Scallion Pork Floss Bread Roll

Tangzhong: needs to be prepared in advance. Mix 15g bread flour and 75g water in a small pot, heat over low heat while stirring until thickened. Cover with plastic wrap, let cool and refrigerate overnight. Put all ingredients except butter into the stand mixer bowl, knead until smooth, then add softened butter and continue kneading until full gluten development, where you can pull out a large, strong thin film. Take out the dough, shape into a ball and place in a bowl for the first rise until 2.5 times the original size. I used the oven proofing function at 281C for 1 hour.

Gently press the fermented dough to deflate, cover with plastic wrap and let it relax for 15 minutes, then roll it into a rectangle slightly smaller than your baking pan.

You might not be able to roll a perfect rectangle, thats fine. When its roughly shaped, lift the dough onto the baking pan and continue rolling it there. If your pan is not non-stick, brush a thin layer of oil in advance. Roll along the edges of the pan until the dough covers the whole pan. Let it proof again until doubled in size (put it in the oven with a cup of hot water, turn on the proofing function, 381C for 45 minutes).

Finely chop some scallion greens (only the green parts, I didnt weigh them, just added by feel). After the second rise, brush the surface of the dough with beaten egg. Mix the chopped scallions with a small spoon of oil, then sprinkle evenly over the surface. You can gently spread them out with a fork. Sprinkle some white sesame seeds on top.

Bake at 1801C for 15 minutes.

Bake at 1801C for 15 minutes.

After baking, transfer to a cooling rack and let it cool for a while. When its no longer too hot, get ready to roll it up.

Trim off a thin strip from all four sides. Place the bread with the top side facing down on a large sheet of parchment paper. Score the back side with a knife a few times without cutting through; this makes rolling easier. Spread mayonnaise (salad dressing) evenly with an offset spatula, then cover with pork floss.

Roll it up along the scored lines, using a method similar to making a Swiss roll. Use a rolling pin to help roll it tighter. Twist both ends of the parchment paper to hold the shape.

If you have a silicone mat, even better. Wrap the rolled bread again with the silicone mat to tighten it further and improve the shape. Let it set for about 1 hour before slicing. However, if your environment is very dry, the bread will dry out if it is wrapped only in parchment paper. In that case, after wrapping it in parchment, add a large plastic bag over it and then wrap with the silicone mat to set the shape.

Bread roll after it has set.

Cut into pieces.

Spread mayonnaise (salad dressing) on the cut ends at both sides.

Dip the ends into some pork floss and its done. The bread itself is slightly thicker than the pork floss rolls you usually find in stores, so dont cut the slices too big. Im no expert on mayonnaise; I just used Kewpie, so feel free to use any brand you like. The pork floss was bought from the Taobao shop Shiweis First Encounter flagship store.