Three-colour yeast loaf

With spring just around the corner, it’s worth experimenting with colour :). Today’s yeast bread comes in three colours: green, brown and white. It’s a simple yeast loaf made without eggs. In flavour, it’s similar to traditional challah – a lightly sweet bread that’s delicious simply spread with fresh butter and homemade jam. The colour comes from the addition of cocoa and matcha, but don’t worry if you don’t want to buy Japanese tea especially for this recipe – you can also achieve the green colour by blending fresh baby spinach with the milk (as in my spinach crepes). You can also make a yellow version by adding a few strands of saffron to the milk. Highly recommended!

Note: This loaf can easily be made dairy-free – replace the milk with water or soya, almond or rice milk, and the butter with dairy-free margarine or oil.

Ingredients for the white dough:

• 200 g strong white bread flour
• a pinch of salt
• 40 g caster sugar
• 120 ml milk
• 30 g butter, melted
• 4 g dried yeast or 8 g fresh yeast

Sift the flour and mix with the dried yeast (if using fresh yeast, first make a yeast starter). Add the remaining ingredients and knead until smooth and elastic. You can knead the dough by hand or use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (mixing with a mixer will take about 15 minutes). Place the dough in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1–1½ hours.

Punch down the risen dough. Roll it into a long rope about 60 cm in length.

Ingredients for the green dough:

• 200 g strong white bread flour
• a pinch of salt
• 40 g caster sugar
• 130 ml milk
• 30 g butter, melted
• 4 g dried yeast or 8 g fresh yeast
• 1 tablespoon matcha powder

Whisk the matcha into the milk, then prepare the dough in the same way as the white dough.

Ingredients for the brown dough:

• 200 g strong white bread floura pinch of salt
• 40 g caster sugar
• 130 ml milk
• 30 g butter, melted
• 4 g dried yeast or 8 g fresh yeast
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Whisk the cocoa powder into the milk, then prepare the dough in the same way as the white dough.

Method:

Join the three coloured ropes together at one end and braid them, tucking the ends underneath.

Place the braided dough in a 30 x 10 cm loaf tin, greased with butter and dusted with plain flour. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for 30–40 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Bake at 170°C for about 35–40 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave to cool slightly in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack.

Enjoy!