Why a Tanzhong Is the the Secret to the Most Pillowy Dinner Rolls

I trained in French pastry and spent years baking and cooking professionally. But these days, I don’t consider myself much of a baker outside of quick breads, muffins, and an occasional cake for my kids. The holidays are the one time of year I roll up my sleeves and break out the yeast for a more involved baking project: Scallion Milk Bread Rolls with an I-can’t-believe-they’re-so-soft interior.

The secret to that tender, cloudlike texture isn’t a mystery ingredient or an elaborate process. It’s tangzhong. This simple concept originated in Japan, but was popularized with a Chinese name thanks to Taiwanese author Yvonne Chen, who covered it in her 2007 book, The 65°C Bread Doctor.

Making a tangzhong involves whisking together flour and liquid and cooking it over gentle heat, resulting in a paste that transforms even a basic dough into something extraordinary.

How does a tangzhong work? 

A tangzhong gelatinizes the starches in a portion of flour before it’s added to the rest of the dough. In my Scallion Milk Bread Rolls — a mashup of Chinese scallion pancakes, cinnamon rolls, and milk bread — I make the tangzhong by cooking just two tablespoons of flour with half a cup of milk until thick and glossy, achieving a texture that’s almost like mashed potatoes. This step may seem insignificant, but it’s what allows the dough to hold more liquid overall. When the starches are cooked in this way, they absorb and trap moisture more effectively, so instead of a heavy or dense loaf you get bread with a soft, springy crumb that stays that way for days.

Easier to work with

A tangzhong makes the dough a joy to work with. It’s more elastic and less sticky than a typical enriched dough, which means it kneads smoothly, whether by hand or with a stand mixer, and shapes beautifully. In this recipe, that pliability makes it easier to roll the dough into a thin rectangle before spreading on the scallion butter filling. (You could also fill them with anything you’d like — I make a blend of cinnamon, cardamom, and white sugar for holiday rolls using the same base dough.) When the log is sliced and arranged in the baking dish, each spiral holds its shape perfectly, ensuring every roll bakes up evenly golden and irresistibly fluffy.

Longer shelf life

That extra moisture does more than just improve texture; it also extends the bread’s shelf life. Because the tangzhong locks milk within the dough’s structure, it slows down the process of staling, keeping the bread tender long after baking. That’s especially helpful during the holidays, when you might be prepping rolls a day or two in advance or storing leftovers for the next morning’s breakfast sandwich. The Scallion Milk Bread Rolls are just as supple and flavorful the next day as they are warm from the oven.

I love how this technique brings together the science of bread baking and the sensory pleasure of soft pull-apart rolls. The result is a bread that feels as special as the holiday meal it’s served with.

The tangzhong method has deep roots in Asian baking traditions, where it’s long been used to give milk breads their signature feather-light texture. Adapting it for a savory, buttery roll feels like the perfect meeting of comfort and craft, and a way to make something familiar feel new again.

If you’re looking for the ultimate roll to anchor your Thanksgiving spread, or even to steal the show, start with a tangzhong. It’s that little step that makes all the difference.