Matcha chocolate hokkaido loaf
Updated: Nov 16, 2020
Time: 1.5 days
Yield: 1 medium loaf
Note: Matcha powder impedes gluten development and fermentation, which is why the matcha logs rose less than the chocolate logs.
You bake this at 350F for ~40-50 min, or until internal temp is 190F. Go off of your oven thermometer, as oven temperature settings can vary!
Ingredients:
Sweet stiff starter:
20g mature starter
60g bread flour
27g water room temp
20g sugar
Tangzhong:
130g milk
25g bread flour
Matcha dough (Measurement, Percentage):
Bread flour: 150g / 100%
Starter: 48g / 32%
Tangzhong: 48g / 32%
Sugar: 25g / 17%
Salt: 3g / 2%
Culinary matcha powder: 8g / 5%
Milk, room temp: 63g / 42%
1/2 egg, room temp: 25g / 17%
Butter, room temp: 29g / 19% (2 tbsp)
Chocolate dough (Measurement, Percentage):
Bread flour: 150g / 100%
Starter: 48g / 32%
Tangzhong: 48g / 32%
Sugar: 25g / 17%
Salt: 3g / 2%
Cocoa powder: 8g / 5%
Milk, room temp: 63g / 42%
1/2 egg, room temp: 25g / 17%
Butter, room temp: 29g / 19% (2 tbsp)
Egg wash: 1 egg, dash of milk
Night before:
Make the sweet stiff starter (idea and ratios from @breadtopia)
Your stuff starter should at least increase by 50% by morning (mine doubled, but as long as yours grows up 50%, you’re good to go)
Next Morning:
Make tangzhong & let cool to room temp
Add milk and bread flour to shallow pan, mix together. Cook over low-medium heat, constantly stirring with whisk to ensure dough does not overcook. Tangzhong is ready when it looks like a slurry paste. When you run your whisk through the mixture, you should see lines from your whisk on the pan.
Mix your matcha dough:
Mix dry ingredients together in standing mixer. In a cup, whisk egg. Mix half of egg with milk (you'll use the other half of the egg in the chocolate dough). Set aside.
Break stiff starter into 4-5 pieces, add to dry ingredients and mix in standing mixer on speed 2. Add all of tangzhong roux and mix.
While standing mixer is on 2, add milk+egg mix - mix til shaggy dough starts to form. Add 1 tbsp butter at a time until all butter is incorporated.
Turn mixer on medium and mix for ~10-12 min. This dough takes longer to develop gluten bc of all the milk, butter, and sugar. Matcha impedes gluten development, so do not expect a windowpane with this dough. Just mix until dough starts looking shiny.
Form dough into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, proof for 6-8 hrs (until roughly doubled in size). This depends on the temp of your dough so go off of appearance rather than time!
Make chocolate dough:
6. Repeat the same steps as above. Proof for 6-8 hrs (until roughly doubled in size). This depends on the temp of your dough so go off of appearance rather than time!
Shape, proof, bake:
7. Once doubled, shape into buns or Hokkaido loaf (6:45). Prepare bread loaf pan with sleeve of parchment paper along the base.
If shaping into buns: cut into ~8 buns, roll into sphere, place into circular cake pan. If shaping into Hokkaido loaf: cut each dough in 2 equal pieces with a bench scraper. Roll into a rectangle. Fold short side over the center. Fold the other short side OVER the folded side. Turn 90-degrees, so that short sides are on the bottom and top. Roll out to ~0.5-in thick. Starting from the short-end, roll up into a log (see photos). Place logs seam side down in loaf pan.
Proof at room temp for another 4 hrs (buns should grow puffier, ~30% increase)
8. In last 30 min of proofing, preheat oven to 350F and egg wash dough (1 egg and splash of milk). Bake for 35-40 min, or until internal temp is 190F. *Tent with tin foil if browning too quickly! (I did this at 30 min)
ENJOY!!