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Tangzhong method to make soft fresh milled flour bread

Tangzhong Method with Fresh Milled Flour Bread

The Tangzhong Method makes the most soft and fluffy Fresh Milled Flour Bread ever! Just this one extra step makes a HUGE difference!
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
rise time + cooling time 4 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 5 hours 30 minutes
Servings 2 loaves

Ingredients
  

  • 6&1/8 cup fresh milled flour, divided 735g (Hard wheat for this.) I use 615g hard white wheat and 120g of Kamut. *See Notes for alternatives
  • 1 cup milk 250g can sub for water if needed
  • 1 cup water 240g
  • 4 TBSP softened butter unsalted 57g (can sub for oil)
  • 4 TBSP Honey 84g can sub for sugar
  • 2&1/2 tsp sea salt If using salted butter, decrease to 2&1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs 100g
  • 1 TBSP lemon juice 15g
  • 4 tsp instant yeast Use 4&1/2 tsp if using active dry yeast

Instructions
 

  • Firstly, mill the flour. I mill 735g total of wheat berries to get my fresh milled flour. But, this flour will be used in two different places in the recipe.
  • So, let's use part of the flour to make the paste.
  • Put 1/2 cup of fresh milled flour (60g) and 1 cup milk (250g) into a sauce pan, stir to combine.
  • Heat this mixture on medium-high heat until it forms a paste. This should only take about 3-5 minutes. Once it forms a paste, remove from the heat, and allow it to cool at room temperature.
    cooking down flour and milk to make a Tangzhong paste
  • While that mixture is cooling, put the water, softened butter, honey, salt, eggs, and lemon juice into your mixer.
    Bosch mixer with the Tangzhong paste and wet ingredients added
  • Mix these ingredients to incorporate. Then add in the paste mixture.
  • Then, add the remaining flour into the mixing bowl, and mix to combine until no flour is left. Cover, and let this mixture sit for about 15 minutes. This is the autolyse period and it allows the fresh milled flour to absorb the liquid and the bran to soften. Because the yeast is not in the mixture yet, you can do this autolyse period for longer if you prefer.
  • After the autloyse period, then put in the yeast, and mix to incorporate.
  • Once the yeast is added, Start the kneading process. Make sure not to knead the dough with the cover on your mixer, this will overheat your dough, and cause it to break down.
  • Knead until the dough is nice and stretchy. Typically, 6-8 minutes in a Bosch style mixer, 16-20 minutes in an Ankarsrum style mixer, or 25-30 minutes in a Kitchen aid mixer (allow extra time for a Kitchen Aid style mixer to have breaks in between kneading to prevent overheating of the mixer.) These kneading times will vary for everyone, this is just the most common times for these style of mixers.
  • Once the dough is nice and stretchy, and doesn't easily tear. Then, cover and allow it to rise until double. This can take somewhere between 1-2 hours. (Instant yeast or warmer rooms will be closer to 1 hour. Active dry yeast or cooler rooms will be closer to 2 hours.)
  • While the dough is rising, prepare your bread pans with parchment paper, or softened butter.
    hands buttering stainless steel loaf pans
  • Once the dough has doubled in size, place some olive oil on your counter, and hands. Then, divide the dough in half.
  • Shape the dough into 2 bread loaves with some surface tension. I like to flatten each piece of dough, then fold two corners into make a triangle tip. Then, lightly pull (not so tight that it rips the dough) to create tension, and roll the triangle into the dough all the way up until it forms a loaf. You can pinch the ends together. After shaping, the top should have a tight tension on the top of the loaf, this helps with the rise also. *see video
    hands shaping a loaf with surface tension
  • Put each shaped loaf into each prepared bread pan, cover, and then allow to rise a second time. 40-50 minutes. (*Tip- usually the second rise time is close to half the the first rise time.)
  • During the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 350*F.
  • Once the loaves have risen, they should appear nice and puffy, then bake for 38-43 minutes. Check the center of the loaf to make sure they are done. The internal center of the loaf should be at 190*F for yeast breads.
  • Once they have finished baking, remove from the oven, and carefully dump them out of the bread pans onto a cooling rack. I like to place mine on their sides as the cool.
    loaf of fresh milled flour sandwich bread made with the Tangzhong method
  • Once the loaves have cooled, you can slice and enjoy. If you slice into them while they are still hot, this can cause them to be crumbly the next day or gummy. So, try to resist cutting them while hot.
    sliced loaf of fresh milled flour bread made with tangzhong method

Video

Notes

Make sure you are using mostly a hard wheat for bread recipes. You can use all hard white wheat if you don't have Kamut (Khorasan,) but I highly recommend using a little Kamut. You can sub hard red in for the hard white, or part of the hard white, but you may need to increase the amount of flour by just a bit if so.
*To store fresh milled flour bread made with the Tangzhong method, it will last a little longer on your counter than bread without using this method. However, we still love to allow the loaf to cool completely, then slice it and place it in a freezer safe container or bag. Freeze for up to 4 months. To thaw, just place however many slices you want on the counter to come to room temperature, usually about an hour or so.