🌾 Sourdough Tangzhong Bread (Soft & Fluffy)

 🧾 Ingredients

Tangzhong (make first)

• 20g bread flour
• 100g water

Dough

• 300g bread flour
• 100g active sourdough starter (bubbly, recently fed)
• 120g milk (or water if you prefer)
• 30g sugar (optional, but helps softness)
• 6g salt
• 30g butter or oil (softened)
• All of the tangzhong

⸻

🍳 Step 1: Make Tangzhong

1. In a small pan, mix flour + water until no lumps.
2. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly.
3. It thickens into a paste (like mashed potato consistency).
4. Once you see lines when stirring, remove from heat.
5. Let it cool completely.

✨ Tip: You can make this ahead and chill it.

⸻

🥣 Step 2: Mix Dough

1. In a bowl, combine:
• Bread flour
• Milk
• Tangzhong
• Sourdough starter
2. Mix until a rough dough forms.
3. Cover and rest 30 minutes (this is your autolyse).

⸻

🧂 Step 3: Add Remaining Ingredients

1. Add:
• Sugar
• Salt
• Butter/oil
2. Knead until smooth and elastic:
• By hand: ~10–15 mins
• Mixer: ~8–10 mins

You’re aiming for a soft, slightly tacky dough, not sticky chaos.

⸻

🕰️ Step 4: Bulk Fermentation

1. Cover and let rise at room temp (around Singapore weather = fast lane 🚀).
2. Duration: 3–5 hours, depending on your starter strength.
3. Do stretch & folds every 30–45 mins for the first 2 hours.

Signs it’s ready:

• Dough has risen ~50–70%
• Feels airy and jiggly

⸻

🔄 Step 5: Shape

1. Lightly flour surface.
2. Gently deflate dough.
3. Shape into:
• Sandwich loaf (roll it up) OR
• Round boule
4. Place into loaf tin or banneton.

⸻

❄️ Step 6: Final Proof

Option A (same day):

• Proof 2–3 hours at room temp

Option B (better flavor):

• Fridge overnight (8–12 hours)

⸻

🔥 Step 7: Bake

For loaf tin:

• Bake at 180°C for 30–35 mins

For boule:

• Preheat oven to 230°C
• Bake:
• 20 mins covered (with lid/foil)
• 20 mins uncovered at 200°C

⸻

🧊 Step 8: Cool (Important!)

Let it cool at least 1 hour before slicing.

Cut too early = gummy interior (the bread equivalent of undercooked cake).

⸻

🌟 What to Expect

• Super soft crumb (almost like milk bread)
• Light sourdough tang
• Stays fresh longer thanks to tangzhong

Sourdough Biscuits

Ingredients

200g sourdough discard

a pinch of salt

2 tbsp melted butter

seasonings

optional toppings: chilli flakes, garlic powder, sesame seeds etc.

Directions

• melt butter and cool to room temperature
• pre-heat oven to 170°C
• mix discard, melted butter and salt till well combined (I added garlic powder and chilli flakes)
• prepare tray with baking paper
• spread the discard mixture as thin as possible to a form a rectangular shape
• sprinkle sesame
• bake for 10min
• remove the tray from oven and using a pizza rolling cutter or sharp knife, cut the biscuits to desired size
• bake for another 15-20min till crispy
• let it cool in the tray 

Foodnote: Saw this recipe online and I tried using sourdough discards and just eyeball the measurements. Turns out very good. Will definitely keep making this biscuits so there is no wastage when making sourdough bread.

Sourdough Bread 2025

IMPORTANT: Prepare a batch of sourdough starter from matured starter to keep in the fridge before preparing the set for baking

Starter Ratio 1 : 5 : 4

10g mature starter

50g bread flour

40g cold drinkable water (distill, tap or bottled)

Directions

• remove starter from fridge and allow starter to grow till it's peak
• feed repeatedly till starter can triple in height
• use immediately

NOTE: microbial activity is best between 24-28°C. Keep starter at this temperate for optimal growth. Eg. starter in cooler bag with ice pack. Do not place starter in the fridge during this process.

