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No sleep for the wicked/-/ Spiced Black sesame Swirl Loaf




If you read my last post you would know that I am currently experiencing the worse pain in the back of my mouth. No not from eating too many sweets (however I do worry about this given my addiction to sugar) but my wisdom teeth are all impacted. Basically they are growing back into my face. GREAT…



When I was 18 I thought, “Hey, pat on the back Belinda, you survived puberty and high school; now it is going to be clean sailing from here” and “You have done undergoing growing pains, so now all you have to worry about is life”. Boy was I wrong.... I actually forgot about the last stage of teenage transition to adult hood. I guess I can be thankful they are coming in now because I currently live with my parents and the price for the surgery is mind blowing (hell; Why does it cost that much to get something REMOVED from my body).



Anyway right now I feel more drained than ever before as the pain meds have put me in a state of absolute sleepiness and haziness. I am not used to taking meds AT ALL. I have honestly not taken a pain killer cold tablet; Nothing for about two years. So no surprise to see how much I am affected by them. It took me 3 minutes to do a simple division by 100 (unit pricing for those who are interested in how I shop).



So I am feeling very wicked because it is either I get load of sleep at once or none at all. My life is like a roller coaster of alert hyperactivity and utter fatigue; this must be what it is like to have a new born baby.




The best part is I have to take these for another month till I can get these growing teeth out. Yep and with my timing problems; university is starting again too (like next week). So I will be drugged up and attending school; like most of student there I guess (bah-tish). I will survive, just pissed off that biology has failed me once again.



Now you may be wondering “What the hell is wrong with this loaf!?”
 

"Why has it got horns?!""



Yes, I admit it may look ugly, demonic even. However do not judge it by its cover, this way you see you get lines of sugar bread goodness EVERYWHERE. I came upon this be mistake as I wanted to make the traditional swirl buns; however this look much more impressive.




This bread is inspired by the cinnamon swirled loafs I have seen so much on the food blog networks. To make it my own I added some ground up roasted black sesame to the mix, which makes the comforting childhood classic somewhat exotic. While you may not be able to get the full force of black sesame, the natural toasty qualities of roasted sesame make the cinnamon really sing. Darkly rippled sweet butter bread is the exotic cousin of the cinnamon toast. Slather it will butter or eat it plain; it goes wonderfully with black coffee or tea.



Spiced Black sesame loaf

Makes A standard load tin 24cm x13cm, plus a few extra buns.

7g yeast

100g sugar

100g warm milk


100ml water

25g milk powder

550g white bread flour

5g salt

100g butter

1 egg white

Egg wash of one egg plus 15ml water.



Filling

Adapted from Joyofbaking.com



100g dark brown sugar

60g light brown sugar

50g black ground sesame seeds


2 tbsp (14g) ground cinnamon

113g unsalted butter, cold, in pieces

30g corn flour


Activate yeast in the mixture of warm milk and 50g sugar. Allow to sit for 20 minutes or until foamy.

Place flours, remaining sugar, egg white, salt, milk powder in large bowl. Stir to combine

Pour in yeast mixture and knead on a well-floured surface. Form a rough dough ball by kneeding for about 10minutes.

Knead for a further 10-15mintues by hand adding butter in all cubes till combined. Knead until it has the ability to hold itself up into a round shape.

Grease a large bowl and the ball of dough and cover. Allow to proof for 2 hours.

Make the filling. In a bowl stir together the two types of brown sugar, ground sesame, corn flour, and cinnamon. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender, or two knives, until the mixture is crumbly

Pre heat oven to 180C. Grease, line and flour your loaf pans. I used a standard 1 pound loaf tin but you will not need all the dough. You can make buns from the extra.

Punch down dough once doubled. Roll out dough into a rough rectangle about 40x30, brush on filling.

Be firm when you roll up the loaf like a Swiss roll. Cut the log into sections about 5cm wide and set inside your load tin. Place them closer than normal to each other. This will create the Hilly affect

Brush with egg wash and. Proof again for 1 hour, covered with cling wrap.

Once it has doubled, Take off cling and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Cover with foil after 20 minutes.

