FENUGREEK SHOKUPAN

FL0003: SKY’S THE LIMIT
March 5, 2023

Otway Bakery’s fenugreek-maple bread meets ACQ’s shokupan in a roundabout way.

If we’re being honest—and we’re not sure we are—this is a pretty straight adaptation of the King Arthur recipe for Japanese Milk Bread. But instead of bread flour we use Ground Up Grain’s pizza flour (whose added malt may or may not contribute flavors described by the maltsters as “Grape Nuts” or “birthday cake”). Instead of milk powder we use buttermilk powder. When we say fenugreek, does that mean leaves or seeds? Depends. And sometimes we just use regular flour.

Good luck!

Goal: Some kind of cloud
Yield: 1 loaf

YOU WILL NEED

FOR THE TANGZHONG

  • 1/2 cup whole milk

  • 2 tablespoons bread flour

  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup

FOR THE DOUGH

  • 3 cups (360g) bread flour

  • 2 tablespoons (25g) buttermilk powder

  • 1 tablespoon fenugreek, ground fine as dust

  • 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar

  • 1 teaspoon (6g) fine sea salt

  • 1 tablespoon (9g) instant yeast

  • 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

  • 1/2 cup (113g) whole milk

  • 1 large egg

TO BAKE THE BREAD

  • 1 egg beaten with a bit of milk to make an egg wash, or just egg, or just milk

 

WHAT TO DO

Make the tangzhong: In a small saucepan, whisk 1/2 cup whole milk and 2 tablespoons bread flour until smooth. Place on low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until it thickens to a paste (this will happen suddenly as the starches hydrate). Remove from heat and whisk in 1 tablespoon maple syrup. Set aside and let cool to room temperature while weighing and measuring the dough ingredients. (Transferring it out of the hot pan will speed this up.)

Make the dough: Weigh or measure the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. To mix the wet ingredients, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter and temper in the 1/2 cup of milk, which will help bring it back down to room temp. Whisk in the egg with a fork. Add the wet mix to the dries in the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed with the dough hook until you notice a phase change and an elastic dough comes together, about 10-15 minutes.

Lightly grease a bowl, form the dough into a ball, and let it rest in the covered bowl until it looks inflated (but not necessarily doubled), 60 to 90 minutes.

Deflate the dough with a soft punch and divide it into four equal pieces, each one about 195-200 grams.

Roll out each piece of dough into a rectangle the size of a sheet of paper. Fold the short sides inward in thirds, like a letter. Check to make sure that the short side of the dough is as wide as the pan (you want it to be flush), then roll up each piece into a log and place them seam side down in the loaf pan.

Lightly oil the surface of the dough and let it rest (covered loosely) until it rises 1/2 inch above the top of the pan, about 1 hour. When it’s close to its final form, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake the bread: Brush the loaf with milk or a beaten egg and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden (using egg wash will give a deeper color than milk alone). The center should register 190-195 degrees F on a probe thermometer.

Let the loaf cool in the pan until touchable, then turn it out on to a rack to cool completely. This bread often tastes better the day after baking and will stay fresh for several days, thanks to the tangzhong.