This bread is definitely a showstopper! When you cut into it and see the pattern inside,
I decided to flavor my milk bread dough with lemon zest to add a little tang to the final bread. It's a basic yeasted dough with cocoa powder added to create the different tones.
After the dough is made, add cocoa powder to darken part of the dough. Roll together each of the three colors into a cigar like this:
Roll out each 'cigar' into an 8-inch log and then stack them in a cake pan.
Recipe
Makes: 1 loaf of bread Time: 4 hours
Ingredients
Bread Dough
2 Tbsp (25 g) Cornstarch
1 Cup (250 ml) Warm Milk plus more for brushing on dough
1 1/2 Tbsp (15 g) Active Dry Yeast
2/3 Cup ( 70 g) Granulated Sugar
4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter melted and cooled
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Orange Zest
3 Cups (375 g) Bread Flour
Dark Chocolate Paste
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 Tbsp Milk
Light Chocolate Paste
2 tsp Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Milk
Directions
Make the Dough:
Stir cornstarch in cup of warm milk until dissolved.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine milk mixture, yeast, and 2 Tbsp of the sugar. Gently stir together and let sit for 8-10 minutes until frothy.
Add cooled melted butter, the rest of the sugar, vanilla and orange zest to yeast mixture.
Using the dough hook attachment mix on medium low speed. Increase speed to medium and slowly spoon in flour then increase to medium high until dough has formed. The dough should be slightly tacky, with a soft and smooth texture. Let rest for about 10 minutes.
Turn mixer back on to medium high and beat for 6-8 minutes. Check dough by stretching a small piece with your fingers. A simple "window pane" test will let you know if the dough is ready. If not, beat for another 2-3 minutes and test again.
Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface.
Weigh your dough and divide into two halves. Lightly dust one half with flour, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
Take the second half and evenly divide it into two halves.
Make Chocolate Pastes
In two bowls, stir cocoa powder and milk together with a spoon. You should have one thick chocolate paste and one light chocolate paste.
Place one of the quarters of dough in each bowl of paste. Work the chocolate into the dough with your hands. Kneading to incorporate all the chocolate into each dough. You should now have one dark chocolate ball of dough and one light chocolate ball of dough.
Lightly flour each ball, cover in plastic wrap and set in the fridge. Let all three dough balls chill for 60-90 minutes.
Make the Loaf:
Remove all three dough balls from the fridge. Weigh the white ball of dough and divide into 7 equal pieces. Repeat with the light and dark chocolate dough balls. You should now have 21 pieces of dough.
Start by rolling each of the light brown pieces into a small hot dog shape.
Then using a rolling pin roll each of the dark chocolate hunks into a flat oval.
Place the light chocolate sausage onto the flat dark chocolate oval. Using a pastry brush lightly coat the edges of the dark chocolate with milk. Then fold the dark chocolate over the light chocolate as if you were wrapping a hot dog bun around a hot dog. The result should look like a chocolate cigar.
Now take the white dough and roll into an oval with the rolling pin. Repeat the process by placing the dark chocolate wrapped 'sausage' onto the white dough oval. Paint the edges of the white dough with milk and then fold it over the dark chocolate, closing the seems. The result should now look like a log with a light chocolate center, a wrapping of dark chocolate, and then a final wrapping of white dough. Repeat this process with the remaining dough until you have 7 logs.
Now, roll each log lengthwise with your hands, until it becomes doubled in length. Like a long snake. Slice in half. You should now have 14 skinny logs.
Bake the Loaf
Prepare loaf pan with parchment paper. Stack dough logs into the pan.
Cover with a light tea towel and place in a draft free warm location to puff and double in size. At least an hour.
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Place loaf in the oven and then turn down the oven to 350 F (176 C). Bake for 35-45 minutes or until inner temperature reaches 190 F.
Place pan on a cooling rack for 5-8 minutes.
Remove loaf from pan. Let bread cool another 10 minutes.
Recipe from Two Cups Flour's Leopard Milk Bread with a few edits.
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