Red Bean Marbled Pullman Loaf ❤️ Delicious Inside and Out

Recipe adapted from Man Xiaoman.

🍞 Ingredients: (Makes one 450g Pullman loaf pan; double the recipe for two loaves)

🌼 Dough: Bread flour 220g, Cake flour 55g, Salt 4g, Egg 40g, Sugar 25g, Instant dry yeast 5g, Sweetened condensed milk 15g, Icy cold milk 135-138g (I used 150g because our weather has been very dry lately and the flour is extra thirsty; adjust as needed based on your flour's absorption), Unsalted butter 20g

🌼 Filling: Red bean paste 180g.

🍞 Instructions:

1️⃣ Add all dough ingredients except the butter into the mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until combined, then switch to medium speed and mix until it reaches the thick membrane stage (medium gluten development). Add the softened room-temperature butter and continue mixing until you reach the full windowpane stage (thin, translucent membrane). (Photo 4)

2️⃣ Gently flatten the dough, wrap it well, and place it in the freezer for about 1 hour. Meanwhile, roll the red bean paste into a 20x20cm square sheet, wrap it well, and chill it in the refrigerator until needed. (Photo 4)

3️⃣ Take the dough out of the freezer and roll it into a 20x60cm rectangle (Photo 5-1). Place the red bean paste sheet in the center (Photo 5-2) and fold the left and right sides of the dough toward the middle to enclose it (Photo 5-3). Roll the folded dough out lengthwise (Photo 5-4), then fold it in thirds again (Photo 5-5). Wrap it well and let it rest in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

4️⃣ Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it into a 12x40cm rectangle. Cut it evenly into 8 long strips, pairing every 2 strips together to make 4 groups. (Photo 6)

5️⃣ Following Photo 7, braid the 4 groups into a 4-strand braid and place it into the Pullman loaf pan.

6️⃣ Proof until the pan is 80-90% full. Bake at 180°C on the lower rack for about 45 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil partway through once browned. (Adjust temperature and time according to how your oven runs.)

❤️ Baker's Tips:

1. The dough goes into the freezer, not the refrigerator compartment.

2. Place the Pullman loaf pan on a baking sheet when baking so any liquid seeping through the two small drainage holes at the bottom of the pan doesn't drip onto the oven floor.