Went to that big bakery expo in Philly and everyone was obsessed with tangzhong

I was at the Philadelphia Bakery Innovation Show last Saturday and literally every demo booth was pushing tangzhong like it was some new secret. The James Beard guy from that sourdough place said 'if you're not using a water roux, your bread is just old news' which felt harsh lol. I saw three different vendors selling pre-made tangzhong powder at $12 a bag which seems crazy when you can just cook flour and water on your stove. The whole thing kind of rubbed me the wrong way because it felt like they were making simple technique into a fancy product. Has anyone else noticed bakeries pushing this stuff as a replacement for classic methods or am I just being grumpy about it?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_betty2d ago

Friend of mine tried that tangzhong powder at home and said it turned her dinner rolls into weird slimy hockey pucks. She spent like two hours following the instructions on the bag and ended up tossing the whole batch in the trash. Meanwhile she'd been making regular white bread for years without any fuss and her kids ate it just fine. All that fancy marketing just got her all worked up thinking her old way was wrong. Makes me wonder why people pay for something they can get with flour and water and a little patience.

jesse_smith102d ago

Overheard my buddy tell @the_betty her rolls looked like deflated soccer balls after trying that powder.

ray_burns16h ago

Caught myself nodding along reading this. I used to think the tangzhong hype was just marketing fluff too but watching my sister waste money on that powdered stuff changed my mind.

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