Tried tangzhong in my cinnamon rolls and the dough fought me the whole way

Last Saturday I made two batches of cinnamon rolls, one with the tangzhong method and one with my normal straight dough, and I honestly thought the tangzhong one was a disaster while I was rolling it out. The dough was sticky for like 25 minutes of kneading and I almost tossed it, but I let it rest and it finally came together. Baked side by side, the tangzhong rolls stayed soft for 4 days in a ziplock on the counter while my regular ones were getting stale by day 2. My husband, who never notices anything, asked why one pan tasted like it came from a store. Thing is, I still prefer the chew and flavor of my old recipe, the tangzhong ones felt almost too soft and airy. Anyone else find tangzhong makes a better texture but a blander taste, or am I doing something off with my ratios?

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drew_martin26d ago

Ha, see I actually think the bland thing is a real tradeoff and not something you're doing wrong. Tangzhong is basically cooked flour paste, so you're adding something that has almost no flavor of its own, it just holds water like crazy, which is why they stayed soft for 4 days. The chew and that little bit of bite you get from a straight dough comes partly from the flour being able to set up more, and when you load it up with gel you lose some of that. If you want the softness without the blah, bump your salt a touch and add more cinnamon in the filling, plus maybe try swapping milk for buttermilk in the tangzhong next time.

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