Once you find something on YouTube of interest, it seems every other video in your feed is of the same subject. Those Google Guys… Good or bad, that’s the way it is. So, this is called the tangzhong method. And what do you know? The good folks at KAF have all you need to make it happen. Veganize at your pleasure.
Here is an Introduction to Tangzhong. Enjoy!
These rolls are based on a recipe I found at The Fresh Loaf blog, an excellent resource by the way. I used half vanilla almond milk and half plain soy at 65% hydration and substituted olive oil and Earth Balance for the butter. With a 1000 gram whole wheat flour base, I added about two heaping tablespoons of dried rosemary leaves, and two mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, previously boiled and cooled with the skins. I also added about two tablespoons of agave syrup and a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. They were baked on a sheet pan, lightly sprayed with EVOO, in a 450 convection oven, fully hydrated for the first 10 minutes by pouring hot water into a very large cast-iron skillet.
In another 6 minutes (but who’s counting…) we’ll be having these for breakfast with some… guess what! Jam!
Regardless of how well you form your rolls, hydration is key. I used a cast iron skillet this evening to produce these rolls. They came out very well.
If I were going to teach someone to bake bread by giving them some “how not to” lessons, today would have been a good day to begin.
I made the dough yesterday by using what I learned from reading three different recipes, and then used none of them. I substituted egg-replacer for eggs, and almond milk for cow’s milk. Then I miscalculated the measurements of the sugar and salt by an order of magnitude and compensated for the inadequate amount by guessing.
Next, while preparing the evening pizza, I forgot that I left the dough sitting on the kitchen counter top covered with an “unbreakable” Corelle porcelain plate.
I woke around 3 AM wondering what I had done with the dough. If I left it on the counter top, it probably leavened to the point where it would lift the plate right off the bowl.
Sure enough, I turned on the kitchen light to see tiny shards of broken porcelain all over the floor, and the dough looked like The Blob That Ate Kansas City. I was more upset about the dough than the plate.
Anyway, I cleaned up the mess and punched down the dough so it would re-hydrate, turned on the oven and eventually shaped the dough into small loaves placed on an oiled 13 inch pizza pan. After an hour or so of final rise, I put them into a 425 convection oven for 20 minutes and this was the result.
They’re cooling now. Mary and I sampled one and declared it was quite suitable! Next, Kummelweck rolls!