In the interest of providing a glimpse into the development process at ChefSteps, I thought I'd share some of the planning and context that supports our work. This week I'm starting up a new project: Shio Pan.
For those unfamiliar, shio pan (salt bread) is a popular Japanese bakery item (also popular in Korea) often characterized as a hybrid between a croissant and Shokupan: The ethereal fluffiness of milk bread, and the crisp, buttery, shattering layers of a well-baked croissant. It's having a moment here in the States, so we thought we'd take a crack at a recipe.
Our process often starts at the broadest level possible: A cursory survey of existing recipes. That's easy for something like shio pan, which has a robust precedent (and it's admittedly not so easy when the recipe or idea doesn't yet exist). The goal is to select at least a few recipes to make and compare side by side. We choose recipes with several ideas in mind, including:
- Do they feature different techniques?
- Do they feature different ingredients?
- Do they have different hydration levels? (for baking specifically)
- Are we able to evaluate any of these differences between recipes in a systematic way? Either visually or through tasting?
This line of questioning is how we structure a side-by-side test, one of the de facto starting points for any type of rigorous recipe development. Its utility is so proven that companies like America's Test Kitchen have built their entire brand on its efficacy (take it from me or @sasha.marx, who both spent years together at ATK running 5-recipe tests.)
For shio pan specifically, I'm keen to explore the following ideas (warning: technical baking jargon incoming):
- What is the optimal hydration? Is there a range?
- What flour or blend of flours is optimal?
- Bread flour alone?
- A mix of bread flour and AP or lower-gluten flour?
- Should we incorporate a tangzhong/yudane? Does pre-gelatinized starch have an outsized positive effect on texture/shape/eating?
- Milk powder and water, or milk alone? What's the practical effect of either?
- Mixing method: is autolyse or a pre-mix before kneading beneficial?
- Are pre-ferments/extended proofing required to develop flavor?
- This could be in the form of a poolish
- Alternatively, an overnight bulk proof
- Is it possible to keep the shio pan crispy for longer than 30 minutes? 1 hour?
- Is steam during baking necessary for crispiness?
These are just some of the questions I'm asking in the initial phases of development. But let's open it up to the chat:
What would you like us to explore, or emphasize in a shio pan recipe? Have you had shio pan before? What did you like about it? What didn't you like about it/how could it be improved?
-Tim
