Matcha-Chocolate Tangzhong Bread

Ever since we tried Aoki's matcha croissants I crave for them almost on a daily basis. We tried to recreate them twice with no significant results. I searched for the original recipe but couldn't find any, so now it's all about match and fix work. For now we had to stop our green croissant exploits due to the rising temperatures but we'll continue the straggle over that task when the weather permits.

Nevertheless, on the one hand, my craving for yeasty matcha goodness had to be satisfied somehow and on the other hand we had a jar of malted almond spread that needed the company of a nice slice of bread.

As a base recipe we used the tangzhong bread we made as part of the Fresh from the Oven Challenges earlier this year. We just divided the ingredients in two, added matcha tea to one of the parts and cocoa powder to the other.

Tastewise, although imbued with impeccable green colour the matcha taste wasn't as eloquent as I would have loved it to be, but never mind my opinion because I like the matcha notes to be vividly strong. However, it was a good breakfast bread and the addition of malted almond spread made it very special.

Tea: Tamaryokucha tea was our choice this time.

We are sending this bread to YeastSpotting - Susan's weekly bread show-case.


Matcha-Chocolate Tangzhong Bread Recipe:

Makes 2 loaves 20x10 cm


For the Tangzhong :

• 30 gr flour;
• 150 gr cold water.

For the Dough:

• 350 gr strong flour;
• 55 gr sugar;
• 5 gr salt;
• 15 gr fresh yeast (or 5 gr instant yeast);
• 1 egg;
• 125 gr milk;
• 120 gr tangzhong;
• 30 gr butter, melted and cooled;

• 1 Tbsp (7 gr) matcha green tea;
• 20 gr Dutch-processeed cocoa powder.

For Glazing:

• 1 egg, lightly beaten.

Prepare the tangzhong. Whisk together cold water and flour (there should be no lumps) and cook over low heat (stirring all the time) until the temperature reaches 65ºC. Cover and let the tangzhong to cool down before using it.

Prepare the dough. Dissolve yeast in the milk. Combine together dry ingredients: flour, sugar and salt, then divide in two into different bowls. Add matcha tea to one of the bowls and cocoa powder to the another.

Dissolve fresh yeast into the milk and add in the wet ingredients: tangzhong, egg and butter, mix well. Divide them in two – add one part to the matcha bowl and the other – to the cocoa bowl.

Use your hand or stand mixer equipped with the dough hook to mix the wet and dry ingredients into a soft dough. (I used the hand mixer for one of the doughs while the stand mixer was kneading the other one,) Let the mixer do the kneading part for around 15 minutes. Cover the bowls and leave the doughs to become double in bulk.

Knock each dough down onto a lightly floured counter top, give them a quick knead just to let the gas escape. Roll out each dough to a flat rectangular with the desired thickness – I rolled them out thinly – to around 3-4 mm.

Place a sheet of the cocoa dough onto the counter top. Brush it with water then place a sheet of the matcha dough on top. Brush with water again and roll up. Brushing with water ensures a good coherence of the layers.

Transfer to buttered loaf pans. Cover and let double in bulk again.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Glaze with egg and bake for around 35 minutes or until done.