NEAPOLITAN PAIN DE MIE

Makes: 1 loaf of bread, approximately 4” x 4” x 4” in size

The great thing about a loaf of sweet milk bread, is that quite a few food cultures around the world have one. Whether you know it as sweet bread, pai bao, milk roll, Amish bread, shokupan, or pain de mie, it all eventually boils down to one fluffy, sweet result. And just to make things nostalgic and better, if that fluffy bread were to replicate those giant tubs of tri-flavoured ice cream (90’s kids, this reference is for you!) - you would end up with this recipe for a cute little loaf of sweet milk bread that has a plain strip of bread comfortably squished between a dark chocolate strip on one end and a sweet strawberry one on the other.

Bread is great; but a fun bread is even greater.

ingredients*

*Bread is often tricky to make, even with the most straightforward recipes; I highly recommend using a food scale for precise measurement of ingredients.

• 80g water

• 40g regular whole milk

• 1 tsp activated dry yeast

• 250g bread flour

• 30g granulated sugar

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 28g lightly beaten egg

• 27g salted butter at room temperature, equally divided into 3 parts

• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

• 4 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder

method

• Measure out the water and milk precisely. Add both to a medium bowl and microwave the mixture for 20 seconds. The mixture should be warm enough that you can stick your finger in there for over 2 seconds, comfortably. Sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water/milk mixture and let it proof as you continue to work.

• In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt.

• Measure the exact amount of egg: crack a large egg into a bowl, whisk it gently till the yolk and white are a blended mixture, then measure 28 grams precisely from this mixture and whisk the egg into the yeast mixture that’s been proofing so far.

• Add this new mixture to the dry ingredients. Use a wooden spoon to mix until it forms a flakey dough mixture.

• At this stage, divide the flakey “dough” into 3 equal parts: leave one as is, add the cocoa to one part, and the strawberry powder to the third. Knead each part individually using the dough hook attachments on a hand mixer (or stand mixer, if you’re fancy like that) and knead until the dough pulls away cleanly from the sides of the mixing bowl.

• Add 9 grams of the room temperature butter to the cocoa flavoured ball of dough. Continue to knead, about 10-12 minutes, until the dough is very supple. Repeat for the remaining two dough balls. Transfer all three dough balls to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, place in a warm spot (I used a window sill adjacent to the heat vents in my apartment), and let them rise until doubled, for about 1 hour.

• After an hour, take out the dough balls and tip them out onto a lightly floured surface. Punch down the cocoa flavoured dough ball lightly, then roll out into a mid-sized oval. Bring the two long sides of the oval towards the middle and roll up starting from the short side, along the long side. Repeat for the remaining two dough balls.

• Place in a Pullman-style loaf pan (I used a 4” x 4” x 4” pan) that’s been lightly greased and dusted with flour. Cover the loaf pan and let the dough proof for 40 - 45 minutes. Heat the oven to 355°F after the dough has been proofing for 30 minutes.

• Slide the lid on the pan and bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until the bread develops a golden crust and is cooked through. Remove from the pan immediately and cool on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy warm!