Thursday, April 14, 2011

Black Beauty Charcoal Bread

Yippee, I finally made my own Bamboo Charcoal Bread!

About a month ago, Jess (from Jess kitchen) & I went PH 'shopping' together & saw Bamboo Charcoal Powder, 250g selling @ $24+ & the staff there claimed that it is their smallest package. Huh? 250g is smallest package? Ridiculous, isn't it? I can't imagine how long it is going to last. I guess I gotta add the powder in all my bakes from now on before I can finish up the 250g! Even if jess & I were to share the powder, 125g seemed too much as well especially when most recipes only call for 1-2tsp of powder each time.

I mentioned this to Eelin (the batter baker) in msn previously about how badly Jess & I wanted the Charcoal Powder. I even joked to improvise our own by pounding those charcoal pills that we took for diarrhoea instead & add more sugar to the dough to 'camouflage' the unpleasant medicine taste. Then we will have an anti-diarrhoea bread instead! Woohoo! But, on a second thought, I reckoned whoever ate the bread will have their mouth stained as they chew on the bread! Hahaha ;P Opps!

Thus, one of my 'mission' is to hunt for smaller packages of charcoal powder in HK! I was glad to find them after searching a few baking shops. Without hesitation, I grabbed two packs off the shelves (one for Jess of coz!).

Bamboo Charcoal Powder packed in 20g each!

Charcoal Bread
(recipe adapted & modified from Frozen wings by Lena)

Ingredients:

Bread flour 300g
Bread improver 3g
caster sugar 20g
instant yeast 1 1/4 tsp
milk 130ml
butter 20gm
Bamboo charcoal powder 1.5 tsp

Method:
1. Combine flour, sugar, bread improver, yeast & milk in a mixer & mix well till smooth dough is formed.
2. Add in butter till dough is smooth & shiny.
3. Divide dough into 2 portions. Add in the charcoal powder into one portion & mix till dough is even colour.
4. Shape both dough into round shapes. Divide each dough into 2 portions, so now altogether 2 portions of plain dough & 2 portions of charcoal dough.
7. Roll them out & shape them into rectangle
8. Stack the layers alternately, flatten the dough & roll them up tight.
9. Place in a lightly greased loaf tin & let proof for an hour .
10. Bake in a preheated oven @ 170C for 30 mins.



Do you like my black beauty like I do?

51 comments:

CaThY said...

Wow very beautiful charcoal swirl design on the bread! Well done!

CaThY said...

Thanks Wendy! :)

CaThY said...

Yes, your black beauty is really pretty... :)

CaThY said...

Thanks Hanushi! ;)

CaThY said...

beautiful swirl and the bread looks so soft!

CaThY said...

Cathy, your charcoal loaf looks sensational!

CaThY said...

Thanks ah Jess ;)

CaThY said...

Angie,
Thanks :)

CaThY said...

What a perfect swirl in this loaf! Beautiful!

CaThY said...

Zoe,
Thanks! =)

CaThY said...

条纹很明显,真的好漂亮:)

CaThY said...

鲸鱼,
谢谢!可爱吧 ;批

CaThY said...

Cathy, this is so pretty, I love the swirl you created.

CaThY said...

Edith,
Thanks! =)

CaThY said...

Pretty swirl! More appealing than a whole blackish loaf. How does it taste like? Hehe. :) So nice to see you using all the stuffs from bakeware shopping trip in HK.

CaThY said...

Hey SSB!
It tastes like normal bread only leh, no particular sweet taste or anything.
Yah, I am very excited & can't wait to use my new toys. Hehehe ;)

CaThY said...

Look beautiful and sound healthy too.

CaThY said...

Thanks nasi Lemak Lover! *^_^*

CaThY said...

i leanrt to bake charcoal bread when i attended PH's baking class once... but its a whole loaf of 'black charcoal', literally... so my dad and niece wasn't keen in eating it, my mum only took a small bite... the rest? to the office as usual where my colleagues will 'sup' everything i bake... but not this! the colour just turned them off (though most of them tore a small piece to try lah) even though the texture is ok... how i wish they were more creative to teach something like yours, which is definitely more appealing!!!

CaThY said...

PH,
Give it a try & see if family loves these black beauty :)

CaThY said...

hi cathy, 250gm is really so much in a packet! If i get those, i wonder when will i be able to finish that too! those patterns look special, like little spades! glad to see you're back with your posts!

CaThY said...

lena,
Yes, absolutely agreed 250g is way too much! How to finish???
Hehehe, yeah I'm back from HK with more baking toys too! ;)

CaThY said...

wow~the mystery black and white, i like it!

CaThY said...

Bernice,
Yeah, I love it too ;)

CaThY said...

Your breads look like artworks! they are almost too pretty to eat. I have never heard of bamboo powder before, but that was a funny imagination on yours and jess parts in using up charcoal pills! lol !

CaThY said...

crustabakes,
hahaha, we juz wanna improvised ;P

CaThY said...

You make gorgeous breads, Cathy. The swirls are beautiful!

CaThY said...

Eelin,
Thanks! I am still trying hard to make nice swirls :)

CaThY said...

Very nice and beautiful loaf. I bought my bamboo charcoal powder from Kitchen Capers, you may try there next time ^_^

CaThY said...

neyeeloh,
Thanks. Is the powder expensive in kitchen capers?

CaThY said...

Wow! Your bread really amazed me, in fact all of your previous breads too! Have to call you 'Bread Queen' already! Haha

CaThY said...

Sotong,
Wah, you make me so *pai seh*. Kekeke ;P

CaThY said...

What lovely bread you have made!
I have an award for you, do pick it up from my blog, cheers!

CaThY said...

HHB,
Thanks for your kind words & the award! ;)

CaThY said...

I like the swirls ! Black and white contrast, very nice ! Like a piece of art !

CaThY said...

Joyce,
Thanks for your kind words ;)

CaThY said...

Love the swirl of your new Charcoal bread!!!! How I wish I can make a decent bread like you and most of the other bakers. Emmm i didn't knw PH has charcoal powder I was looking for it toooo but 250g is really too much.

CaThY said...

Ellena,
Thanks ;)
neyeeloh mentioned that Kitchen Capers also sell charcoal powder.

CaThY said...

Yup i know. It's a very small miserable 10g for $4+ i think. :)

CaThY said...

Wah more expensive! I bought 20g for abt S$2 only ;)

CaThY said...

NICE! the swirl is so lovely! (: (: and charcoal powder is super exp at PH. KC also.

CaThY said...

Jasmine,
Remember to buy when you go HK! ;)

CaThY said...

wowow sooo Cheap from HK? or SG?

CaThY said...

HK ;)

CaThY said...

I love your bread!

CaThY said...

Is it possible that you can give me the name and location of that shop u bought the charcoal powder. As one of my frd might be going HK this Aug i can ask her help me get some :)

CaThY said...

Tks blessedhomemaker247 ;)

bla blabla said...

oh you can be so happy that you can buy Bamboo Charcoal Powder. here in germany there is nothing like this ;_( love the look of this black in your breads.

Cathysjoy said...

bla blabla,
thanks :)

Vickylau said...

Hi Cathy, would u mind sharing with me where u can buy charcoal powder in Hong Kong? Thank You for your help!

Cathyng said...

Hi,
I bought from cakes library. Visit their website at www.cakeslibrary.com for their location :)

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