Once bake, cool for 5 minutes and turn out on to cooling rack.

24 comments:

  1. This is such a beautiful recipe. That bread looks almost a little bit devilish with those swirled horns and black streaks! I love it. Black sesame is such an underrated and underused ingredient in the West, but it has always been my favourite in Asian desserts.

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    1. Irina I agree. Most people are scared of the colour of black sesame, I think the association with black often leads people to shun it. The swirls are great now aren't they? Funny how a bread style can grow on you.

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  2. This is quite possibly THE COOLEST BREAD I have ever seen! I am in love with the alien-ish quality. And I mean that as a high compliment. It is so unique, and perfect, in it's own black-swirly way. With things jutting out and varied colors and textures. So, so cool. Pinned.

    Your teeth. Ugh. 3 out of 4 of my wisdom teeth had dry sockets when I had them taken out and the pain. Omg. I feel for you. It's rough. Hang in there. Hugs :)

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    1. Thank you so much Averie! I totally was bummed about he look of this bread but then My sister said it looked pretty cool. The Horns are starting to grow on me.

      Thank you for the encouragement. Teeth problems are the worse!

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  3. This looks fabulous - really delectable and love the photos! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

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    1. Thank you trisha! I hope you give it ago. It keeps really well and is too easy

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  4. OH MAN! I love black sesame! And I love white japanese toast!! Together? OH MAN!!!!

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    1. You and me both have the black sesame addiction. Only thing that can make this better is to fry it up as hong kong style French toast.

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  5. I love the look of this bread! It is like the chic, kind of dark cousin of swirl bread. I bet it tastes even better than it looks!

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    1. It is cinnamon loaf for more adult plate, I guess I would put it.
      Thanks Andj for stopping by!

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  6. Hi Belinda, just popped over to let you know that your link to Food on Friday: Childhood Favourites was featured in my Need Some Inspiration? Series today. Cheers

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    1. Oh thanks carole! Sorry I have not been linking lately as I have been a bit ill and my recipes have been not fitting the themes. I glad you still remember me!

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  7. I just saw this on Pinterest - what an incredible looking bread! I spent 6 weeks in China a few years ago and was introduced to black sesame porridge. I love that toasty flavor!

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    1. I am so glad you had a wonderful trip to China. Porridge and black sesame is one of my dad's comfort foods. The best thing about these seeds are the flavour.

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  8. You are too funny! The horn, demonic loaf is the best!

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    1. it seems appropriate doesn't it? The horns match the darkness of the black ground sesame seeds. Not the best but close ^_^

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  9. Beautiful bread right here! :D

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    1. Thank you love! It is wonderful you think it is too.

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  10. I am enamored of your blog and recipes. Owing to my recent black sesame addiction, I'm planning to make this bread tomorrow. However, I think I'm missing the amount of cinnamon in the filling...? Could you please advise? Many thanks! Shellie

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    1. OH!!! I am very very sorry! I forgot the cinnamon sorry!!! Thank you for pointing it out.
      USe 1.5 tbsp of ground cinnamon for this recipe. I really hope you enjoy this recipe and thank you for such a lovely commment.

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  11. MMMM SO LOVELY POST:) I really love your blog and Im now following.

    Check out my blog If you want some cute Swedish decor inspiration:)

    have a great day dear

    LOVE Maria at inredningsvis.se
    (sweden)

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    1. thank you maria, You have a lovely web site

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  12. I baked your bread yesterday, and it turned out delicious. However, I think you forgot to add water to the dough recipe - there's no way it will come together with only 100g milk and some butter. I added 100ml water before kneading it which was the perfect amount.
    Also, I think there is too much filling - you say to roll it up tight but that's impossible with that amount of filling.
    ---The bread is delicious! But I found following your recipe confusing.

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    1. Thank you for your feed back I think I left out the water. I will change that right away!

      Also the filling is not my own measurements but from joyofbaking, her recipe is for cinnamon rolls which I think requires more filling than this bread. If you look her recipe, the dough amoutn is the same. I also had more than required but kept in the fridge as extra for next time.

      Thank you for your wonderful feed back. I will try to clarify if it makes more than required.

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