I've been working on this one for a couple of weeks. The whole idea in a line: a soft, sweet enriched milk bread under a dark, slightly bitter shell.
The first version asked the oven to make the crust. Turns out a dark crust on a milk bread just reads as baked-too-hot, and the crumb dries out before the outside gets where I want it. So v2 flips it: bake the loaf gentle, then build the shell on top, last, under the broiler.
Dough (one pull-apart loaf, 9x5 pan)
- 340 g bread flour
- 100 g tangzhong (20 g flour + 100 g milk, cooked to a paste, chilled 8-24 h, make it the night before)
- 130 g warm milk
- 1 egg (~50 g)
- 45 g sugar
- 6 g salt
- 7 g instant yeast
- 55 g soft butter
Method
- Knead to a windowpane. First rise ~1.5 h, until doubled.
- Divide into 8-9 pieces, round them, second rise in a buttered pan ~45 min.
- Bake at 165-170 C (325-340 F) for 25-30 min. Pull when the centre reads ~90 C (195 F). Tent with foil if it colours early. No char in the oven this time.
- Out of the oven: brush with 40 g browned butter + 25 g burnt honey. Then broil until deep mahogany, no black. That is a look, not a timer. Watch it the whole time, it goes fast.
- Cracked black pepper and flaky salt on top.
What the finish should look like
Left is where to stop. Right is one step too far. That photo is the whole last step; match the left, never the right.
The ask I don't have a kitchen (long story), so this has been designed and reasoned but never baked by me. If you try it, could you tell me:
- internal temp when you pulled it
- did the shell land on deep mahogany, or tip into black
- rise times
- anything that fought you
What I'm least sure of is the broiler step and whether "deep mahogany" transfers to someone who isn't me. If it's wrong, tell me how it's wrong.