Vegan babka with tangzhong (wallpaper paste)
Servings
12
Prep Time
3 hours
Ingredients
For the tangzhong (wallpaper paste)
25g strong white flour
160g plant milk (can also use water)
40g oil (neutral - rapeseed/ canola, grape seed, sunflower etc)
Vanilla - 2 pods, or 2 tsp of paste, or 1 tsp of powder
Pinch of turmeric - optional
For the wet mix
160g water - warm
40g plant milk - warm
6g of dried yeast (or 12g of fresh yeast)
For the dry mix
500g strong white flour
30g sugar
8g salt (table salt/ fine salt)
Option - Cinnamon filling
30g cinnamon (I prefer true Ceylon cinnamon - if you are using cassia, which is a redder alternative and often also marked cinnamon, you may reduce the filling by about 1/3)
250g softened vegan margarine block / Tomor (you can also use oil - see the method)
375g sugar
Option - tahini filling
Tahini (I don't pay attention to how much)
Sugar (I don't pay attention here either)
Syrup
150g water
200g sugar
Vanilla - 1 pods, or 1 tsp of paste, or 1/2 tsp of powder
Instructions
1. Make the tangzhong
- 25g flour
- add 160g cold plant milk (I find this works for me though typically it would be a 5:1 ratio)
- heat on the stove and stir until it forms a wallpaper paste (basically, you're causing the starch to break up)
- as it cools, stir in 40g of oil and the 2 pods worth of vanilla; you could also add a pinch of turmeric to give it the eggy colour (but if you add too much it picks up turmeric flavour)
2. While the tangzhong cools, make the wet mixture with 160g of warm water and 40g of warm plant milk and stir in the yeast until it starts to look active (if you're using quick yeast you don't need to wait, but there's no harm in doing so).
3. In another bowl
- 200g warm water
- 6g of dried yeast (or 3g fresh)
- 30g of sugar
- stir and dissolve the yeast
4. Add the flour/salt to the yeast/sugar/water and mix. Then add the tangzhong and mix. [Don't add the tzangzhong when too hot to touch; if it's still v warm but not hot then you may want to use slightly cooler water so it evens out. In practice I sometimes just add the tzangzhong to the yeast/sugar/water and then add the flour/salt to the entire wet mix and it's all come out fine]
5. Mix dough as you'd normally do it.
Or if you're interested, instead of hard kneading, I was taught to do it gently. Leave for 10 mins with a cover. Then stretch and fold 12 times "round the clock", leave another 10 mins. Repeat again. Repeat again. Repeat again. (So you have the original mix, then four stretches-and-fold round the clock). Leave for an hour. Divide, rest for to ten mins shape. Proof again for an hour and bake.