Sourdough Recipe

280g bread flour  

35g bread or wholemeal flour

220g water

63g starter at it's peak

6.3g salt

= 604g dough weight, 28°C desired temperature

Directions

• Preparation: have a large bowl with water for wetting finger and cleaning hand
• Autolyse: in a large mixing bowl add flour and water. Use dough whisk and stir till no lump or dry flour left. Use hand to squish when it is difficult to use whisk. Can also use mixer at lowest speed till flour is fully hydrated
• wet a scraper and scrape the sides clean... rest for 20-60min
• Mixing: add and smear starter at peak into bowl and sprinkle salt. Dimple and squeeze dough till salt is fully dissolved
• scrape sides with wet scraper and rest for 30min
• pinch some dough in a measuring cup to gauge how much dough rises before resting
• Slap & Fold: lightly wet working surface, loosen dough from sides and overturn the bowl. With moist hand, pick up top and bottom of the dough, rotate, slap on the counter and fold over to form layers. Repeat till dough is tight and smooth. Round the dough
• if double portion, split the dough into 2 here... do slap and fold till dough is tight, round and rest
• spray container lightly with oil and place dough in to rest for 30min
• Laminate or Dimple Fold: to laminate, drop dough on lightly wet work surface. Stretch starting from the centre and a thin rectangular shape is formed. Add inclusions here if any. Fold in third and form a round dough. For dimple fold, work in the bowl itself. Sprinkle inclusions on the dough. Dimple the inclusions so that it will stick to the dough. Pick top part of dough and fold dough to a third. Fold bottom to cover the dough. Repeat to right and left side. Round the dough and rest for 30min
• Bench/Coil Fold: transfer dough on lightly wet surface. Stretch into thirds top, bottom, left and right till a tight dough is formed. Another option is to stretch the dough and roll from front to back and roll again from left to right. Form a round dough and place in a tall container with markings.
• Bench rest: allow dough to rest and ferment till 50% growth
• Final Shaping: lightly dust work surface with flour evenly. Dust hand and scraper as well. Remove dough to fall onto the dusted surface. Using scraper, loosen edges and form a square. Stretch each corner and stick to the middle. Lift 2 sides to form a hotdog shape. Overlap and pinch the dough. Then stretch, tuck and roll forward to create surface tension. Tuck the edges to the bottom. Squeeze using the scraper to create more tension. Tuck and pinch the open top and bottom dough and seal it.
• Overnight Cold Retard: transfer to a banetton and leave in fridge (4°C) for 8-24hrs. Leave the banetton uncovered.
• Score and Bake: pre-heat oven at 250°C for 40min. (for better scoring, leave the dough in the freezer for 40-60min). Bake for 20min covered
• remove from dutch oven and place on oven tray... bake for another 20min at 230°C till crust is deep dark brown.

Foodnote: Sign up for basic sourdough bread course from Bespoke Bread. Learn some new interesting tips and skill. So I summed up what I learn here and also my first trial bake on 13 Sep. Did some mistake when I left the dough in the fridge at the cooler part haizz... it still turns up ok. The pizza cheese + chilli flakes is actually good. The mixed nuts may be too heavy and underproofed. Below is the summary of schedule and I started Day 1 on a Wednesday.

SUMMARY

Day 1

- 10pm take starter out from fridge

Day 2

- 5am feed 1:5:4
- leave at counter top (24-28°C)
- let it triple size
- approx 10pm feed again 1:5:4 (double portion for 2 loaves)

Day 3

- 9am mix flour+water to autolyse
- 10am add starter + salt, dimple and mix till no more salt granule 

- keep the balance starter in a clean container in the fridge
- 10:30am slap & fold 
- take some dough into container to check rise
- split dough into 2 portions, slap & fold into separate lightly oiled bowls
- 11:15am laminate with inclusion
- 12:15am bench or coil fold
- rest till rise 50%

- approx 5pm shape dough and keep in fridge

Day 4

- 5am (8 to 24hr) pre-heat oven together with dutch oven at 250°C

- same time place bread into freezer

- 1hr later score and bake bread in dutch oven

- 20min later reduce oven temp to 230°C and remove bread from dutch oven into baking tray

- bake for another 20min

- remove from oven onto grill to let bread cool down for at least 2hr before cutting

Recipe for 2 loaves

630g bread flour

440g water

126g starter at it’s peak

13g salt

11g diastatic malt

each dough approx. 600g

Inclusions

(approx 80g for 1 loaf)

- emborg pizza topping

- cheddar cubed

- chilli flakes

- jalapeno

- sundried tomatoes

- any seeds

- any nuts

Freezing/Heating Instruction: slice the bread and use parchment paper in between each slice. Keep in ziplock bag. To heat up, I use air fryer at 100°C for 3min straight from the freezer.

Update 4th October: Bake again and this time both bread turns out much better. Crumb looks good too... check it out! Kept forgetting that I have jalapeno, sundried tomatoes and also diastatic malt. Next bake will use these woohoo.

Sourdough Bread with Butter

Ingredients

100g active sourdough starter

330g warm filtered water

25g butter or olive oil

500g bread flour

10g salt

Directions

• 
  combine sourdough starter with water followed by flour and salt
• mix until incorporated and rest for 30min
• add butter and knead again
• rest for 1hr
• stretch and fold 2x every 60min and let it bulk ferment for 2-3hrs
• shape and proof the dough in fridge for 12-14hours
• bake in dutch oven for 20min covered at 240°C and 15min uncovered at 220°C

Foodnote: Finally wanted to try add butter to my sourdough. Got the recipe here. 

