Portuguese Toast Dressed as a Cow

Flavor: Other; Technique: Baking; Time: Several hours; Difficulty: Moderate.

Detailed Steps for Making Portuguese Toast Dressed as a Cow

Completely dissolve fresh yeast in warm milk.

Divide all ingredients, except bamboo charcoal powder, into two portions (e.g. 1:1, 2:3, 4:5, etc.). Roughly mix flour, sugar, and milk with dissolved yeast. Then add natural yeast and mix on low speed. Take one portion (use the larger portion of dough for more black “cow spots”; less for fewer spots), add bamboo charcoal powder until desired color is achieved.

Divide margarine into two portions, add to each dough portion, mix on low speed, then mix on high speed for 3 minutes; add salt and continue mixing for 1 minute.

Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough ferment in a warm environment for 90 minutes.

The fermented dough will increase significantly in volume.

Use regular flour for dusting the white dough; use bamboo charcoal powder for dusting the black dough. Avoid mixing the colors.

Degas and round both dough portions, divide into any size pieces, then round them up. Let rest for 15 minutes.

Take a small dough piece and press it into an elongated oval shape with your palm.

Roll it up like making regular toast. Repeat for all dough pieces.

Take a 750g loaf pan, brush with butter. Arrange black and white dough pieces with space in between in the pan. Place the bottom layer with the sides facing each other.

Add another layer on top, with the sides facing up and down. Cover lightly with a plastic bag and let it ferment in a warm environment.

When the dough rises to about 8-9 tenths of the loaf pan, approximately 90 minutes.

After the dough has fermented, cover and place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 35 minutes. The surface may not look good at this point. The white dough surface will turn golden brown. The seams will be visible on the surface.

Trim off all the surfaces, and the inside will look good. Black is black, white is white, and there are no seams.