Sausage Soft Bun

Presenting my Sausage Soft Bun!

Ever since I made the Cheese Bread Sticks using the Tangzhong method, I've been very keen to try baking it again as I thought I didn't go through the steps properly enough. In fact, I tried searching for the original recipe book, 65度C汤種面包 (65 degree celsius Tang Zhong Bread) but to my dismay, both Kinukuniya and Popular indicated that this book is out of stock; even tried Taiwan online bookstores books.com.tw and eslite.com.tw and they even indicated out of print! I gave up hope of finding the book and a few weeks later when I went back to Kinukuniya again, I found a copy on the shelf! I grabbed it immediately, lucky me!!!

Having the book helps alot as there are pictorial description of the Tangzhong method with many useful tips like how to check for right elasticity of the dough and so on.

So over the past weekend, I proceed with sausage soft bun as my first test recipe from the book. As I didn't want to bake too much bread (recipe yields 9 regular size sausage bun), I halved the tangzhong recipe as well as the sausage soft bun recipe.

Basically my dough weighed about 275g after first proofing, so I divided the dough into 7 pieces of 38-39g each. I also decided to make a spiral design of the bread, instead of a flower design like the recipe book.

My sausage bread turned out slightly smaller than regular size, about 5-6cm long just the size I like :) Taste-wise, the bun tasted great, especially with the saltish Arabaki (coarse ground sausage made with pork) which was juicy and crunchy. In terms of texture of the bun, it was soft and fluffy when hot from oven, but turned a bit hard the following day. I had to pop the buns into an oven for a few minutes for the bread to become slightly softer.

Part I - Tangzhong (half recipe)
Ingredients

• 50g bread flour
• 250g water

Method

1. Mix the bread flour and water together and stir well.
2. Bring the mixure to low heat, stirring constantly.
3. Heat till the mixture reaches 65 degree celsius or when lines start to appear while stirring the mixture.
4. Cover the mixture with clingwrap and let cool completely before use. *Press the clingwrap all the way to the surface of the mixture.

Part II - Sausage soft bun (half recipe, yields 7 pieces)
Ingredients

• 97.5g bread flour
• 45g plain flour
• 3g instant dry yeast
• 3g salt
• 15g caster sugar
• 5g milk powder
• 30g egg
• 32.5g water
• 37.5g Tangzhong
• 22.5g unsalted butter, slightly soften

Method

1. Mix bread flour, plain flour, instant dry yeast, salt, caster sugar and milk powder into a mixing bowl and mix well.
2. Add egg, water and tangzhong and start kneading the dough using the dough hook.
3. Once the dough gluten starts to form, add the unsalted butter bit by bit into the dough, and continue kneading the dough on high speed till dough starts to leave the bowl.
4. Test the dough using "Window Pane" method. Take a small piece of dough and stretch the dough into a rectangular size thinly and becomes translucent. A small hole will start to tear and the dough is ready if the hole shows jagged edges.
5. Place the ball of dough into a slightly oiled bowl and cover with clingwrap. Proof for about 40 mins at room temperature (about 28 degree celsius, 75% humidity).
6. After 40 mins, poke a well-floured finger into the centre of the dough, if the hole remains, the dough is ready.
7. Cut and divide the dough into 7 pieces, each piece should weigh about 38-39g. Roll each dough into balls with edges neatly tuck in at the bottom. Proof for 10 mins.
8. Once the proofing is done, roll each dough into a long rope and wrap the rope around a sausage. Make sure the sausage is dried using a kitchen towel.
9. Proof for about 40 mins at slightly higher temperature (38 degree celsius, 85% humidity). I switched on the light in my oven and proofed the buns inside the oven.
10. After 40 mins, brush the surface of the sausage dough with some egg wash and bake in oven for 15 minutes at 180 degree celsius.
11. Best served warm!

Here's the Arabaki sausage that I bought from Cold Storage, the sausages are smaller than the regular size ones, probably slightly bigger than my fingers about 5-6cm long only. But both hubby and I love the taste and texture which was juicy and crunchy and we thought it was perfect with the soft bun.
In conclusion, I still think that Chef Valerie's Japanese Yukone method (of mixing boiling water with bread flour and leaving the mixture in the fridge for 24hrs) yields a softer and fluffier bread texture which remains so the following day; the only downside is it has to be prepared at least 24hrs in advance, unlike the 65 degree celsius Tangzhong method which could be prepared just before making the bread. Well, I guess if I were in a hurry or didn't plan my bakes in advance, I would fall back on this tangzhong method, but if possible stick with the Yukone method.

That said, I'm still a noob when it comes to bread making, so will probably test a few other recipes from my new book when I have the time. Till then!