Leopard print bread (vegan)
A fun, beautiful, and delicious baking project: leopard print loaf! This vegan milk bread is naturally-colored and absolutely stunning.
Ingredients
Dough
- 360 g bread flour
- 5 g instant or quick-rise yeast
- 45 g sugar | such as pure cane sugar
- 5 g sea salt
- 210 g water / plant-based milk
- 40 g neutral oil | such as grapeseed
Other
- 10 g purple sweet potato powder | or coloring of your choice
- 2 g activated charcoal powder | or coloring of your choice
- 15 g chia seeds | optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a mixer, combine all the dough ingredients and knead until smooth and elastic.
- The dough should form a thin and translucent membrane when stretched, like a "windowpane". (Kneading time will vary; my bread machine took about 45 minutes.)
- Roughly divide the dough in two, then again divide one of the halves in two, so that the pieces are roughly 1/4, 1/4, and 1/2 of the original.
- Add sweet potato powder to one 1/4 piece and charcoal powder to the other 1/4 piece. Knead until color is evenly distributed.
- Cover all the pieces and let rise for 1-2 hours -- until doubled in volume.
- Once risen, divide each dough ball into 10 pieces, slightly varying in size.
- Cover the divided dough pieces, and let them rest for 10 minutes.
- Roll one purple piece into a long, thin rope (about 18cm long).
- Roll one black piece into a flat rectangle or oval (about 8cm x 18cm).
- Optionally, sprinkle on some chia seeds.
- Place the purple rope at the center of the black dough.
- Wrap the sides of the black over the purple. (Due to varying sizes, the black may or may not fully enclose the purple.)
- Roll one white dough into a flat rectangle (about 10cm x 20cm).
- Place the black-purple rope at the center of the white dough.
- Wrap the sides of the white over the purple/black, and pinch to seal the edges.
- Place the resulting white log into a greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.
- Repeat steps 8 through 16 with remaining dough pieces. Then, cover the loaf and let it rise for 45-60 minutes. or until nearly doubled in volume.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350F / 180C for 40 minutes, covering the top of the bread with aluminum foil when the top begins to darken in color.
- Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.