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.