Chocolate Loaf with Tangzhong by Vanessa Tay

Chocolate Loaf with Tangzhong

Ingredients:
(makes 2 loaf of bread, 17cm x 8cm x 6cm)
*I made into a 750g loaf in breadmaker
  350g Bread Flour
10g Milk Powder
1.5 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
70g Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
7g Instant Dry Yeast
1 Egg(60g), lightly beaten
120g TangZhong (refer to the tangzhong recipe below)
125ml Fresh Milk
30g Unsalted Butter, soften

Topping:- 
100g Mini Chocolate Chips
*I omitted the topping

Method:

Add the wet ingredients into the BM (breadmaker) pan, i.e. milk, egg yolk and tangzhong. Follow by the dry ingredients. I do by the following sequence: bread flour, caster sugar (at the sides of the pan), milk powder. Dig a small well in the middle of the flour heap and pour in the yeast, making sure the yeast is not wet.

Start the BM (I am using Kenwood BM450). Select weight = 750g, crust = medium, function 1.

When the mixture is being combined (around 2-5 minutes later), add in the salt and the softened butter. Do not switch off the BM. Around 20 minutes later, when the BM beeped (not sure if other BM has the same function), you may add in the ham, cheese and the mixed herbs. Basically, add these in when the dough is being formed in the BM.

You may omit this step. I like to remove the kneader/paddle when the kneading completes, before the first proofing start. This should be at around 2.48 timing on the BM (Kenwood BM). Use a chopstick to gently lift the dough and take out the kneader.

Let BM continues and completes the whole baking process. If you like to add in the chocolate chips topping, you may do so after the second proof, before the baking starts.
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Tangzhong Preparation
Tangzhong, or the water-roux method(烫种法) is the best method if you are looking for some way to retain the soft and fluffy texture for homemade bread which can stay fresh for up to five days. Thus by incorporating tangzhong into your bread it will give bring a soft and fluffy bread that has fine crumbs and springy texture.

For your information, the flour-to-water ratio for tangzhong is always 1 (bread flour) : 5 (water). For instance from the recipe shown below you can make a batch of approximately 150g tangzhong.

Ingredients: (able to make 2 loaf of bread with 350g bread flour)
25g Bread Flour
125ml Water(could be replaced by milk, juice or 50/50 water and milk)

Method:-

1. Mix flour and water in a small saucepan until without any lumps.

2. Cook over medium low heat, stirring consistently with a egg whisk or wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from burning while cooking.

3. The mixture will thicken up (takes about less than 2 minutes) while cooking, so once you see “lines” appear in the mixture or it starts to form a dough. It is done.

4. Transfer the cooked dough into a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap sticking onto the surface to prevent it from drying up.

5. Cool it completely before use. (I have tried using it while lukewarm and it works well too)
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Source: http://ellenaguan.blogspot.sg/2011/08/5-recipes-assorted-homemade-bread-using.html