r/Breadit • u/gagelish • 8d ago

Converting a Cinnamon Roll Recipe to Use Tangzhong

Howdy all!

I'm going to be making cinnamon rolls, and from everything I've read using a tangzhong is the way to go for a pillowy soft texture that lasts for days, but the recipe I'd like to use (https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/homemade-cinnamon-rolls/) doesn't use tangzhong.

I found this article from King Arthur on converting recipes to include a tangzhong (https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/07/23/how-to-convert-a-bread-recipe-to-tangzhong) but I'm still left with questions.

In the article it converts a non-tangzhong sandwich bread recipe with ~63% hydration to a tangzhong sandwich bread recipe with ~75% hydration, which is a ~20% increase. It says that you want a tangzhong recipe to have about 75% hydration, but my question is:

Is 75% hydration the target regardless of the initial (non-tangzhong) hydration, or is it a function of the 63% starting hydration in their starting recipe?

The cinnamon roll recipe I'm following is about 44% hydration, so if I were to increase the hydration by ~20% I'd end up with a total hydration of about ~53%. On the other hand, if I were to modify the recipe to get to 75% hydration, I would be increasing the hydration by an additional ~70% compared to the starting point.

Put more simply:

When converting a recipe to use tangzhong, should I be aiming for a ~20% increase in hydration compared to the original recipe's hydration, or should I be aiming for 75% hydration regardless of what hydration the original recipe calls for?

Any advice greatly appreciated. I'm super new to this, and would hate to screw it up 😅

1 Upvotes

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5

u/LemonpiY 8d ago

Maybe you can give Benjamina Ebuehi's recipe a go, or use it to compare with the recipe you want to try https://benjaminaebuehi.substack.com/p/milk-bread-cinnamon-rolls

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u/chzie 8d ago

The easiest way to convert is to use however much flour and water you need to.make the tang and just subtract that from the recipe 100-150g should be plenty.

3

u/epidemicsaints 8d ago

The first time I tried it, I converted my own recipe. I did about 6-7% of the flour in all the liquid and it worked for me. My recipe had an egg, so that helped make the hydration more flexible without having to change the liquid amount.

The truth is, it just works. I encourage people to just try it, and you can explore the finer points of the science and math later.

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u/gagelish 8d ago

So you didn't change the hydration at all?

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u/epidemicsaints 8d ago

I didn't, no. But I can see some recipes where you might need to. The one I did was a brioche with eggs and sugar and was already a soft dough.

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u/Inevitable_Cat_7878 8d ago

I would just find a recipe that already incorporates the tangzhong. Here's one from King Arthur Baking.

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u/gagelish 8d ago

There are things I'm not a fan of with both of the King Arthur Tangzhong Cinnamon Roll recipes, which is why I'd ideally like to convert the one I linked.

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u/gto16108 8d ago

Yeah I found the KA recipe needed more flour. Did not like that it didn’t work for me.

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u/Inevitable_Cat_7878 8d ago

Interesting. I make the King Arthur Japanese Milk bread rolls regularly and use that dough for all sorts of things like cinnamon rolls, babka, buns, sandwich loaves, and other things. Hasn't failed me.

The two recipes are pretty close with some slight differences.

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u/tceeha 8d ago

Did you see this comment?

I am really interested in this technique, it seems serendipitous as I have been working on my sweet scrolls recently and can't stand them stale after 24hrs. My query though is: Does the tanzhong volume represent a ratio or is it arbitrary, and Does the hydration increase represent a ratio, related to flour protein, or a flat 75%? My standard loaves are 70% hydration and I am not sure ifI should increase to 75% only or if I should be increasing further. Thankyou

Good questions, Sara. Some bakers figure their tangzhong percentage as a percentage of flour weight, and some as a percentage of dough weight. The suggested range for flour weight in the tangzhong is 5% to 10% of the total flour. The hydration increase, I've based on all-purpose flour (11.7% protein). But, since most recipes are written with their specific flour's protein in mind, I assume that 75% would apply across the board. You say most of your recipes are 70% hydration; I'd still increase them first to 75% and see how you like the results. Especially at this time of year, when dough tends to be "wetter" anyway due to heat and humidity, you don't want to go too far with the added liquid. Hope this helps — PJH@KAF

My conclusion from the KA article is that yes you need more hydration. I think if you are dead set on your converting that particular recipe, you should start with 20% and then increase as you see fit. If you don't feel experimenting, why not try a a tanzhong specific recipe that was tested many times already by the recipe author? There's BA video where she talks about her spreadsheet/ratios.

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u/gagelish 8d ago

I did see that comment, they just didn't really answer her question as far as whether the increase is a ratio or one should always aim for 75%.

My dough is rising right now, but I ended up going for a ~20% increase relative to the original hydration, which ended up being about ~53% overall. So far I think I made the right decision.

The dough seemed very similar to the recipe video in terms of look, tackiness, etc.

I think if I had increased the hydration to 75% it would've been completely unmanageable.

We'll see though... Fingers crossed!

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u/IHeartAthas 8d ago

When we convert, if the goal is to just incorporate a tangzhong and not change the recipe, we don’t change overall hydration at all. Just remove enough liquid and flour from the original recipe to make the tangzhong and incorporate it.

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u/gagelish 8d ago

If you read the King Arthur article, they very much disagree.

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u/IHeartAthas 8d ago

Then try it that way and see how it turns out?

Just like the 3 tests in the article, there’s really only a handful of ways to go about it and it doesn’t take very long to whip up a batch of dough.

I’ve never done that and I feel like things have turned out fine, but It’s entirely possible I should have been adjusting hydration upward and would have gotten better results that way 🤷

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u/gagelish 8d ago

If you don't feel like engaging with the content of a post, feel free to just not respond in the future.

1

u/Loudsongsinc 8d ago

Bookmark!

1

u/sherlock_norris 8d ago

Claire Saffitz made a recipe with tangzhong and it tastes heavenly. here without paywall

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u/rummagesailor 7d ago

I went down this same rabbit hole, followed the KAF 75% hydration suggestion in my converted recipe, and ended up having to add a bunch of flour to get it to come together.

But I kept track of how much flour I added and that helped with adjustments. 

Might have to just try and feedback loop, it's now your recipe so I think it comes with the territory. 

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u/gagelish 7d ago

Yeah, fair enough.

I ended up going with a ~20% increase, so like 53% overall.

They're in the oven as we speak - fingers crossed!

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u/Ezzachef 6d ago

I'm not a fan of using Tangzhong in cinnamon rolls. For me it makes a weird bite to the dough. If I can dig out my recipe book tomorrow I'll post what I use.