Spiced Chocolate Orange SD Pull Apart Milk Bread 50% WW

I baked this for the staff in our building as a Happy New Year present to them for all they do for us. Using once again my 50% WW SD Hokkaido Milk Bread dough as the base, I infused it with cardamom, cloves and orange zest. The filling has cardamom, cloves, cocoa powder, sugar, flour and chunks of dark chocolate. I have found that when the shaped dough is filled with spices and sugar that the hygroscopic effects of the sugar causes the layers to separate when baked. I now add flour in a 1:4 ratio to the sugar to counter this and so far it has worked well. I didn’t get a photo of the crumb but didn’t get a bite of this bread, and I have to say that it is really good. I love the gentle spices and hint of orange with the chocolate. The whole wheat goes really well with these flavours and makes me feel a little bit (only a little) less guilty about this enriched sweet bread for the new year.

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An update to the formula shared above, I used the zest of one medium orange which turned out to weigh 9 g, so the percentage of orange zest is in fact not 1.39% but was 2.3%.

For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan

Filling

66.7 g granulated sugar

7.38 g cocoa powder

1.96 g cardamom

1.1 g ground cloves

16.68 g all purpose flour 

28.25 g unsalted butter, very soft

85 g dark chocolate, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup) 

Icing

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

2 tbsp whole milk

This makes too much icing, I didn’t use all of it.

Egg-Milk wash
1 egg, 1 tbsp milk and a pinch of salt

Instructions
Levain
Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth.
Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.
At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak. For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak. The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.
Tangzhong
In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the milk and Whole wheat flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl. Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature. You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, tangzhong, salt, sugar and levain. Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces. Next add the flours. I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas. Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes. Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins. You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing. Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time. The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter. Once all the butter has been added and incorporated increase the speed gradually to medium. Mix at medium speed until the gluten is well developed, approximately 10 mins. You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 4 hours at 82ºF. There should be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape. Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer. Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare the chocolate filling
Whisk sugar, cocoa, cardamom, cloves and flour in a small bowl.

Prepare your pan by greasing it with butter or line with parchment paper.

Shaping
Melt butter for filling. Remove dough to the countertop. Roll dough into a 10-by-15-inch rectangle. Brush butter over dough and sprinkle with sugar-cocoa mixture. Sprinkle with dark chocolate and press down gently. Use a sharp knife to cut dough into 5 (3-inch-wide) strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 3 squares for a total of 15 squares. Arrange squares vertically in an 8½-by-4½-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray, turning last square inward. Sprinkle any pieces of chocolate that fall off between and on top of squares. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until it passes the poke test about 4-6 hours.

Bake
About 30 mins prior to the dough completes final proof preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash. Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Watch your dough closely in the first 30 mins of baking, it may brown very quickly because of the sugar filling. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF

Once the loaf has cooled completely drizzle with the icing.

I don’t think I’d do this pull apart shaping again, it was really challenging to get the dough into the pan. I think doing the twisted braids I’ve done recently or doing this as rolls would work better and be tidier.

I hope you give this a try, it is surpassingly delicious.
Happy New Year everyone.