Soft Green Tea Loaf (超软录茶土 司)

With my kids away to camp this week has really given me ample time to catch up on my to-do list. Besides the usual chores, I was happily soaking myself in some cookbooks, I manage to browse many food websites which I haven't done for awhile. :P Although I still didn't have the leisure to bake up a storm in the kitchen, but at least I still can do simple bakes like the bread I'm posting today. This recipe was actually from a Taiwan website and it uses both Tang Zhong(汤种) and pre-fermentation method, much like the wheat bread loaf I posted last month. But this recipe requires a much longer fermentation time in the fridge which will result is the most springy and delicious soft bread ever. So try to plan ahead when you want to bake this bread, makes it a whole lot easier.

I had planned to bake this bread for my parents. Firstly they are big fans of the breads I baked and secondly they made some meat dumplings (my favorite) for me! I know...bread for dumplings, pretty good deal right, lol! Plus, this is such a delicious recipe, I have actually baked this twice already! Just prep the starter dough and you can bake it anytime within the 2-3 days. ;)

If you prefer to have plain milk loaf, just omit the green tea powder. I made slight modifications to the original recipe. Here is my version:

Ingredients for Green Tea Loaf (makes 2 of 9X5X4 loaves)

Set A：(Tang Zhong) 湯種麵團： (note that you can double this and freeze half to bake next time)

1 tbsp green tea powder

35ml fresh milk

15g unsalted butter

2g sugar

1/8tsp salt

35g bread flour

• Mix everything together in a mixing bowl and then place in air tight container. Chill in the fridge for 16 hours. (if you freeze this, remember to defrost it room temp before use)

Set B : (Pre-fermentation dough)

350g bread flour
All of the pre dough from Set A
2g instant dry active yeast
215ml fresh milk
10g caster sugar

• In a large mixing bowl, add in everything in and mix well till it comes together to form a dough. Place in an air tight zip lock bag and leave it at room temperature for an hour.
• After the hour, chill this pre dough in the fridge for 36 hours. (I actually let it to chill for 48 hours)
• 

Set C:
150g bread flour
1.5 tbsp green tea powder
All of Set B pre dough, torn into smaller pieces
5g salt
4g instant active dry yeast
60g caster sugar
90ml fresh milk
70g whole beaten egg

Set D:

50g unsalted butter

• In a large clean mixing bowl, tear up the pre dough and add in the rest of the ingredients in Set D.
• Knead till the dough doesn't stick to the bottom of the mixing bowl. Add in the butter and continue to knead till elastic stage. In other words it reaches the window stage and when you pull a portion of the dough, it doesn't tear so easily.
• 
• At this point, cover and let dough proof for at least 1.5hours or until it's double in size.
• Then punch out the air and divide the dough into 2 equal portions. My yield about 550g per portion.
• Pre heat the oven 175C.
• Shape and place in your loaf tins and let proof until it fills up to 80% of the tin. Note that you can add in sweetened red beads if you like the matcha and red beans combo. Just place some on the rolled out dough and roll it up like a swiss roll and place in the tin to proof.
• Bake in the oven for 28-30 minutes. Cover the bread top with aluminum foil if it is browning too fast.
• Once baked, remove from oven and let cool in tin for 5 minutes before removing it. Cool the loaves completely before slicing. You can freeze the bread after the 3rd day and steam it when you want to consume. It'll be just as soft and springy! Yummy!

All the waiting and baking to find excellent bread recipes did pay off for me. Now my girls prefer to eat home baked breads versus those sweet boxed cereals or even off the shelf breads. So I do make it a point to bake bread for them at least once a week. ;)

The faint green tea scent actually accentuates when I ate it plain with butter, very nice. ;) If you like Matcha flavor, do add it in. I have chose not to add too much fearing that my girls doesn't like the tea scent. But feel free to up it to 2 -3 tbsp in Set D if you want a stronger Matcha flavor.

I am very happy with this recipe and planning to try out with other flavors like passion fruit and Earl grey. ;) If you want to try this out, prep the dough 2 days ahead. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I find that pre fermented dough that has been chilled up to at least 1 day reaches window stage much easily rather then those direct or Tang Zhong method. ;) I guess I just have to bake more to find out!

okay all, have a great day!