Earl Grey Longan Bread 伯爵茶龙眼吐司

Intrigued by my FB friend Barry Apek's sharing of the Earl Grey longan bread recipe; and many good responses on this recipe, I knew I have to give this recipe a try. I modified Barry's recipe a little by adding water roux and sponge to the bread dough.  I was amazed by how compatible the flavour of the Earl Grey tea is to the dried longan fruits. Definitely a must try bread recipe 👍👍😋

Raw dough weight: 583g (without longan)
Yield: one loaf of bread
Pan size: Jamie Oliver Bread Pan 1.5L 21x13x10 cm
Baking temperature: Preheat oven to 190℃, bake at lower rack at 180℃ for 15 minutes, lower to 170℃ for 17 minutes, turn off oven and rest in the oven for 3 minutes.


Water Roux
5g bread flour
25g water

1. Mix and stir over low heat till it thicken into a glossy paste.

2. Cool down and collect about 25g for use later.

Cover with an inverted glass till needed.

Sponge
10g bread flour
2g instant dry yeast
10g water
30g natural yeast *

* natural yeast can be replaced by 15g each of bread flour and water.

Mix all the ingredients and let it stands for about 60 to 90 minutes.

Longan Filling
50g dried longan
58g boiling water

1. Soak dried longans in boiling water for 1 minute.

2. Collect about 45g of longan water and cool down before use. Pat dry the 53g of reconstituted longans in paper kitchen towels. Cut the longans into smaller chunks before use. Set aside.

Earl Grey Tea
2 packets Twining Earl Grey Teabag
100g hot water

1. Steep teabags in hot water for about 5 minutes. Without squeezing the teabags, collect about 80g of Earl Grey tea. Squeeze dry one of the teabags for later use.

Bread Dough

Ingredients

200g bread flour
80g Prima plain flour plus
40g raw sugar
3g low-sodium salt
10g milk powder

52g sponge from above
25g water roux from above
45g longan water collected
80g earl grey tea
10 + 10g cold water, to be added depending on dough condition

30g unsalted butter, softened, to be added after gluten formed

Directions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Add all the wet ingredients, except the 10+10g of water and 30g of unsalted butter, into the mixing bowl. Add the 10+10g of water slowly to adjust the dough moisture.

Sponge and water roux

Squeeze dry the teabag and mix the fine tea leaves to the dough.

When all the ingredients come together into a lump, cover with a lid and keep in the vegetable compartment of a fridge for 20 minutes. This allows autolysis to take place.

3. Knead the dough at low speed till it form into a smoother dough.

Add the softened butter and continue to knead till reaching window pane stage.

4. Transfer the kneaded dough to a mixing bowl coated with a thin layer of oil. Spray some water over, cover and let the dough proof for about 1 hour, or till double in size.

End of 1-hour proofing

5. Invert the dough onto a floured work top, deflate the dough, and shape into a ball again. Let it rest for about 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes rest, roll the dough out to about 1 cm thick.

Spread the reconstituted longans over the surface of the dough. Press the longans into the dough.

And roll up the dough into a log.

Lower the dough into the bread pan coated with butter. Spray some water, cover the dough with a tea towel, and let the dough proof for about 1 hour, or till reaching the rim of the pan.

End of 1-hour proofing.

6. Start to preheat the oven to 190℃ for about 10 minutes. While waiting, brush a coat of egg wash over the top of the dough.

Bake at lower rack of the oven at 180℃ for 15 minutes, lower to 170℃ and bake for 17 minutes, turn off the oven, and let the bread stays in the oven for about 3 minutes,

7. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool down over a wire rack.

8. After the bread has completely cooled down, cut and enjoy 😋

Recipe adapted from Barry Apek's recipe with great appreciation 😊