What’s a Tangzhong, and why bother? · Crust & Crumb Academy

⭐

🔥

What’s a Tangzhong, and why bother?

That little pot of paste cooking on the stove is the secret to cinnamon rolls that stay soft for days, not hours.

Here’s what’s happening. When you cook flour and milk together, the starches gelatinize and grab onto water. That trapped moisture stays locked in your dough through the bake, so your rolls come out tender and pillowy and they hold that softness long after they’ve cooled.

In this case, for this recipe, I’m using 125 mL of whole milk and 25 g of bread flour. I then heat it gently, stir constant until it thickens into a paste. Two, three minutes and you’re done. Cool it all the way before it goes near your dough, and you’re set.

This is the technique we are using in the brown butter peach cobbler cinnamon rolls we’re baking for the bake-along this week, streusel topping and all. Simple move, big payoff.

Perfection is not required. Progress is.

~ Henry ⭐🔥

3:18

16 comments

What’s a Tangzhong, and why bother?