100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Hokkaido Milk Bread 2.0

Sorry about yet another Hokkaido milk bread, I’m still trying to improve this recipe. To do so I have increased both the tangzhong and the hydration of the dough to increase the moisture in the crumb. I’ve finally created a spreadsheet to make documenting these changes easier.

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Sweet Stiff Levain

• 47g whole wheat flour   

• 21g water   

• 16g brown sugar   

• 16g sourdough starter ~100% hydration   

(1:1.31:2.9:1)  starter:water:flour:sugar

Tangzhong classic 1:5 ratio increased to 5% of total flour

• 115 g milk  

• 23 g Whole Wheat flour    

Dough Dry Ingredients 

• 8.11 g vital wheat gluten.   

      · 379 g whole wheat      

• 27 g sugar 

• 6.38 g salt  1.47%.  

Dough Wet Ingredients 

• 211 g milk         (Consider holding back some milk say 10 - 20g) I held back 10 g but then added 16 g so total 227g of milk was added

• 56 g egg beaten (about 1 lg egg)

• 60 g butter melted

Pre-bake Wash 

• 1 egg beaten

• 1 Tbsp milk

Post-bake Wash 

• 1 Tbsp butter (optional)

Total flour  465.1 g

Total dough      970 g

Liquid 29 + 210*.87(182.7) + 56*.75(40.3) + 60*.16(9.6) = 261.6

Hydration without tangzhong 56.5%

Hydration with tangzhong 376.6/463.1 = 81%

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature. 

Dough

 In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk, egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into smaller pieces.  Next add the flour and vital wheat gluten.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  Next drizzle in the melted butter a little at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before drizzling in more butter.  Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium.  Mix at medium until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins.  You can consider resting the dough intermittently during this time  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2.5-3.5 hours at 82ºF.  There may be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly flour the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into four. I like to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using a rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Letterfold again from the sides so you have a long narrow dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll flatter but keeping the dough relatively narrow.  The reason to do this extra letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when placed in the pan will not touch the sides of the pan.  This allows the swirled ends to rise during final proof, this is only done for appearance sake and is not necessary.  Next roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for 6-8 hours, longer time if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF. You can brush the top of the loaf with butter if you wish at this point while the bread is still hot to keep the top crust soft.

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