Friday 23 November 2007

Chocolate Marble Bread II

Made this strange, almost alien looking loaf of bread this afternoon. This is my 3rd attempt on a Chocolate Marble Bread. I still finds it very tricky to roll out the dough without having the chocolate paste oozing out. I used the Hokkaido Milky Loaf recipe to make the bread dough as I need to use up some leftover whipping cream. I followed the rolling and folding method as shown here (I don't understand a single word in this wesbsite though) but instead of slicing the dough into short cylinders, I cut them into 4 long ones and stack them length wise, two on top and two below. I came across this shaping method when I was browsing some Chinese cookbooks at a bookstore yesterday.


It's obvious that I didn't do a good job in rolling out the dough...they were in various sizes. I was quite certain that I wouldn't be able to get the nice swirls as the one in the cookbook.

While I was preparing to make the chocolate paste, my little one offered his assistance. I had to decline as it involved mainly stirring the paste over the stove. He was very disappointed, but ran off to play on his own. His brother was down with a flu (again!) and was resting. When he saw me kneading the dough (I made the bread by hand), he came along and asked whether he could help me with it. Although I would rather not have him around while I am making bread, I simply couldn't say no, especially after I saw the great enthusiasm in his eyes.



I got him to wash his hands, but I didn't notice that his fingers were still covered with ink stains until he started kneading away! I had to keep my fingers crossed that no one would suffer from any stomach upset after eating this bread ;)

It's quite amazing how kids can pick up things so fast. I didn't teach him or show him on purpose how to go about kneading the dough...but he was able to mimic the action quite well. We took turns to knead the dough until it was fully developed. I managed to take a short video clip of him in action, and it's going to go under our collections of home videos! Do take note that this is not a demo on kneading :)






The dough rise, shaped, proofed and was finally baked. The entire process took about 4 hrs. Despite the ugly exterior, the cross section of the loaf didn't look too bad, although I must say, the swirls were not too distinctive.


Once the bread was cooled off, my boy requested for a small piece to try. After the first bite, he asked for a whole slice. He ate it with great gusto...enjoying his fruit of labour!


Ingredients:
(makes one loaf)

chocolate paste
20g cake flour
50g sugar
1 egg white
80ml milk (warmed)
18g cocoa powder
10g butter

bread dough
270g bread flour
30g cake flour
5g active dry yeast
15g milk powder
40g caster sugar
4.5g (3/4 teaspoon) salt
125g fresh milk
Half an egg
75g whipping cream (heavy cream)

Method:

chocolate sheet
  1. Mix sugar and cake flour into the egg white until smooth.
  2. Place milk in a saucepan and heat till just simmering.
  3. Add coca powder into the milk and stir till cocoa powder is incorporated into milk.
  4. Add egg white mixture into the cocoa mixture and stir over low fire till mixture thickens and form a thick lump. (please refer to this site for the texture of the finished chocolate paste)
  5. Add in butter and stir till incorporated.
  6. Leave to cool. Place in a plastic bag and roll into a square (about 14cm x 14cm). Keep refrigerated before use.

bread dough

  1. Place all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients with hand. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Pour the lightly beaten egg, milk and whipping cream into the well. Mix the ingredients to form a soft dough.
  2. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for about 15 ~ 20mins until the dough becomes smooth, elastic and non-sticky.
  3. Smooth the dough into a round ball. Let it rise in room temperature in a mixing bowl, covered with cling wrap. Let dough rise for 60mins or until it double in bulk.
  4. Remove dough and punch out the gas. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough into a rectangle (about 45cm x 20cm). Place the chocolate sheet on the middle of the dough. Wrap both ends of the dough over to cover the chocolate sheet completely. Take note that the dough should be rolled long enough for both sides to fold over the chocolate sheet. Seal the edges tightly. The dough should now be about 15cm x 20cm.
  5. Roll dough from centre to the edges to form a long rectangle (about 45cm x 20cm). Do this gently to prevent the chocolate paste from oozing out. Fold the dough into 3 folds.
  6. Repeat step 5 above.
  7. Finally, roll dough to about 40cm x 18cm. Cut into 4 individual rectangles (each about 10cm x 18cm). Note that the 18cm length is the length of my loaf tin, you may adjust according to the length of your pan. Roll up the each dough tightly, swiss-roll style, to form a roll with a length of 18cm. Place two dough (length wise) in a lightly greased loaf pan and stack on the other two rolls. Let proof for another 1 hour or until the dough rise to about 80% of the loaf pan. Cover with the lid (for a pullman tin).
  8. Preheat oven to 200 degC but bake at 180 degC for about 35- 40 minutes. Remove from oven and unmould immediately. Let the loaf cool off before slicing.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

This has to be the most interesting bread recipe ever. I can't wait to try it... I'm intrigued!

Sue Sue said...

I think your boy got potential in baking leh. Look at the way he knead the dough.I am trying out your Hokkaido Milk Loaf recipe today. Hopefully, my first attempt on bread making works.

Gigi said...

Just beautiful. I never heard of marbled chocolate loaf bread, but you have intrigued me.

Small Small Baker said...

I think your boy can knead better than me. He's very good! I hope I can read japanese. The website looks very interesting.

