This month’s bread was Leopard Patch (spots)
bread which I had first seen on a chinese website and thought of making. I was
happy when I saw this bread has to be made. I enjoyed the whole process with my sister Anu.
Pao de
Leite Leopardo which translates a Leopard Patterned Milk Bread.
If you want to add more flavour to your
bread you can add vanilla to the dough, add more sugar for a sweeter bread, and
I’ve even seen someone cover the top of the bread with melted chocolate.
As a variation on this
if you just colour one half of the bread with enough cocoa to make it dark and
then follow the recipe with just two different colors of dough, one white and
one dark, you can make A Giraffe Patch Bread!
Ingredients :
2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup warm milk
½ cup warm water
50 g butter , melted
½ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Instant Yeast
For
the darker brown coloured dough:
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder ( Cadburys cocoa )
1 tbsp milk
For
the lighter brown coloured dough:
1 ½ tsp dark unsweetened cocoa
powder ( Another brand cocoa which was lighter in colour )
1 tbsp milk
A little milk for brushing while baking
Method :
To make the dough
In a large bowl , combine the all purpose
flour and whole wheat flour along with the sugar , salt and instant yeast .
Mix in the butter , warm water and milk and stir well
until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl .
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased
surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to
become smooth and supple.
Divide the dough into two halves. Shape one
half into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely and let
it rise till double (about 2 hours). This is the white coloured dough.
Take the other half and divide it into two
equal portions. To one portion, add the 3 tbsp cocoa powder dissolved in the 1
tbsp of milk and knead well until uniform in colour. This is the dark
coloured dough for the leopard’s patches. Shape it into a ball and
place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely and let it rise till double.
Add the 1 1/2 tsp of
cocoa powder dissolved in the 1 tbsp of milk to the other half of dough an
knead well till the colour is uniform. This is the light coloured dough for
the leopard’s patches. Shape it into a ball and place it in a lightly greased
bowl, cover loosely and let it rise till double.
Gently deflate the dough and then divide
each of the coloured dough into 6 equal portions. Roll each of the light brown
portions into long ropes about 8 1/2“ long. Now also roll each of the dark
brown portions to ropes of similar length. Flatten the dark brown ropes a
little so they can enclose the light brown ropes. All the enclosures don’t have
to be complete or perfect as the imperfections create the unevenness that will
show up as beautiful “leopard patches”.
Now roll out the white
dough into ropes of similar length, roll to flatten them out and enclose the
brown ropes making sure they’re completely covered. Now gently roll the
completely enclosed ropes gently increasing their length to about 17”. Cut each
of the 7 ropes exactly in half to make 14 ropes about 8 1/2" long. I didn’t do this step , I arranged six ropes
evenly .
Now arrange them a little unevenly in a
greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan, cover and let it rise for about an hour
until it has almost doubled in volume. A finger pressed into the dough should
leave a mark that refills slowly. Brush the top with milk.
Bake the bread at 180C (350F) for 30 to 35
minutes, until it's light golden brown and done. Remove the bread from the
oven, and cool it on a rack before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at
room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.
This recipe makes 1
loaf.
Leopard Patch bread is
ready to be served.
Note :
I added extra sugar ,
the original recipe calls for 2 tbs , but I added ½ cup sugar.
I used cadburys cocoa
for darker patch and a local brand cocoa for the inner patch. You can increase
the amount of cocoa powder to get the darker shade. Make sure to increase the
sugar accordingly.
For the darker patch some use activated charcoal powder , if you get that can use in the bread.
Sending to here.
