Hokkaido Cocoa Two-Tone Toast

Taste: Sweet; Technique: Baking; Time: Several hours; Difficulty: Moderate.

Detailed Steps for Making Hokkaido Cocoa Two-Tone Toast

Weigh all ingredients except butter into the bread machine in the order of liquid first, then solid, with salt and sugar diagonally placed, and yeast buried in the flour; usually Hokkaido toast uses egg whites, but I find egg yolks difficult to handle, so now most people use one whole egg, reserving a little egg for brushing the surface, start a 20-minute kneading program until a smooth dough is formed;

After the program ends, add 15g of butter, then start another 20-minute kneading program;

Take out the dough, knead it by hand for about ten minutes until the dough can be stretched into a thin membrane;

Divide the dough into two portions in a 3:2 ratio;

Knead 10g of cocoa powder into the smaller portion of dough, pre-dissolve the cocoa powder in 15g of water (forgot to take a photo);

Place the two dough portions separated by plastic wrap in the bread machine, start a 1-hour fermentation program;

Ferment the dough until it doubles in size;

Divide each dough portion into three equal parts, round them, and let them rest for 15 minutes;

Roll out the dough into an oval shape, place the cocoa dough on top vertically, roll the dough from top to bottom, encase the cocoa dough with the white dough, and pinch the ends tightly;

After making three dough portions in this manner, shape the dough into a long strip, as shown in the picture;

Braid the ends at both sides, pinch tightly, and place in a mold (450g capacity);

Place an open container of water in the baking pan, place the toast box in the oven, and let it ferment a second time until it is nine-tenths full, brush the surface evenly with egg wash, then bake in the oven at 130 degrees Celsius on the top rack and 200 degrees Celsius on the bottom rack for 10 minutes, cover with foil, and adjust the top rack temperature to 200 degrees Celsius for another 30 minutes;

After baking, shake the mold a few times to easily remove the toast, let it cool, then store in a sealed bag at room temperature;

Slice the toast the next day;