Kumamon Charcoal Cream Cheese Bread

Ladies and gentleman, introducing....Kumamon Bread! I have made this awhile back (got a little slow in writing about it), and this was my very first time making a bread from scratch. Not too shabby, huh? Although there were parts that I was not entirely happy with (which I will list down below), I have decided to cut myself some slack and just enjoy these adorable buns.

The recipe that I am using was adapted from the ever amazing Cho's daily cook 초의 데일리쿡 , with some personal twist to the ingredient, as usual. The moment I saw her instruction video on making these adorable bread, I knew that I have to make them ASAP (Though her's look so much better than mine, but hey she's the expert).

Konichiwa! 

The original recipe calls for squid ink as the colouring of the bread, but since I could not get my hands on those, I have replaced them with black Charcoal powder instead (I got mine from BMS Organics). Just mix 2 tablespoons of charcoal powder with the milk, and you will have a very efficient, not to mention, healthy black colouring.

After getting out from the oven and before decoration.

As I've said before, there were some parts that I was not entirely happy with, I shall list them down as a "note to self" for future reference.

1. The dough could have risen more before going into the oven. I have rushed the process and put it in the oven too soon, which leads to a flatter bun as compared to the ones in the original recipe.
2. The cream cheese filling could be a little more liquidy by adding a teaspoon of milk.
3. I have put the bread in the oven for a tad bit too long, causing them to harden a little too much for my liking. (The insides were still soft, so yay) Stick to maximum 25 mins.

Despite the minor mistakes, the bread was nonetheless yummy, and hey, let's not forget that they are just oh so adorable! Without further ado, see recipe after photos, or watch cho's daily cook's detailed video for even clearer instructions!

Too adorable!

Just having some fun with it (lol)

Kumamon Charcoal Cream Cheese Bread

Recipe adapted from Cho's daily cook, modified by Ashley Ooi

Adorable and healthy Kumamon Charcoal Cream Cheese Bread!

Ingredients:

• 220g Bread Flour
• 145ml Milk
• 2 tbsp Charcoal Powder
• 25g Butter
• 5g Instant dry yeast
• 20g Sugar
• 3g Salt
• 100g Cream Cheese
• 12g Powdered sugar
• a few drops Red food colouring
• 30g White chocolate
• 20g dark chocolate

Cooking Directions:

1. Mix milk and charcoal powder.
2. Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar as the filling. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, mix strong flour, salt , yeast, butter, and the milk+charcoal mixture until it becomes a dough. Knead dough for 15~20 minutes until the surface is smooth.
4. Place the kneaded dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it ferment for 1 hour in a warm place (First fermentation).
5. Punch the dough to let air out and divide the dough into 4 equal parts, and a small dough enough to make the ears. Cover and ferment for another 15 minutes (middle fermentation).
6. Flatten the dough and add cream cheese filling.
7. Place the bun in a square pan, cover and ferment for 30 minutes (Second fermentation).
8. Preheat oven to 150℃
9. Bake for 20~22 minutes in 150℃/302℉ oven.
10. Decorate the bun with white chocolate and dark chocolate (see video for more detailed instruction).

 Love, 

Ashley