silly experiments and rambles of an adventurous homecook
Watermelon Bread
METHOD
1. First make the red, white, and green dough separately. You may mix by hand or use a stand mixer with the dough hook.
2. Shape each dough into a ball shape and place into airtight containers. Since I am refridgerating the dough up to 18-20 hours, I decided another layer of plastic. Make sure you spray the dough with enough water to prevent it from drying out in the fridge.
*Note: You may also choose to cover with a wet cloth and let sit for 1 hour. Then proceed to knead the dough a second time, cover and let rise for another 30-1 hour before shaping.
3. Take the risen dough out of the fridge and let it come into room temperature before kneading and shaping.
4. Let's start with the red dough, cutting it up into 6 portions (roughly same weight). Add in the pitted black olives (diced) With your rolling pin, roll the dough out into a long strip then curl inwards. Flip the curled dough onto it's vertical side and proceed the same process. *Please refer to the step by step photos below for a clearer idea of this step. We are hoping to create some layers for our bread.
5. Repeat for all 6 portions. Then it's time to work with the white dough. Cut the white dough up to 7 portions. We will be working with the first 6. Simple roll the dough into long strips wide enough to wrap the red. Place the red dough at the bottom end of the white and roll into a bun.
6. By now you should've guessed, we will be doing the same with the green. Cut the green dough into 6 equal portions.
INGREDIENTS
for the Watermelon Pulp (Red)
-
1 beetroot (blended with water; 1:1 ratio) we need about 180g of beetroot juice
-
300g bread flour
-
1 teaspoon of instant yeast
-
30g of granulated sugar
-
1/2 teaspoon of salt
-
30g unsalted butter
for the Watermelon Rind (White)
-
150g bread flour
-
1/2 teaspoon of instant yeast
-
15g of granulated sugar
-
a pinch of salt
-
80g of milk
-
15g unsalted butter
for the Watermelon Skin (Green)
-
handful of sweet potato leaves/spinach (blended with water; 1:1 ratio) we need about 90g of green juice
-
150g bread flour
-
1 teaspoon of instant yeast
-
15g of granulated sugar
-
a pinch of salt
-
15g unsalted butter
for the Watermelon Stripes & Seeds (Black)
-
a pinch of edible bamboo dust
-
5-6 pitted black olives
7. Onto the watermelon stripes. Take the last two portions from your white dough, add a pinch of edible bamboo dust, knead until blended.
8. Roll the black dough into long stripes, and cut into strands. Start placing the stripes onto your buns and you should have created a lovely watermelon patch.
9. At this point, I placed 3 buns each into two bread molds and decided to let it rise a second time.
10. Place a cup of warm to hot water in the oven along with your bread molds and let the dough rise for another 30 mins before baking.
11. Bake at 220C for 40-45 mins. Allow the bread to completely cool on the rack before slicing.
