Matcha Red Bean Loaf

Beware! This is going to be a super long-winded post!!!

Besides MH, another blog visitor, Celine has informed me that she has baked a milk loaf by spreading the dough with a mixture of softened butter, minced garlic, fresh parsley and fresh oregano, then sprinkled with some Parmesan (must be fresh?!), rolled up and baked. Wow, this combo is really mind-blowing isn't it?!

Thanks to growing up in a traditional Chinese family. I am really ignorant when it comes to fresh herbs. I won't be able to tell the difference between a bay leaf, oregano, or basil if I happen to see them! and in my mind I kept mixing up Rosemary with Thyme!! So, as much as I would like to try Celine's loaf, I thought I should just keep to things that I am familiar with ;)

Hence, this lead me to bake a matcha or green tea loaf using the same milk loaf recipe.



The exterior of this loaf looks perfectly normal, just like a usual loaf of bread.






From the top view, it somehow reminds me of a traditional pillow which my deceased grandmother used to sleep with. It's those Chinese traditional kind of 'pillow' that was made with a block of wood with very nice carvings on the sides, which looks something like these. Guess you have to be as old as me to have seen one of these ;)

Sorry, I've digressed! Well, what I really wanted to say is, looks can be very deceiving.


After I sliced the loaf into half, I was quite taken aback by this huge 'tunnel' that had formed just underneath the crust! Thanks to my cyberfriend, vb, this reminded me that it appeared not too different as compared to the CTE tunnel, lolz!!!

I believe I didn't do a proper job while knocking down the dough after the first rise. A giant air bubble must have been trapped there, and it grew and grew and grew while the dough was proofing the second time! I really find bread-making a very challenging task, there are so many unknowns and variables that could affect the outcome of the bread...be it the weather, the yeast, the amount of the ingredients, the time taken to knead the dough, etc, etc. On the other hand, it is also all these uncertainties that make bread-making more fun than other cakes and bakes :p

A couple of blog visitors have lamented that they are not able to make a loaf of bread as they don't own a bread machine. It was with this in mind that I made this loaf solely by hand. I have also taken a few step-by-step photos to show those of you who may wish to give it a try. These photos were not very well taken, as it was very tricky trying to juggle the camera while my hands were covered with dough.


Starting from the top left hand photo, the dough was form by mixing all the ingredients (except the butter) and kneaded by hand for less than 5 minutes. It was not sticky at all but the texture was very soft. Then I proceed to add in the butter to the dough...a process which I would prefer to leave it to the bread machine to do. I don't really like the oily, gooey, feeling by kneading the butter into the dough. It took a few mins of squashing and squeezing before the butter gets all absorbed into the dough. At this stage, the dough will start to get very sticky, it helps if you have a simple tool like a dough scrapper (the beige thing on the bottom right photo), to scape up the dough at the same time when you are kneading. A plastic spatula can also do the job.


After about 15mins of kneading (starting from the mixing of the ingredients), the dough had became smooth, and no longer stuck to my hands (see top left photo). Ok, I tried taking a photo of the 'pane test' or stretch test, but it was difficult trying to take a photo with just one hand while the other is pulling /stretching the dough at the same time. How I wished I could have another set of arms, haha! Anyway, you will notice that in the top right photo, the edges on the hole appeared jaggered. This means that the dough has not been fully developed. I gave the dough another 5mins of kneading and did the stretch test again. This time, the dough can be stretched quite thinly before it started to tear, and the edges of the hole looked smooth (bottom left photo). See the nice smooth dough on the bottom right? The dough was all ready for the first rise. So in total, it took me about 20mins to knead the dough before it became smooth and elastic.


The rest was easy, after the first rise, I roll out the dough and spread it with some Japanese red bean paste and roll it up, swiss-roll style. I had initially planned to make it into a square loaf using my pullman tin. but, when I was about to cover the tin, I realised that the dough had climbed over the brim! I should have covered it with the lid when the dough had reached almost 80% of the height of the tin :(


Despite the huge tunnel, the bread tasted as soft and airy. Although I must say, after cooling, the fragrance from the green tea vanished almost completely. The green tea flavour was very subtle (I used 2 teaspoons of green tea powder), I could hardly taste it :,(

Ingredient
(original recipe from here)

25g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g (1 teaspoon) Instant yeast
2 teaspoons green tea powder
143g fresh milk (I used HL low-fat fresh milk)
35g egg
38g butter (unsalted)
filling: red bean paste

Making Bread by Hand:

1. Place caster sugar, salt, bread flour, green tea powder and yeast into a mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients with hand. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Pour the lightly beaten egg and milk 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 5 mins until the dough becomes smooth and non-sticky. Knead and mix in the butter into the dough.
3. Continue to knead dough for another 15mins until it becomes smooth, elastic and no longer sticks to hand and work surface.
4. 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.
5. Remove dough and punch out the gas. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a big rectangle. The width of the dough should be slightly bigger than the length of your loaf tin/pan. Roll out the dough as long as you can manage. Spread the dough with a layer of red bean paste(or any filling of your choice). Roll up tightly (make as many rolls/turns as you can) swiss-roll style. Pinch the dough to seal the seam tightly.
6. Place dough (seam side down) in lightly greased bread tin/pan. Cover with cling wrap and let the dough proof for the second time for about 45~60 mins, until it fills up 80% of the tin/pan.
7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180 ~ 190 deg C for 30 to 35mins.
8. Unmould the bread immediately when removed from the oven. Let cool completely before slicing.