I bake it open for 20min but the crumb still look pale ggrrrrr....The crumb texture is very soft. Doesn't taste very butter but really nice. I got too excited and cut it when it is still warm hehe. Ate 3 slices!! So yummy! Next will substitute with olive oil and/or add jalapeno and cheese woohoo.

Open Crumb Sourdough Focacia

Ingredients

320g distilled water

100g active sourdough starter

400g bread flour

15g olive oil

8g salt

Directions

• 
  add starter to water and mix well
• add in bread flour and olive oil followed by salt
• once everything is well mixed, transfer to a well oiled container, cover and rest for 30min
• wet hand and do stretch and fold... cover the dough and rest for another 30min
• do a second stretch and fold.... cover and rest for 2-3 hours
• coil fold and leave the dough in the fridge for 14-16 hours
• lightly dust work surface
• shape like sourdough and place in baking pan
• let it rest for 3hrs
• 
  in another bowl... mix 15g of olive oil and 15g water (salamoia)
• prepare desired toppings
• pour the mixture of oil+water over the dough
• with wet fingers, make classic holes
• press and insert toppings into holes as deep as possible as it might pop back up
• topped a sprinkle of sea salt and olive oil
• bake at 230°C for 25min till golden brown

Foodnote: Recipe from here. Decided that it is time to move from sourdough bread to focaccia hehe. I still have jalapeno and cheddar cheese so decided to use these. Also added sunflower seeds for colour and crunch. Turns out soft and nice for a first home attempt. Next time will make it flatter on a tray. Good recipe and very yummeh... I ate it with nasi lemak sambal Happy Family brand bought from Sheng Siong. Very nice and so spicy!!

Sourdough Breads + Healthy Seeds

Wholemeal Sourdough Bread with Pumpkin Seeds + Flaxseeds + Multi-grains toppings

• Tanoshi Premium Japanese bread flour
• 35g pumpkin seeds + 35g flaxseeds
• mix wholegrains for topping (wet the shaped dough and rub grains over it before transferring to banetton... and CF in fridge)
• 74% hydration (224g instead of 210g water for each bread)
• 3hr bulk fermentation

Foodnote: Attempt to make a healthier wholemeal sourdough bread with seeds. I have pumpkin and flax seeds. Not sure how it will turn out but it rise well and check out the oven spring. Will definitely be baking this again soon!

Made this again on 28 Jan 2023. This time it is the following...

• Tanoshi Japanese bread flour
• 10g flaxseed + 30g sunflower seed + 30g pumpkin seed
• 74% hydration (225g water)

Foodnote: Made this again because I love it although it tasted like delicious cardboard lol. Really love it because it have all healthy seeds. I reduced the flaxseed and added sunflower seeds.

Sourdough Breads

1. Cheese + Jalapeno
2. Cranberries + Mixed Citrus Peel + Almonds

• Murasaki Botan Japanese unbleached flour
• 74% hydration (224g instead of 210g water for each bread)
• 3hr bulk fermentation

Foodnote: Very nice, soft and good crumbs. Dough is easy to handle and feels good. First time trying cheese + jalapeno and it turns out nice. Smells like pizza but bread is flatter perhaps due to the inclusions. As usual, dry inclusions turns out very well. Happy with both breads.

Pumpkin Sourdough Bread

Ingredients

300g bread flour

100g active sourdough starter

6g salt

250g pumpkin puree

50g pumpkin seeds

Directions

• in a bowl, mix flour with salt
• add starter and pumpkin puree and stir well
• transfer to mixer and using dough hook, mix for 10min
• transfer back to bowl and rest for 30min
• do first coil fold and rest for 30min
• add pumpkin seeds 1/4 at a time while doing coil fold and rest another 30min
• do 3rd coil fold and rest till dough double in size
• transfer into floured surface and shape
• put into proofing basket, cover with plastic
• leave in chiller for 8 up to 48hrs till ready to bake
• pre-heat oven and dutch oven to 230C
• transfer to silicon mat, score and transfer to dutch oven
• insert ice into flap of dutch oven
• bake for 30mins covered
• remove lid and bake at 200C for another 15min

Foodnote: I have pumpkin seeds and been wanting to try and make pumpkin sourdough bread. Found this simple recipe from here. Weather is good and sunny... have bought pumpkin from the supermarket to make into puree. Starter is still active so it became another bread day. However, I only managed to get 230g of puree so I added 20g water. Turns out good. 

The smell of baking bread is marvellous as always and love that it is a bit rounded and not flat. There is not much oven spring but I am good with it.

It was a rushing day. While cooling the bread, I went out for walk. A friend message me that she have extra ticket for Perfect Timing by Dr Omar Suleiman. So I decided to bless half of the bread for her. Reached home late so I only managed to taste the bread the next day. Lightly toast it on my non stick pan and slather it with my favorite Lurpak butter.

Ok... it is so delicious oh my. Definitely will make this again 😘👌!