Matcha Swirl Bread

I've always loved Matcha based breads and they taste awfully nice! They give a hint of Green Tea and leaves a slight tingle of Matcha at the tip of youe toungue. Hope you enjoy this recipie!


Matcha Swirl Bread

Ingredients:
(makes one 20x10x10cm loaf)

250g bread flour
25g caster sugar
3g (half teaspoon) salt
4g (1 teaspoon) Instant yeast
145g fresh milk (I used low-fat fresh milk)
35g egg
38g butter (unsalted), cut into cubes

5g matcha powder
2 teaspoons hot water
3 teaspoon of Azuki Beans


Method:

1. Mix matcha powder with hot water to form paste, set aside.
2. Stir bread flour, caster sugar, salt, and instant yeast in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre, add in egg. Reserve about 30ml of milk and add the rest into the mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients with hand and slowly form into a rough dough. Add in a little of the reserved milk if the mixture is too dry.
3. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough till smooth. Add in the reserved milk a little at a time, knead well after each addition. (This way, the dough will not be too wet and sticky). Use up all the reserved milk. The whole process should take about 10mins.
4. When the dough is smooth, knead in the butter. Continue to knead the dough until it no longer sticks to your hand, becomes smooth and elastic. This should take about another 15 to 20 mins. Do the window pane test: pinch a piece of the dough, pull and stretch it. It should be elastic, and can be pulled away into a thin membrane without tearing/breaking apart easily.
5. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Knead the matcha paste into one of the doughs. Knead till dough becomes smooth and the matcha paste is fully incorporates into the dough, takes about 5 mins.
6. Place each dough (separately) in lightly greased (use vegetable oil or butter) mixing bowls, cover with cling wrap and let proof in room temperature (around 28 to 30 degC) for about one hour, or until double in bulk.
7. Remove the doughs from the bowls and give a few light kneading to press out the gas in each dough. Roll into rounds. Cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let the doughs rest for 15mins.
8. On a lightly floured surface, flatten each dough and roll out into a rectangular shape, about 20cm x 40cm. Place the matcha dough over the plain dough and add the Azuki Beans inside the roll. Starting from the shorter side, roll up the dough tightly, make as many rolls you can. The resulting roll/log should be around 20cm in length. Pinch and seal the seams.
9. Place dough seam-side down in lightly greased bread tin/pan. Cover with cling wrap. Let the dough proof for the second time, until it fills up 80% of the tin/pan. Brush with egg wash.
10. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 ~ 190 deg C for 30 to 35mins. Unmould the bread immediately when removed from the oven. Let cool completely before slicing. Once cooled, store immediately in air-tight container.