Tender, Fluffy, Bread with a Roux

You can use a flour and water roux in bread baking to make a more tender, fluffy loaf. The starch in the roux also traps water and retains it in the finished bread causing it to stay fresh and moist longer. Some people say their bread lasts up to a week.

Just a flour and water roux, no oil is added.

It’s a technique developed in China called “Tang Zhong” Method Bread.

The flour and water (5 to 1 ratio water to flour by wt) is heated to 65 C / 150 F to form the smooth roux. The roux can be heated in a saucepan or in the microwave.

2 1/2 Tbs of flour to about 1/2 cup of water is enough roux for a 1 lb to 1 1/2 lb loaf.

The cooled roux is just added to the dough mixture with the other wet ingredients, or to the bread machine basket.

You will probably have to adjust the other flour up or the other wet ingredients down to compensate for the extra moisture from the roux.

This technique can be used on any type of yeast bread recipe. Kneading and bake times are unchanged for any recipe.

I’ve used this method with all-purpose flour and bread flour. I haven’t tried whole-wheat flour, but there are whole-wheat recipes that can be found with a Google search.

Google “Tang Zhong Bread” for more info on the subject.

Making Tang Zhong Water Roux in a microwave.

Here’s a detailed account how I created the water roux in a microwave.

The goal is to create a water roux by heating water and flour mixture to 65C / 150F. This is usually done in a saucepan.

This is enough water roux for a 1 lb to 1 1/2 lb loaf.

Add 1/2 cup of room temperature water to 1-cup pyrex measuring cup.

Add 2 1/2 Tablespoons of flour.

Whisk well with small whisk until all of flour is blended into the water.

Microwave 20 seconds in an 1150 watt microwave at 100% power (placed on microwave turntable, halfway between center and edge). Whisk well and take temp (I used a Thermapen). Temp 120 F.

Microwave 10 seconds at 100% power, whisk well and take temp. 143 F.

Microwave 6 seconds at 100% power, whisk well and take temp. 152 F.

No lumps seen, no frothing seen. Nice and thick. Took less than 45 seconds.

Scrape with rubber spatula into bread machine.

Very detailed and comprehensive guide, this is a process to create a delicious dish.