Matcha chocolate swirl bread

Sundays are great days to bake bread as I can pack some for Monday breakfasts at my work desk. Bread making is tedious but rewarding when the end product turns out according to the recipe. I have struggled with getting the dough consistency right and have been getting help from all the great bakers online. So apparently my mistake was in not giving the dough enough kneading time. 

The online baking community has also exposed me to novel bread making methods. I have just tried my hands using the tang zhong (汤种) method, which makes bread soft and fluffy, on a matcha chocolate swirl loaf. 

Since I do not have a thermometer, I had to stare at the bowl of bread flour and water as I stirred it while it slowly heated up on the stove. For a moment, I was panicking because my mixture took a while to develop the "trails" and thickness that many baking gurus advised. Thankfully, the lines developed soon after and I quickly set it aside to cool to room temperature.

The other steps were easy breezy (except for the kneading! Oh boy did my arms get a good workout).

Babies set aside to rise

These guys passed the finger test after 40 minutes.

Pre-oven

I used this recipe for my bread. 

Mmm I love the smell of baked bread!

The only problem with this beautiful bread is that the matcha taste was not obvious enough as the chocolate flavour overpowered it. I may just bake matcha bread without another flavour swirl the next time.

So, I have half my original portion of tang zhong in the fridge to use up and I am already planning to bake some cheese sticks! Yum tum.