that it didn't have a 'yeasty' smell at all as it got a bit older, after 3 days or so.

[cookie1]

MJ I'm going to try it with about 100g of rye flour today. We're really enjoying it, thanks again.

[Deeau]

I made a half batch with what was left of the starter, it was much stickier too.....in my case I wondered if it was that fact that the starter had been in the fridge for a day ( I did allow it to get to room temp )

[cookie1]

I have only been kneading mine for 10 minutes-naughty I know.
The bread with 100g rye is very nice. DH says it needs a little more liquid as it is a bit dry-which is logical. So the next batch I'll do that.

[Tebasile]

I made the starter twice. First time with white spelt flour and second time with whole spelt flour. The result was amazing !

[cookie1]

I must try spelt next time. Thanks.

[meganjane]

Good to know that the spelt starter works well.

I haven't tried it again since my second attempt went very, very sticky and I added more flour. The loaf just wouldn't rise on the second rise. I'd put it in the fridge for the first rise overnight and it just wouldn't rise properly. I chucked it.

Must try again!

[Bonsai]

As promised - a 'scientific' experiement with the starter and various kneading times - tried 4 different loaves:

1) no starter (added extra water and a touch more flour) knead for 5 mins
2) as above but kneaded for 15 mins
3) with starter, knead for 5 mins
4) with starter, knead for 15 mins

My 'no starter' dough seemed quite wet, and as I didn't have enough bread tins for 4 loaves I put both 'no starter' doughs on a sheet (hoping they'd pretend to be cob loaves) - they spread a lot during rising and the one that was only kneaded for 5 mins ended up more like focaccia than a loaf.

The 'starter' doughs both rose well and were more loaf shaped at the end.

As for texture?  DH and I exhaustively tested all 4 loaves (with stilton cheese ) and agreed that the no starter 5 mins knead 'foccaccia" was quite like Turkish bread. The other 3 all had a similar crumb and quite tasty when fresh. The loaf with starter and 15 mins knead was probably the closest crumb and a bit softer than the others.

Conclusion?  Not sure I've convinced myself that the starter is worth the effort, but kneading for a longer time may be worth it. As Bluesed pointed out in this thread kneading until the dough is really stretchy is important.

Photo shows the 'no starter' loaves at rear and 'starter' loaves at front.

[cookie1]

Great experiment Fiona. I kneaded my dough for the 15 minutes yesterday. I did it in 5 minute intervals to give poor Termite a tiny rest between. After trying it I have decided that the 15 minutes is the way to go. I now use 100g rye in the mix and the starter.
This is a photo of the first lot I made with no rye flour and no seeds.


I see in one of the issues of Masterchef they have a bread made with a starter that stands 12 hours. I will give it a go.

[Cornish Cream]

What a superb loaf Cookie.

[judydawn]

You are really into your breadmaking Cookie, looks good. Is this your new favourite loaf?

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Are you able to post your modified ingredient list here please Cookie (with oil, extra liquid, rye flour etc)?  I love rye bread.