This is still a work in progress for pandemic bread, not for novices.  But this seemed to work well, I've been trying to get the proportions right.  The point is to not have any perishable ingredients, but still have a good dairy flavor and soft texture like from milk and butter.

 

The goal is a light, fine grained texture that's soft, yet sturdy enough for sandwiches (either rolls or loaf bread) or even pizza.  Easy to throw together if I'm feeling sad or overwhelmed.  And then it's not a big commitment of food stores, so if you somehow manage to ruin it, it's not a big waste.

 

Tangzhong is a method to make bread softer and fluffier.  Basically, cook a paste of flour and water in a little saucepan on the stove.

 

Tangzhong

    2 TBS dried whole milk powder

    1/2 c water

    3 TBS Flour

 

Whisk constantly over heat in a little saucepan till it's like pudding.  Set aside.

 

Sift all this together into your mixer bowl

 

    2 1/2 c Flour

    3 TBS dried whole milk powder

    2 TBS butter powder

    1 tsp salt

    2 TBS sugar

    3 tsp yeast

 

Whisk more water into the cooling Tangzhong saucepan till smooth

 

    3/4 c water

 

Dump the saucepan into the flour mixture and stir that around till moistened.  Let rest for 20 mins or so, that makes it easier to knead (even though my mixer does the work).

 

Knead with the dough hook for 10 mins or so, keep an eye on it.

 

It might be kind of goopy still, that's OK.

 

Cover and chill in the fridge overnight

 

What I like about this is it's a smaller recipe, it's not "start with dumping 7 cups of flour into a bowl."  And then the dough seems to mature over a few days.  So the rolls you bake on the first day will be different than the little loaf you bake on the third day.

 

Then tear off what you want to bake (I usually do a couple of little sandwich rolls at a time) over the next few days.

 

Bake at 375, I'm not gonna tell you about the second rise since this isn't for novices.