Swirl Shokupan 食パン. If you have tried my previous Shokupan…
By: Rosalind Hong
Tags: Bread, Recipe, Baking, Air Fryer, Food

If you have tried my previous Shokupan 食パン recipe, I’m pushing my boundaries a little by trying out 2 new things in my bake today — Yudane method & also swirling colours into my Shokupan

Yudane is made by mixing bread flour & hot boiling water. Adding hot boiling water gelatinises the starch. The gelatinised starch not only allows the starch to take in more water, but also increases the sweetness of it. Therefore adding Yudane to a bread dough will give you soft, moist and sweeter bread which lasts longer.

For more on this, you can always read it here as her explanation and method details are easy for those new to Yudane method

It’s meant to be Pink & White swirl but my Pitaya Pink Powder was a bit too light

For this recipe, I am using a 250g loaf tin with lid closed to get a square shaped Shokupan, if you would like to have it dome shaped, I would suggest to use my recipe below in a 230g loaf tin with lid opened

INGREDIENTS BELOW:

For Yudane

50g Bread Flour

50ml Hot Water

For Final Dough

Yudane

170g Bread Flour

3g Instant Yeast

30g Fine Sugar

3g Fine Salt

40ml Whole Milk (store bought milk is fine)

1 Egg (whisked) — weighs around 57g to 60g

20g Unsalted Butter

For Swirls

1 tsp Rawnice Pitaya Powder (to dilute with 5ml milk)

1/2 tsp Rawnice Spirulina Powder (to dilute with 5ml milk)

I am using natural food colouring from Rawnice — you can get the sample sizes as they’re lesser in volume per pack

For this recipe, you can use a 250g loaf tin (lid closed to give a nice square Shokupan shape) You can get it here

OR

You can use a 230g loaf tin (open lid to give a nice domed Shokupan). You can get it here .

**This is a bread dough with a hydration level of 73% as we will be adding 5ml each into the organic powders**

YUDANE PREP METHOD BELOW:

1) Sieve bread flour into mixing bowl. Add in hot water and use wooden spoon or spatula to combine them evenly and into a ball

2) Cling wrap the bowl and keep it in the refrigerator for a min. of 4 hours or overnight

Yudane after refrigerated for min 4 hours

3) Remove Yudane from the refrigerator 40mins prior to using it for it to adjust itself to room temperature

FINAL DOUGH PREP METHOD BELOW:

1) Sieve bread flour into mixing bowl. Add in yeast & sugar then whisk it to incorporate the dry ingredients evenly. Tear in Yudane, then add in milk, egg & salt

**For Standmixer user, please skip steps 2–6 and use my stand mixer method here under “Standmixer 101” section**

2) Use hand mixer with dough hook at Speed 2 (low) to knead the dough for about 2mins. Once you see the dough structure start to form, add in butter (fold in dough with your hand to cover the butter) and continue kneading for another 3mins

[Note : Rest handmixer for about 30secs or so after adding butter to prolong the “life” of your hand mixer. Do not use hand mixers below 300watts cause it will just burn out. If you’re using stand mixer, you’re absolutely safe]

3) You will see the dough forming into a scraggly ball at about the 3rd minute onwards after you add in the butter. If you have been trying out my Soft Milk Buns recipe, this dough texture is almost similar

I would usually tear my Yudane and throw it into the dry ingredients before adding wet ingredients

After adding in wet ingredients

Handmixer Kneading after adding in butter

4) Move dough to a clean surface to start hand kneading. Use a spatula to transfer every bit out

5) DO NOT succumb to the temptation of dusting the surface with flour as it will reduce the hydration level of the dough. Try using a plastic/marble/any smooth surface for this.

Take a deep breath, warm up your arms & elbow for a good workout in the next steps!

6) Start to slap & fold your dough by pulling up the whole dough & slapping it down gently. Repeat this motion by taking the dough nearest to your body, fold it front then pulling up the dough and slapping it down gently again. Continue to hand knead for 10 minutes

7) At the 10th minute, stop kneading & weigh the dough then divide it into 2 equal portions. Put either half of the dough under a cling wrap

8) In 2 separate bowls, pour in the diluted Pitaya Powder (first bowl) and Spirulina Powder (second bowl). Take the uncovered half of the dough & put it into the bowl with Pitaya Powder. The dough will start to be tacky as you’re adding liquid to it but keep kneading in the bowl until the dough absorbs all the liquid colour. Once the liquid is absorbed into the dough, transfer it to the surface top to continue kneading-in the colour till it is even for approx. 5mins

Repeat for the other half of the dough using the Spirulina Powder. I kneaded both dough with both my hands (one left and one right)

9) Test your dough by stretching it to see if it stretches well without breaking immediately & if it passes the “window pane test”. You can start your 1st proofing once this is done.

10) Smoothen up & lightly tighten the dough then place them into a bowl (dusted with flour — remove any remaining flour in the bowl) Cover with a cling wrap or towel. Proof it for 1hr or till double in size

Pink & Blue dough going for their 1st Proofing

9) After 1hr, remove the dough from mixing bowl. This recipe yields around 420g of dough (210g each)

10) Press down each dough gently with your fingers to remove the air bubbles then pre-shape it lightly into a ball and let it rest under cling wrap for 15mins to allow gluten to strengthen itself

11) Roll out each dough into a rectangular shape using a rolling pin to a size of approx 14cmW x 25cmH

12) Place both dough above each other and then cut it right in the middle (horizontally) to divide the dough again. Place dough above each other again to form 4 layers of alternate colours

Dough placed above each other

4 layers of dough alternating in colours

13) Roll out the 4-layered dough to the width of your Shokupan loaf pan then roll the dough from top to bottom like how you would a “swiss roll”

Rolled out dough to the size of the width of my Shokupan pan

My rolled up swirl Shokupan

14) Cover the tin with cling wrap/cloth & proof it for another 50mins or until dough reaches about 2cm below the rim of the pan. Depending on the temperature in your home, some cooler condition require a little longer proofing. Normally the rule of thumb is, dough doubling in size. Proofing time of 50mins – 1hour seem like a norm for me as my home is air conditioned most of the time

AIR FRYER BAKING METHOD BELOW:

1) Pre-heat AF @ 155degrees for 5mins

2) Bake @ 155degrees for 10mins followed by 145degrees for 8mins (do not open the Air Fryer) Do test your temperature and adjust accordingly. High temperature will have your dough rise too fast & cause air holes below your crust (hence the dent in) and may also affect the crust texture

You can bake your Shokupan with or without the lid closed. Open lid baking will give you a dome shaped loaf while a closed lid baking will give you a squarish flat top loaf

3) Remove your Shokupan from the AF to be cooled on rack

4) Let your Shokupan cool for at least 2 hours before you slice them. This is to allow the loaf structure to settle otherwise, you may risk causing a small dense layer at the bottom due to the pressure of pressing the loaf while slicing. I prefer to cool mine overnight before slicing them to keep in my air tight container (for overnight cool down, I would usually remove my AF tray basket & put it on a cooling rack, move my Shokupan onto it and cover with a cotton cloth)

Hope this recipe helps all AF bakers out there. Do try to batch test for the right temperature and bake timing since Air Fryers may vary due to different circumstances (usage frequency, size and model)

MORE RECIPES HERE :)