Marble Toast

Tangzhong needs to be prepared in advance: 15g high-gluten flour + 75g water in a small pot, stir evenly and heat over low heat while stirring until thickened, cover with cling film and let cool, store in the fridge overnight if not in a hurry, just cool it before use. Tangzhong will lose some mass during cooking, so aim for around 80g amount post-cook.

Mix cocoa powder and hot water in a small bowl, cover with cling film to cool. Cover with cling film to prevent the cocoa paste from drying out.

Put all the ingredients for the dough (except for butter and cocoa paste) into the mixing bowl of the stand mixer.

Mix until smooth, then add butter and continue mixing until a fully developed dough.

This is when you can pull out a thin, transparent, strong film.

Cut 150g of the finished dough and return it to the mixing bowl.

Add the cocoa paste and mix until uniform.

Round up both the white dough and the cocoa dough, cover with cling film for the first fermentation, let it proof at 28°C for about 1 hour.

After proofing, take out the dough and press out the air. Roll out the white dough into a 35cm x 20cm sheet, and roll out the cocoa dough into a 20cm x 16cm sheet. Place the cocoa sheet in the center of the white sheet.

Fold in the sides of the white sheet towards the center.

At this point, the cocoa sheet is encased.

Roll out again vertically in the direction of the opening.

Make a three-fold fold.

Roll out vertically again in the direction of the opening.

Roll out to approximately 25cm long and 12cm wide.

Cut the rectangular dough vertically into two equal parts. The dough's thickness might make it hard to cut with a scraper, so use a sharp knife.

Take one piece of dough and make three cuts to form four strips—don't cut through the top.

Flip the cut side upwards.

Cross and twist two strips together and pinch the ends tightly to seal.

Do the same with the other part of the dough.

Place the sealed side down in the mold.

Let the final proof rise to twice its size, approximately 80% full in the mold.

I used an oven with a cup of hot water at 35°C to proof for 45 minutes.

Baking: Bake at 180°C in the middle rack for 30 minutes. Cover with foil once you are satisfied with the coloring to prevent it from getting too dark or the crust from becoming too thick.

Immediately remove from the mold after baking. Place the toast sideways to cool.

Seal it while it's still warm.

For consumption the next day, store at room temperature. Freeze the leftovers and thaw before eating.

The method for matcha is the same, but matcha powder is much more absorbent. Adding 15g of water to 10g of matcha powder won't dissolve it and will leave plenty of granules. Therefore, add matcha and water directly to the separated 150g dough and gradually mix evenly.

Refer to steps 9-18 for folding. For matcha, you'll fold it an additional time compared to cocoa, creating more streaks.

Refer to steps 19-20.

Refer to steps 21-23.

For matcha toast, bake at 170°C on the middle rack for 35 minutes. Cover with foil at the 6-minute mark.

The matcha toast color will be dull once sliced.

It won't have the bright green color like matcha cake.

For pink toast, replace cocoa powder with 1g of red yeast rice powder, no need to add water, just incorporate it directly into the dough.

Toast with three folds has more visible patterns.