Leopard print milk loaf
This loaf is not only beautiful but also extremely delicious. This Japanese recipe produces a soft crumb bread that just melts in mouth.
ingredients
370 g white bread flour
240 ml whole milk
60 g granulated sugar
7 g instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium egg
60 g unsalted butter at room temperature
around 50 g cocoa powder
a boxed shaped tall loaf pan (available here), greased with butter and dusted with flour
instructions
1. First make the starter. In a medium pan, whisk 120 ml milk, 120 ml water and 45 g flour.
2. Bring the mixture to simmer and whisk constantly until it thickens. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, sift the remaining flour, salt, yeast and sugar.
4. Add the remaining milk and 1/2 cup of the starter (discard the rest) and knead until combined.
5. Add the butter and knead for around 15 minutes or until the dough is very elastic.
6. Take 238 g of the dough and add around 20 g of cocoa. Knead until it mixes into the dough completely.
7. Place the remaining dough in a pan, cover and let rise until doubled in size (around 1.5 hours).
8. Take the chocolate dough and remove 194 g. Set it aside in a bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size.
9. Add around 10-15g of cocoa powder to the remaining chocolate dough. You may need to add a few teaspoons of milk if it gets to hard to work with. Knead until the cocoa is mixed in completely. Set aside and let rise until doubled in size.
10. Punch down the dark chocolate dough and divide into 5 balls (2 large balls around 33 g each and 3 smaller balls around 21 g each).
11. Punch down the chocolate dough and divide into 5 balls (2 large balls, 35g each and 3 smaller balls around 23 g each).
12. Finally repeat the same for the plain dough (2 large balls around 55 g each and 3 smaller ones, 40 g each).
13. Adjust the weight according to how much dough you will have.
14. Roll each chocolate ball into an oval of roughly the same length as your bread tin.
15. Roll like a Swiss roll and set aside.
16. Roll each dark chocolate ball into an oval slightly smaller than for the chocolate dough. Wrap it around the chocolate dough log, it shouldn't completely cover the log. Repeat for the remaining balls and set aside (large dark chocolate dough should cover the large chocolate dough).
17. Finally roll out the plain dough balls into large ovals, big enough to cover the chocolate and dark chocolate logs.
18. Wrap the logs in the plain dough completely and seam the edges.
19. Gently roll each log so it is approximately twice the length of a bread tin.
20. Cut each log into half and arrange in a prepared tin.
21. Place in a warm place and let rise until it almost reaches the edges of a bread tin.
22. Brush the top with milk.
23. Bake in 180 C for 30-35 mins.
if you are unsure about any of these steps it's helpful to watch this video:
The recipe for Japanese milk loaf is from NYT.
enjoy!
