Yudane Wholemeal Bagel (湯だねベーグル）

Yudane (湯だね) is one of the techniques I use when I want to make soft springy breads. I often make a loaf by using this method but this time I opted for bagels.

I love bagels. They are so versatile! Even though I made only one batch of dough, I finished with four different types of bagels (plain, sweet corn, cheese and maple) by varying the fillings and toppings. :D

Thanks to Yudane, they were nice and springy but not to chewy, and the added bonus was I could really enjoy the natural sweetness of flour. Umm, with cream cheese and smoke salmon... yum yum...

Since Yudane is one of my favourites bread making technique and a popular style in Japan, I thought I'd share on BON APPETIT.

Recipe for Yudane Wholemeal Bagel.

Milk Rye bread

Since we came back from Japan, I'd been feeling a lack of energy to go in the kitchen and bake...;( However, today I finally got off my bum and decided to bake for my girl (and Andy and myself...)

I used 'Yudane' method (湯だね) to make a nice soft bread with an unique flavour of rye. This time I also made a starter by using much less yeast than usual, flour and milk (I call it 'Nakadane' in my recipe below).

After a long preparation, the bread came out just how I wanted. My girl loved it. She ate almost the whole thing. I dipped it into a home made super spicy tomato soup. Look! My bread looks as if it was in a bath of tomato soup! ;D

So..., today's baking session was really good. It certainly lifted up my '.......☁☹☔' mind a bit. And... most importantly it was very rewarding to see Lana eating it so well. ;)

Ingredients:

Yudane

Rye flour 100g

Boiling water 100g

---

Nakadane

Milk 100g

Strong flour 100g

Yeast 2g

---

Strong flour 300g

Milk 150g

Sugar 40g

Butter 40g

Salt 4g

DAY 1---

1. Make Yudane by mixing rye flour and boiling water together to form a dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it in the fridge overnight.

2. Make Nakadane. Warm up milk to lukewarm. In a bowl combine milk, flour and yeast and bring them together. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it in the fridge overnight.

DAY 2---

1. Take out Yudane and Nakadane from the fridge in order to bring them to room temperature.

2. Combine all the remaining ingredients and mix with the standing mixer for 1 minute.

3. While continue kneading, add Nakadane into 2 little by little followed by Yudane. Knead for 10 minutes.

4. Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover the bowl with cling film and leave it until the dough has doubled in size.

5. Take out the dough on a floured surface. Reshape into a ball. Leave it for 10 minutes.

6. Shape the dough into a tin. Leave it until the dough has risen twice the size of the original size.

7. Preheat the oven to 200ºc. Bake 40 minutes.

そば湯だねパン (Soba, buchwheat Yudane Pan)

'湯だね (Yudane)' is a kind of starter for breads and the breads made with this starter is called '湯だねパン (Yudane Pan), which has become popular in Japan over the last 5 years or so.

So, how do you make Yudane? It's simple. You just mix flour and boiling water (make sure it's boiling, not just hot). The breads made with Yudane is soft and has the natural sweetness of the flour.

Normally white flour is used to make Yudane, but I wanted to do a bit of experiment so I used buckwheat flour instead. I love the unique flavour of buckwheat. And not only is this flour tasty but also it's got lot of nutoritions in it. Feels healty, right? To make it sound even healthier, I used wholemeal flour and much less yeast.

As it has little yeast and I proved the dough for a long time in a cool place, it took 2 days until I actually baked the bread! At this point, I was thinking "It's got to be nice..."

And..., it was... good... very good. Super tasty! When I bite in I could taste the buckwheat straight away and the more I chewed the more the flavour and sweetness spread in my mouth. Andy and I enjoyed these rolls so much that we destroyed 10 rolls easily... (they were small ones!)

I think this bread is soon going to make it on the World of Sweets Bakery.

Ingredients:

Yudane

Saba 100g

Boiling water 100g

----

Dough

Wholemeal flour 400g

Demerara sugar 40g

Salt pinch

Yeast 2g

Luke warm water 100g

Soya milk 200g

Oil 2 tbsp

1. Make 'Yudane'. Combine buckwheat and boiling water and  mix well to form a dough. Wrap it with cling film and cool it in the fridge over night.

2. Mix yeast and warm water in a cup. Set aside for 10 minutes.

3. Combine flour, sugar, salt, soya milk, oil and yeast mixture and knead in the standing mixer for 30 seconds.

4. Keeping the standing mixer is on, add 'Yudane' by tearing off small pieces. Continue kneading for 10 minutes.

5. When the dough is smooth, take the dough out into a clean bowl, and cover with cling film. Let it prove in the fridge until the dough doubles in size.

6. When the dough is risen, take it out from the fridge and dring it to room temperature.

7. Place the dough on a floured surface and shape however you like. :-)

8. Leave it to rise again.

9. When the dough doubled in size, bake the bread in the preheated oven (180ºc) for 20 mitnues or until the top of the rolls becomes lightly brown. (For a loaf bake for 40 minutes.)