Chinese Chewy, Cheesy, Bacon Bread (serious) 芝士培根吐司

Cheesy Bacon Bread belongs to the chewy, Asian style breads that's everywhere in China these days, and it's a great way to learn about the "Tangzhong" method in bread making.

Where does Chewy Cheesy Bacon Bread Come From?

This chewy, cheesy bacon bread basically does what it says on the tin. It's a chewy, Asian style bread stuffed with cheese and bacon with the crust topped with even more cheese because why not. It's obviously pretty delicious, but when you think about 'Chinese food' I'd imagine that 'bacon bread' is pretty far from the first thing that'd pop into your head.

Now, of course, before we get into it I do think it bears repeating that there are plenty of traditional baked goods in China that date back way before contact with the west. Like, mooncakes, cookies, flaky puff pastries. It's not like this is a culture that's never heard of ovens before.

That said, the first big wave of Western style breads in China came to the country in the form of Hong Kong-style bakeries, especially in the post war period. You might've actually tried these sorts of bakeries before, as they're also around in Chinatowns in the west – they serve up this great mix of more traditional fare like steamed buns with together western-inspired Cantonese classics like pineapple and hot dog buns.

The second big wave of bakeries came post WTO entrance in the form of Taiwan-style bakeries. These were first introduced to the mainland in the form of chains like 85C, though these days there's plenty of more mom and pop affairs as well. Taiwan style bakeries can sort of be thought of as a blend of Cantonese and Japanese-style bakeries – you can find your hot dog buns, of course, but also in the mix are more Japanese inspired fare like chewy milk bread and fluffy cheesecake.

Then finally, these days, in about the past five years or so, in coastal China especially we're starting to see what we consider to be a third wave of bakeries opening up – this time, a bit more Western inspired.

Over the past decade or so, large swaths of Chinese students went to the US, UK, and Canada for university. And when they come back to China, they've helped bring back a culture of American-style microbrews, trendy coffeeshops with single source pour overs, and, well, bakeries.

These sorts of newer bakeries can sort of be thought of as a blend between the Taiwan style and a more Western style shop. They've got the mandatory chewy milk bread, of course, but they've also got pretzels, croissants, and also a couple wacky adaptations like soft, chewy bagel that some foreigners here have already started to dub "chagels".

And it’s in this recent wave that we found our favorite chewy cheesy bacon loaf.

WTH is Tangzhong? (汤种)

Before we start, here’s a quick note on tangzhong.

Tangzhong is a common technique in baking and dough making that’s widely used in east Asia. But it seems to be something that's an overly mystified technique in the anglosphere, so let's clear the air a bit.

If you're familiar with the Chinese language, you might've already been wondering, where does this technique came from, because the word "Tangzhong" sounds… pretty Mandarin. And in fact, it is a Mandarin prounciation – because the Japanese prounciation for these two kanji “汤种” is "yudanne".

So in short, there's a Japanese Tangzhong, and there's a Chinese Tangzhong (which is usually called tangmian in Chinese), but they're the same idea at its core, which are gelatinization of the starch in flour so that the dough can hold more water, giving you a softer texture at the end.

For Japanese version, you might've already known, it's cooking one part flour with five parts water till it reaches 65 centigrade. While the Chinese version, is mixing one part flour with one part hot, boiled water and form it into a dough.

We'll be doing the Chinese version today, but… same same. Just know that tangzhong is not gonna magically make your bread soft and chewy on its own – it helps, but 90% of the final texture comes from how well you knead and shape your dough.

Chewy Cheesy Bacon Bread

Use whatever sort of high gluten/low ash flour you can find, but our recommendation would be to use a 00 flour. Caputo's Chef Pizza Flour should work great, if that's a brand that's convenient enough for you to source.

• Tangzhong (汤种):

  50g 00 flour mixed with 60g hot, boiled water.

• Main dough:

  00 flour, 150g.

  Instant yeast, something osmotolerant (i.e. able to survive sugary environments, 耐高糖酵母), 3g.

  Sugar, 16g.

  Salt, 2g.

  Water, 50g; plus another 20g of additional water for adjustment later (we used 70g in all).

  Heavy cream, 30g.

  Honey, 10g.

  Butter, 20g.

• Stuffing for the bread:

  Bacon (use back bacon or Canadian bacon), 4 strips. Two for each side of the loaf.

  Sheet cheese (like, Kraft singles), 3 sheets. One and a half for each side of the loaf.

• Sprinkle for the bread:

  Shredded cheese, ~¼ cup. We just shredded our sheet cheese.

• Melted butter for brushing on the loaf once finished baking, ~ 15g

Process:

Make the Tangzhong by combining 50g of 00 flour with 60g of hot boiled water, then forming it into a rough ball. Let it cool down completely.

Once cool, tear the tangzhong into small bits and add to a stand mixer, together with all the 'main dough ingredients' EXCEPT for the 20g butter and 20g of additional water for adjustment: 150g 00 flour, 3g osmotolerant yeast, 16g sugar, 2g salt, 50g water, 30g heavy cream, and 10g honey.

With the hook attachment, combine on speed 1. Observe how much water the dough is absorbing. If it still looks dry/like it can handle more liquid, add the additional 20g water for adjustment one teaspoon at a time. We used the entire amount.

Knead the dough at medium speed/speed 4 on your stand mixer. Knead for 5-6 minutes, check the gluten development. If it can begin to stretch a bit and be able to form a thick sheet, add the 20g butter.

Continue to knead the dough at medium/speed 4 for 5-6 minutes. Check the gluten. If you can pull it into a film that is vaguely translucent, you can continue to the final high speed kneading.

Knead the dough on high/speed 6 for 1-2 minutes. Then perform the windowpane test by gently streching the dough into a film. It should be as see-through as a latex glove, and if you poke a hole it should break cleanly without jagged edges.

Shape the dough into a rough ball. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover, and bulk ferment till double in size, ~1.5 hours in a room temperature around 26C-28C.

Once double in size, press to release some gas. Weigh and divide the dough into two even pieces. Roll each piece into a ~1cm thick sheet that’s about 10cm wide. Roll the sheet into a log. Repeat with the second piece. Cover, rest for 30 minutes.

After resting, press down on each log, then roll again into a ~1cm thick sheet (for reference, ~30cm long, ~6cm wide). Lightly press/pinch the edges so that it’ll be easier to seal later.

Lay the cheese and bacon evenly onto the sheet, leave some room on the edge. Roll inwards towards yourself, tightly tug it in with each roll. Once rolled into a log, pinch closed the sides. Repeat with the other piece.

Place in a lightly oiled loaf pan seamed side down. Proof until it reaches 70%-80% up the loaf pan, ~1.5 hours.

Bake for 35 minutes at a preheated 180C oven. 15 minutes into baking, sprinkle a bit of cheese onto the dough and pop it back in.

Once done, take the tin out, gently knock the tin on the counter a couple times to let the execess hot air come out, then remove the bread and place on a rack. Lightly brush the top with melted butter, let it cool down completely before eating.