This is my 2nd time trying the Yudane (Utane) method and I've previously tried the famous Tang Zhong (TZ) method for a fruit loaf and I would say it yields pretty similar results, just that the yudane method does not require 'cooking' over the stove and hence I stuck to it. Both methods help to gelatinise the starch in the flour, giving it a higher moisture content which yields a softer and more elastic bread loaf.
While the TZ method calls for a 5 - 10% of the total flour content in the recipe with 5 parts of water and then cooking the mixture over small flame to hit 65 degree Celsius, the yudane method I've used calls for about 20% of the total flour content with equal ratio of boiling water.
Before I elaborate on how to execute the yudane method, let's first get started on the original bread recipe given in the Mayer recipe book.
250g bread flour
180ml boiling water
(to brew a flavoured tea of your choice)
20g salted butter
3g sea salt
30g sugar
3g active dry yeast
5 tablespoons chia seeds
To "yudanish" the bread recipe, simply use about 20% of the flour content to make the yudane dough with equal parts of boiling water.
So for an original recipe with 250g of flour, my yudane dough will make up of 50g of bread flour with 50ml of boiling water. Just add the boiling water to the flour and stir until it comes together to form a wet, sticky dough and cool it down before proceeding with the rest of the baking procedure.
So with the yudane dough done, the flour and water content of my remaining recipe will be reduced to 200g bread flour to 130ml of brewed tea. However, being not very trusting of the Mayer's recipe book, I've decided to give the recipe and its listed procedure a little tweak to get this particular recipe I've done for this Red Tea Chia Seed Loaf.
Yudane Dough: 50g Bread Flour + 50g Water (chilled in fridge)
180g bread flour
20g top flour
130ml red tea (chilled in fridge)
20g unsalted butter
2.5g table salt
30g sugar
3g instant yeast
5 tablespoons chia seeds (grounded)
Add in cold tea, yudane dough, sugar, salt, and flour mixture into the bread pan, followed by instant yeast. Fit the bread pan into the bread machine and start the Mix Dough function, which will mix and knead the dough for 25 minutes straight. After 25 minutes, start the Soft Bread function (500g) and add in the grounded chia seeds and butter to mix.
At the pattern sounding beep (1:30), remove the kneading paddle and let the BM finish its job.
TADAA~
Fragrant and soft Red Tea Chia Seed Bread! There's hardly any tea flavour in the bread but somehow there's a nice fragrance from the bread loaf that's a lot more distinct as compared to my past bakes. It might be because the semi-grounded chia seeds got roasted and gave our the fragrance, or it might really be the red tea that contributed to the nice smell. So try it and let me know how it went for you!
Till then,
Mia Foo
