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May 11, 2021

Leopard Print Milk Bread

Cut into this leopard print milk bread for a slice of stunning, tasty, and sweet bread with the faint flavor of chocolate and vanilla. 

Leopard Print Milk Bread




This leopard print milk bread is slightly sweet with a touch of vanilla flavor. 

Besides being very tasty, the fun part of making this bread is slicing it for the very first time and seeing the leopard print. You'll probably hold your breath, but rest assured, even if you struggled with the shaping, you'll be greeted by such a pretty pattern. 

No leopards were sacrificed for this bread. 

Leopard Milk Bread






You can This bread is not necessarily difficult to make, but it is a little time consuming. I used a recipe for Hokkaido milk bread, but you can use your favorite white bread recipe and just add cocoa powder to some of the dough to make the spots. 

I used two types of cocoa powder, one black cocoa and one natural cocoa, but you can increase the color intensity by increasing the amount of cocoa part of the dough. 

How to create the spots in this leopard bread:

After you make your bread dough, divide it in half and then divide one half into two pieces so that you have three pieces of dough.

Next, knead the cocoa into the smaller pieces of dough so that you have one dark piece and one lighter piece. I mixed the cocoa with a little milk to make it easier to incorporate into the dough. 

Cocoa and milk




You can try to work the chocolate into the dough by hand kneading, but I used the dough hook on my stand mixer to make it easier. 

Next, divide each color of dough, including the white dough, into seven equal pieces, and roll them into balls. Roll out the medium brown dough pieces into an 8 inch length, and roll each into a log. 

After that, roll out the darkest dough to eight inch lengths, and wrap them around the logs, sealing the edges together with water or milk. 

Next, roll out the white dough to nine inch lengths and wrap each around the logs, sealing the edges and ends. Finally, roll the logs back and forth with both of your hands until they have doubled in length. 

Cut the logs in half width-wise and arrange them in an oiled or parchment lined bread pan. 

Leopard Spotted Milk Bread




You will be kneading this bread for a long time, so I recommend using a stand mixer. Plus, the dough is pretty sticky. 

I definitely recommend using a kitchen scale as well to evenly measure the dough pieces. 

This dough calls for a tangzhong, which is a combination of flour and water that is cooked to form a pudding-like mixture. It takes just a couple of minutes to make, and helps soften the bread and keep it fresh longer. 

Leopard Print Milk Bread with milk




As this bread bakes, the logs will grow together and form shapes that are a lot like the spots on a leopard. 

This bread is pretty tasty freshly sliced and spread with Nutella. You can also use it for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cinnamon toast, and even French toast. 



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Leopard Print Milk Bread using Tangzhong




We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.




Leopard Print Milk Bread

Leopard Print Milk Bread
Yield: 16 servings
Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories
Cut into this leopard print milk bread for a slice of stunning, tasty, and sweet bread with the faint flavor of chocolate and vanilla.

Ingredients

For the tangzhong
  • 50 grams (1/3 cup) bread flour
  • 1 cup water
For the Final Loaf
  • 350 grams (2 1/2 cups) bread flour, plus more if the dough is too sticky
  • 98 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon milk powder
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 130 grams (about 1/2 of the recipe) tangzhong
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used black cocoa) plus 1 tablespoon milk, mixed together
  • 2 teaspoons natural cocoa powder plus 1 teaspoon milk, mixed together
Egg Wash
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

To Make the Tangzhong
  1. Whisk the flour and the water together until there aren't any lumps.
  2. Place the mixture into a small saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 149 degrees F. If you don't have a thermometer, cook until the mixture resembles a custard. 
  3. Let cool to 110 degrees F. 
To Make the Bread
  1. Whisk the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.
  2. Add the egg, milk, butter, and the tangzhong, and mix and knead until a dough forms. Knead on medium high speed for 15 to 20 minutes. As you are kneading, if the dough is too sticky, add flour by the tablespoon and continue mixing between each addition until the dough is slightly sticky or tacky.
  3. Divide the bread dough in half and then divide one half into two pieces so that you have three pieces of dough.
  4. Prepare the two cocoa and milk mixtures and knead each into each the smaller pieces of dough so that you have one dark piece and one lighter piece (plus the white dough). 
  5. Place each piece of dough into an oiled bowl or dough rising bucket, cover, and let rise in a warm spot in your kitchen until doubled in size, about 40 to 60 minutes. If your kitchen is cold, this could take longer.
  6. Divide each color of dough, including the white dough, into seven equal pieces, and roll each into balls. You will have 21 pieces of dough. Roll out the medium brown dough pieces into an 8 inch length, and roll each into a log.
  7. Roll out the darkest dough to eight inch lengths, and wrap them around the logs, sealing the edges together with water or milk.
  8. Next, roll out the white dough to nine inch lengths and wrap each around the logs, sealing the edges and ends. Finally, using your hands, roll the logs back and forth on the work surface with both of your hands until they have doubled in length. Cut them in half widthwise and stack them lengthwise in an oiled 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until puffy, about 40 to 60 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  10. Brush the loaf with the egg wash and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. If the top gets too brown, tent the loaf with foil while baking.
  11. Remove the loaf from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Let it cool completely.
tangzhong, milk bread, leopard bread
bread
Did you make this recipe?
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Created using The Recipes Generator

Would you like to comment?

  1. Your bread looks fantastic Karen. Every slice looks like a canvas painted with leopard spots. Must be yum with chocolate spread.

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  2. The colors on this came out SO beautifully!! That is really stunning!

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  3. Karen, this is absolutely amazing. All of these jungle prints are calling out to me to plan an African Safari themed birthday party for the Angel Face this fall. There are such great recipes in this event that would be perfect for it.

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  4. Oh, my goodness. This looks amazing, Karen. I will give this a try soon.

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  5. I totally love the animal print breads, they look fantastic!

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  6. I certainly held my breath when I sliced mine. These kind of loaves are so much fun.

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  7. That is beautiful bread, I need to try this, It has been lot of work but end result is yummy

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  8. That is so cool, Karen! I made this bread a while ago but did not care for my pictures, meant to repeat it at some point and maybe do a blog post, but then... you know how it goes .... life gets in the way

    it was indeed quite a bit of work, but now I want to try with the tangzhong... ;-)

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    Replies
    1. Life, and beautiful cookies!! I'm sure yours was gorgeous. There was flour all over my kitchen when I was done.

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  9. This looks amazing Karen. What a beauty you have baked. Awesome

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  10. This is so cute--totally putting it on my todo list! And very happy to hear no leopards were harmed :)

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