Kitchen Corner

May 31, 2010

Wholesome Blacky Bread


What is in your mind when you look at this bread? Yes, healthy and...... must be a solid or hard texture bread, right? At first, I thought it is but I don't care as I was thinking to get all the goodness for my body. 


Somehow the outcome surprising me with a very soft texture like those milky bread and it stay soft until the third day. I deeply falling in love with this recipe because its wholesomeness and softness had encouraged me  to bake this more often. 

The bread consists of whole wheat flour,  黑八珍 and some walnuts. I use to drink this 黑八珍 for breakfast that contains eight kind of goodness in it. There are 黑芝麻, 黑木耳, 黑米,黑豆,黑枣,黑麦,黑糖,灵芝. all blended into powder which can be easily melted in hot water for breakfast. All these are good for ladies if you know all the ingredients. The bread taste really good, not only the softness but the crunchiness of walnut and the taste of 黑八珍, fantastic!I think the dough can be baked in a loaf tin or make it into little buns, either use it for sandwich or any favorite spread or just eat as it is. I will add some dry fruits, sunflower and pumpkin seeds for my next baked. Anyone like healthy and soft texture bread, give this a try!


Recipe for a loaf of bread:  142g bread flour / 50g 黑八珍 / 40g whole wheat flour / 5g milk powder / 10g caster sugar / 3g salt / 5g yeast / 120g fresh milk / 48g water roux / 13g unsalted butter / 75g chopped walnut / some wheat bran for coating

Recipe for the water dough "water roux": Cook 125g water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left. If you've a candy thermometer, measure it until the temperature turn to 65C then turn of the heat. I didn't measure it with thermometer, so I cook it until like a baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap to avoid skin forming. The amount of water dough here would be more than a recipe required, you could store it in a the fridge for 2 days, if the color turn to dark grey.


Knead all the ingredients with a dough hook mixer except butter until the ingredients combine into  a dough. Add in butter and continue the kneading process until the dough no more sticking at the side of the mixing bowl. It should be smooth and elastic. Let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap. Punch out the gas and shape into a ball shape to let it rest for 10 minutes. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin. Place the chopped walnuts around then roll up into a loaf shape.
Prepare some water on a clean plate and place a kitchen towel on the top. Damp the surface on the dough and run the damp surface with the wheat bran. Place on a baking tray and let the dough proof for 40 minutes.
Bake at 180C for  25 minutes.






    26 comments:

    WendyinKK said...

    Haha! At first when I saw the title, I thought it's a bamboo charcoal bread. But no!! It's a Pat Chan bread.

    ;p

    I'm planning to try out the water roux method since everyone is raving about it... but sigh, when???

    Bits said...

    Wow! The bread looks so gorgeous!

    Quinn said...

    Yeah, it looks like English bread with hard crust. If you don't say it's soft, I really couldn't tell. I just love any breads with water roux, very soft and delicious!

    ReeseKitchen said...

    Beautiful bread! I want to try this, but may I know where to get the黑八珍? Or you blend it yourself? I'm not so sure of the 8 ingredients in it. (I'm actually an eng-ad, so chinese not good..;p)

    Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

    Thanks for sharing this health bread, will make this soon.

    Kitchen Corner said...

    Hi wendywy,
    haha.. it does sounds like bamboo charcoal bread hur.. :)

    Thanks Bits of Taste!

    Hi Quinn,
    When I first saw it from the recipe book, I thought it's hard crust bread too! Water roux give better bread texture indeed!

    Hi Sonia,
    Hope you like this recipe!

    Hi Reese Kitchen,
    Thanks for dropping here. I didn't blend the ingredients. It's ready packed which I bought from Jurong Point, Yue Hwa Chinese shop.

    Honey Bee Sweets said...

    The loaf is so pro Grace! Coincidentally I saw a can of black sesame powder in the stores today and was pondering whether should I buy it to make bread with it! But looks like your 黑八珍 is even better! So nutritious! Where did you get your 黑八珍? Thanks for sharing something so wholesome and yummy!

    Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

    Grace! You purposely shot the movie to show us how soft it is! I laughed when I saw you pressing against the bread! Your bread is beautiful. I have not plucked up enough courage to bake bread yet... maybe I should start with this...

    Sue said...

    Hi Grace, I also like to make healthy grain bread and thanks for sharing this great recipe. I'll start hunting for the powder. Can I check if there is any typo error in the amount of water roux? 484g is a lot for about 250g of dry ingredient, right? Maybe I'm wrong.

    Pei-Lin said...

    Wow, so much goodness in a loaf! I've never seen 黑八珍 ... This is enlightening!

