Blue Pea Flower Milk Bread (1L Pan)

Blue - not an usual colour seen in breads. Further, you need to use a substantial amount of blue pea flowers or butterfly pea flowers to be able to extract that intensity of blue for it to become visible in bread. I kept a packet of dried blue pea flowers in the fridge for years, and I thought it was about time to put them into good use.

There they went - a small loaf of blue milk bread baked in an 1 liter loaf pan 💜💜💜

Yield: 1 small loaves
Pan size: 17.5x10x9 cm 1 L
Raw dough weight: 414g
1st proofing: overnight, about 14~16 hours
2nd proofing: 60 minutes
Baking temperature: Preheat oven to 190℃ for about 10 minutes.  Bake at 190℃ for 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 180℃, and bake for about 8 minutes, turn off the oven and let the breads bake for another 2 minutes, or till the crust is golden brown.

Blue Pea Flower Water
1 tbsp dried blue pea flowers or butterfly pea flowers
80g water

1. Bring water and dried blue pea flowers to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Filter out the soaked blue pea flowers.
I collected about 70g of blue pea flower concentrate. 

3. Top up with more water to reach 110g. And allow to cool down and refrigerate.

Blue Pea Bread Dough

Ingredients

160g bread flour

25g spelt flour

25g raw sugar

8g milk powder

2g instant dry yeast

Pinch of vanillin powder, optional

40g natural yeast/sourdough, 100% hydration*

20g yudane dough^

110g blue pea flower water, cold 

15g  cold water, to be added depending on dough condition

3g low sodium salt

10g unsalted butter, softened

Toppings

Apply honey and oatmeal before baking

* 40g natural yeast can be replaced by 20g of bread flour and 20g of water + 1/8 tsp instant dry yeast. Let the mixture stand for about 1 hour or more till it doubles in volume, before use. You can also keep the mixture in the fridge overnight and thaw it for 1 hour before use.

^ 20g yudane dough is prepared by combining 10g of bread flour with 10g of very hot or boiling water into a sticky dough. Wrap the yudane dough in cling wrap, cool down and refrigerate before use. Use a silicone spatula to scrape out the sticky yudane dough from the cling wrap.

 

Directions:

1. Knead the dough following your preferred method. 

For my method, you can refer to my recipe Yudane Milk Bread. 

2. After kneading the dough to window pane, shape the dough into a ball, and keep in a plastic bag coated with a little cooking oil. Keep in a second plastic bag before keeping the dough in the fridge overnight.

3. In the next day, remove the outer plastic bag, invert the dough, and let the dough thaw at room temperature for about 60 minutes.

4. Flatten the dough to remove most of the trapped air.

Fold in the two wings into a long dough.

Flip over and rest for 15 minutes, Cover the dough while resting.

5. After the 15 minutes rest, roll flat the dough to remove the air.

Flip over and roll flat again.

6. Roll up the dough, from the shorter end, into a swiss-roll-like.

7. Transfer the dough to a loaf pan brushed with homemade non-stick spread, or butter.

Spray some water over the top, and proof the dough in a cold oven for about 60 minutes, or till the dough double in size.

60 minutes later 👇

8. Start to preheat the oven to 190℃ for about 10 minutes. 

About 5 minutes before baking, slit the top of the dough using a razer.

Brush the dough surface with honey, avoiding the slit.

Sprinkle some instant oatmeal over the honeyed-surface.

9. Bake at 190℃ for 10 minutes, reduce to 180℃ for 8 minutes, turn off the oven and let the bread bake for another 2 minutes, or till the top is golden brown.

10. Remove the bread from the hot pan after leaving the oven, 

and rest over a wire rack to cool.

10. After the bread has cooled down, cut into thick slices and enjoy 😋

Enjoy the soft bread with soft butter spread and dark brown sugar 😋😋