Cornish Saffron Bread for Easter: Tangzhong Method

Easter sneaks up on me every year. Maybe it’s because it sort of strolls around the calendar and I don’t have a date to remember from year to year like December 25 or July 4. It’s not that I don’t see the Peeps and Cadbury Eggs popping up on shelves at the drugstore, I just think to myself, “Oh, that’s ages away.” Except for then it isn’t. It’s right here.

When I do finally clue in that Easter is literally right around the corner, I feel compelled to make a baked good of some sort. Last year I made hot cross buns, and they were delightful. Honestly, I was going to make them again this year until I decided to sit down yesterday and search for “Easter Bread.” This took me to allrecipes.com, a good place to look for a basic recipe upon which to build. And then I saw a recipe for something I’d never even heard of before: Cornish Saffron Bread. Huh.

I didn’t  even realize that saffron was a Thing in England. But I guess it was in Cornwall at least. Turns out that they used to grow crocuses there pretty much just so they could make these buns, although these days the golden color is more likely to come from food dye. Right away, I knew that I wanted to use the Tangzhong method to make this Cornish Saffron Bread. The dough butter rich–8 oz worth–and butter heavy breads seem to always dry out quickly. For ease of math, I decided to use 10% of the weight of the flour in the water roux. I did some quick kitchen math, showing my work and everything, to figure out the substitutions. You can also check out my Cornish Saffron Communion Bread to see them braided into loaves. Tangzhong is made at a ratio of 1:5 flour to water/other liquid, so for 2.7 oz of flour (10% of the 27 oz in the recipe), I needed 13.5 ounces of liquid. I used the full 12 oz of milk called for and borrowed 1.5 oz of the water required for steeping the saffron. After making the Tangzhong (water roux), the rest is a straight dough method. The only other change I made was to add the 8 oz of softened butter in a bit at a time during kneading, much as you’d make a brioche dough. Feel free to melt the butter and add it with the rest of the ingredients if you’d rather do it that way. As with all Tangzhong dough, this one is really sticky and takes a very long time to knead. You will think it won’t ever come together until it does. I suggest kneading it for 5-6 minutes on medium-low speed then covering and letting the dough rest for 20-30 minutes before going at it again. Total knead time, even with the rests, was almost 20 minutes for me. The resulting dough is so smooth, shiny and sexy that I forgave it for taking so long. I’m pretty sure you will, too.

Making this bread with the amount of yeast I used (not a lot) turns this into a two-day process. I’m fine with that because the payoff is in amazing flavor. If you want to make this in one day you can double the yeast, but will still be an all day affair (most of it spent waiting around, so you can do other things as the dough rises).

I know that’s kind of A Lot, y’all. If you have any questions about how to make this particular bread, please leave them in the comments. I can promise you that this bread is soft and delicious and so full of perfumed flavor that you might not believe it. Using the Tangzhong method keeps the bread soft and moist for days, even just out on the counter. I am glad I have gotten to know Cornish Saffron Bread (even if my saffron is apparently of the pastel variety. Hmmph). I know you will love it, so please do give it a try. Thanks so much for spending some time here today. Now go bake some bread! Have a lovely day and a very Happy Easter.