Super Soft Tangzhong Sourdough Sandwich Loaf Recipe

• Mill your wheat berries. You can mill them all together or mill 35g of hard wheat separately for the Tangzhong.
  

MAKE THE TANGZHONG:

• Put your whole milk in a pot or glass bowl and add 35g of the fresh-milled flour into your milk. (I use hard white if I do it separately rather than pulling from the entire recipe's fresh-milled flour).
• You can either heat the Tangzhong mixture on the stove stirring constantly or microwave it in 30 second increments stirring in-between. In the microwave, this usually takes 3 rounds of 30 seconds unless you are doubling then it can take longer. Whether you do the Tangzhong in the microwave of the stove, heat it till it is 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the mixture reaches 150 degrees Fahrenheit, set it aside and cover it loosely.
  

AUTOLYSE:

• In your mixer, add the water, remaining fresh-milled flour, and the flaxseed meal. Mix until all ingredients are wet and you do not see any dry flour. Cover and let both the Tangzhong and mixer ingredients autolyse for 1 hour. This also gives the Tangzhong time to cool down.
  

SET REMAINDER OF INGREDIENTS ASIDE:

• Cube your butter into pieces and set it aside.
• Measure and set aside your salt and honey.
• I usually put my sourdough starter with the butter, salt, and honey so that I remember that I have to add it as well, but I do not measure it until the autolyse period is over.
  

MIX YOUR DOUGH:

• After the 1 hour autolyse period, add your Tangzhong mixture, butter, salt, sourdough starter, and honey to the mixer. Mix everything until it is combined. Allow to knead in your mixer until it is stretchy and has a windowpane when you gently pull it up and apart. This usually takes about 8-9 minutes in my Bosch. You can start watching it around the 5-7 minute mark and go minute by minute. If the dough immediately tears, give it another minute or so. If you are using a Kitchen Aid, this will take considerably longer.
  

BULK FERMENTATION:

• Once your dough reaches windowpane, transfer the dough into a straight sided container like a 6L Cambro. You will want to let the dough rise on the counter until it has doubled in size. I typically mark the starting point with a dry erase or chalk marker as well as my goal line.
  
• Butter the inside of the pan and lid of your Pullman 13 Loaf Pan.
  

SHAPING:

• After the dough has doubled in size, dump the dough onto the countertop gently shaking it and stretching it into a rectangle just slightly narrower than the width of your Pullman 13 pan. Once you have a rectangle, you are going to roll it up tightly pulling the roll back to tighten it up as you go. Once you have it in a long log, you are going to pinch it of to close it up.
  
• Transfer the dough to your Pullman 13 Loaf pan with the seam side down.
  

SECOND RISE:

• Cover your loaf pan with plastic wrap so you can see the rise and keep an eye on it leaving the lid sitting to the side.
  
• Allow the loaf to rise to just about 1" from the top of the pan on the sides. You want to let it rise until when you slide the lid on the pan, it just brushes the center of the loaf. Don't be nervous if the center touches. This will insure that you get perfectly square slices of bread.
  

BAKING:

• When you see that the loaf is getting close to baking time, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the oven is preheated, remove the plastic wrap and slide the lid onto your pan.
  
• Bake the loaf with the lid on for 45-47 minutes till it reaches an internal temperature of 208-210 degrees Fahrenheit. I typically check it around the 45 minute mark and have to bake it for 1-2 minutes more. Your oven may vary.
  
• Be sure the loaf has an internal temperature of 208-210 degrees then remove the lid.
  

COOLING:

• Using hot pads, carefully flip the loaf out onto a cutting board or cooling rack. Allow the loaf to cool completely before slicing.
  
• Once the loaf has cooled completely, slice it. We tend to freeze the bread with smaller freezer bags of 4 slices placed into a larger 2 gallon zip lock bag so that we can pull only a few slices out at a time.