    Hey, I think I've had such surprise before too! I made a whole-wheat loaf with 100% whole-wheat flour. The rolls came out surprisingly soft ... and that lasted for a few days! Nice to know of your experience too!

    Passionate About Baking said...

    This looks so good, Grace! All the blacky in the 黑八珍 sounds so good! Where do you get this from? Looks like something I would like to have for breakfast too! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Let me get my hand on the 黑八珍 before I try this bread. Addition of seeds sounds wonderful too!

    Kitchen Corner said...

    Hi Bee,
    Thanks! We might have the some interest on certain things hurr :)I got my 黑八珍 at Jurong Point, Yue Hwa Chinese shop. Hope you like this recipe, cheers!

    Hi Shirley,
    haha.. ya I purposely shot the movie to show how soft it is because I was impressed by the outcome :) I feel that it's quite silly doing this :P. Please give it a try and hope you will like it.

    Hi Sue,
    Thanks for dropping here! And thank you for reading my blog so to find out my typo error, otherwise, I'll be in trouble as someone might try out this recipe :( thanks a lot Sue! Ok, I got to amend it now...it suppose to be 48g :)

    Hi Pei Lin,
    Thanks for giving me a great support here always! I would like to try out your 100% whole wheat bread. That's so good we can share the goodness with everyone. Please let me know which recipe are you using ok. Cheers!

    Edith said...

    Yah for a moment, I too thought it is going to be bamboo bread. and I thought 八珍 was those monthly drink that a lady has to take. LOLz.

    Interesting and you are definitely churning my interest in bread again.

    Bakericious said...

    Hi Grace, the loaf looks so healthy and the crust must b very crispy, yummy if spread a thick layer of butter :P

    Angie's Recipes said...

    wow I love this bread! Sounds and looks so healthy!

    Happy Flour said...

    Oh, I love this crispy crust with soft texture inside. Great to enjoy this with a cup of hot Kopi O. ;P

    Readers Without Peters - A Seattle Book Club said...

    This looks delicious! My goal this summer is to bake my own bread. Thanks for posting this. :)

    Sue said...

    Hi Grace,
    You're welcome. Actually ever since I start to read bakers blog about half a year ago, I have been following your blog closely. I enjoyed reading your blog. I have tried out some your recipe and worked well and taste good too. I look forwards to your healthy bread recipe as my family
    loves to eat bread. Once again, thanks for taking time to share your recipe and your baking journal :-)

    Kitchen Corner said...

    Hi edith,
    haha..no no, not a bamboo bread. It's all the blacky goodness inside that why I named it blacky bread. I also don't know why the package named as 黑八珍. But it's absolutely delicious than then real 八珍 soup.

    Hi Jess,
    Oh yes, it would be good with a thick layer of butter if we don't consider about the healthy diet :) sometimes we can be naughty a bit :P

    Hi Angie,
    Thanks! Hope you like the recipe!

    Hi Happy Flour,
    It's soft but don't have the crispy crust. The crust is soft as the crumb :(

    Hi Yvonne,
    Oh! Happy baking for your summer bread making. All the best!

    Hi Sue,
    Thanks for your all time support! Please do not hesitate to let me know if you find any problem with my recipe. It's glad to know you like some of the recipes. Cheers!

    Anonymous said...

    The bread looks really wholesome! Do you think i could bake it in a pullman tin?

    thecoffeesnob said...

    Oh wow that is one healthy bread and it looks so good! Does any of the sesame flavour come through the bread?

    Kitchen Corner said...

    Hi Jane,
    I got this 黑八珍 at Jurong Point, Yue Hwa Chinese shop. If I happen to go there again, I'll help you to buy ok.

    Hi Sweeter side of life,
    Oh yes, you could bake in a pullman tin but may be should increase the temperature and bake slightly longer.

    Hi thecoffeesnob,
    Yes, it's a healthy bread indeed. I hardly tell whether or not the sesame flavor in there because the 黑八珍 not only got sesame, there got plenty of others blacky goodness there :)

    Bread Fan said...

    This looks amazing, thanks for sharing - I've been looking for something that is healthier than the average loaf, will give it a try :)

    Janice said...

    can i know what is this 黑八珍? Sorry for the inconvenience. I don't really know how to read Chinese ;)

    Passionate About Baking said...

    Grace,
    I want to let you know that this bread is VERY nice! I love it very very much. You know, I had this for 4 days, and on the 4th day, it was still very soft and fresh! It's truly very nice. Thanks so much for giving me this opportunity to try!:)

    Kitchen Corner said...

    Hi Jane,
    I'm glad you enjoyed the bread. You've help me to testified it. Do try it out if you able to get the blacky powder otherwise wait for me to get one for you on our next meet up ok.