Yan said...

agree wif sue that ur boy is a budding baker in the making. in fact many renowed chefs were groomed and influenced from young. the way he kneads the dough, pretty stylo i must say. =)

interesting receipe. somewhat like the chocolate bread sold by four leaves.

for point 7, do u mean u hv 4 swiss rolls? fm 4 become 2 ?

cheerios
yan

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Love the stuff you keep baking. I'm still a novice at this. Love chocolate and bread but am not sure how they would taste together.
Your chocolate bread looks lovely, though.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Kristen, do let me know after you have tried it! Hope you will like it :)

Sue Sue, I hope you will like the Hokkaido Milk loaf! All the best!

Gigi, I think this is originated from Japan, we can get these kind of bread from certain bakery shops here.

Smal Small Baker, his hands are too small for the dough :) I can't read Japanese either. Even if I use babel fish to translate it...they don't make any sense to me. Do look around the website as there are a few vidoe clips on shaping a dough.

Yan, being a baker will be the last time on his list. He's now 'preparing' himself to become a detective!
Ok, you will need to make 4 long rolls. Place two rolls in the tin, then the other two rolls stack them on top. So you will have 4 rolls in the tin. Hope I am clear? It's kind of difficult to explain all these in words! and I didnt manage to take any photos when I was shaping the dough.

Hi Aparna, I consider myself a novice too! Just that I have got more time on hand to experiment and practise. Chocolate with bread is nice!!

Yan said...

HHB,
has ur son been watching too many CSI series on AXN channel? =p

lets see. its 4 long swiss rolls stacked 2 by 2 in the loaf tin to form one combi bread loaf. that shld be abt right understanding i believe. =D

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Yan, after reading a book on detectives, they have been playing their detective games. We do not have cable tv...and our only TV set was spoilt. We have been "TV-less" for the past 3~4 months. The kids don't miss it at all, but I do miss watching the Korean dramas! I can only read up on episode guides :(
Yes, that's right, just stack the 4rolls, 2 on top 2 below.

Aimei said...

Hi! Yeah yet another post from you! :) Is this recipe only for loaf breads? Can I use this same recipe to bake individual buns and put fillings in?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Aimei, I have not tried using the Hokkaido milky loaf recipe for buns, however, I have seen other bloggers make them into buns and they all look good to me :) I am sure you can play around with it. Sometimes I will make buns (using the sweet buns recipe) and fill it with nutella. However, if you were to use for example kaya filling, or jam, you will have to seal the buns very tightly and carefully...from my experience, fillings which are more 'watery' and not thick, then to ooz out from the buns :(

The Health Conscious Shopper said...

hi HHB,
i really am addicted to your blog!! and your boy, i think he is so cool! his kneading looks very professional! I'm not joking!

this loaf sure gives me some good ideas on what to do next!

Anonymous said...

Yr boy really got potential! And so much energy for someone so small!!! Very cute hands!

iwhip.iwok.icraft said...

Hi,

Thanks for all the wonderful recipes and step-by-step guide! They are really great for beginners like me!

I have just tried your bread recipe. I wanted to use my bread machine since I have not used it for a while. When I put everything in, it didn't work and I had to slowly take out the ingredients and your recipe for those w/o a bread machine came in super handy! =) As I was rushing out, I didn't let it proof for 45 mins during the second proofing and the bread came out a little flat but still ok. Thanks! Will come back for more recipes!

Yuri said...

Thanks for being an inspiration! I've started a new blog to keep a record of my bake attempts. I know what went wrong with the charlotte cake, I forgot to line the base with finger sponge, duh! Anyway, I will definitely try again. One question tho, the foil was stuck to the finger sponge, how to prevent that?

Baking Fiend said...

The loaf looks beautiful to me leh... definately not ugly... you did a great job!

Aimei said...

Thanks for your advice! I did not make the sweet buns today but I have tried another recipe which yields very soft bread. :) Partly also because I guess I have finally reach (almost) the window pane test; I will post and share it soon! Thanks so much with all the advice you have given to many of us and your illustrations ;)

InspiredMumof2 said...

I am a beginner too at baking, thanks for sharing the recipes and pics. By the way, you've been tagged! Check my blog for your award.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Canton Pixie, thanks for your kind words! I'm looking forward to reading about your new creation :)

Hi vb, he's very tiny, as compared to other kids in his class! but he has got lots of energy!!

Amateurish Food Photographer, thanks for visiting! I do hope you can get better result next time :)

Adeline, I don't remember having problem with the foil...are you refering to the sponge fingers at the sides? or the bottom? If you have a springform pan, or a pan with a removable bottom, you need not line your pan with foil.

Hi Ida, thanks for the encouragements! You were the one who inspired me to bake this chocolate marble bread!

Aimei, I'll love to read about it!

InspiredMumof2, thanks for the award! You are so kind :D

Anna said...

That cross-section is stunning! Makes me want to have a go ^__^

Edith said...

That Hokkaido Bread recipe is indeed a very good one. I tried it last year and I love it.

BTW, I pass you an award.
http://preciousmoments66.blogspot.com/2007/11/bad-bad-me.html

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Precious Moments, thank you for passing on the award to me! What a nice surprise, I feel so honoured :D

Baking Scientist said...

Hi HHB, your kid looks very experienced and good kneading the bread! I am impressed :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Thanks for your kind words! He was only 6 years old back then :)

Baking Scientist said...

Wow, then he is really good! I get all stressed up when my 8 yr-old princess wants to help me bake every time! :D