Chocolate Hokkaido Toast with Black Sugar Powder | A Cocoa Loaf with Long Soft Strands

A cocoa loaf that pulls in long strands

Hokkaido toast is the soft, pillowy white loaf you see on Japanese bakery shelves, the kind you pull apart with your hands rather than slice. The version we baked this week is darker. A cocoa dough with forty grams of Ship Brand Black Sugar Powder kneaded right in, chocolate chips folded late, then a long slow proof. The tear at the end pulls long strands, releases a caramel-cocoa scent, and finishes deeper than ordinary chocolate bread.

The sugar is what makes the difference. White sugar would give you sweetness and not much else. Ship Brand Traditional Black Sugar Powder carries the molasses and mineral depth that lets cocoa stretch into something closer to dark chocolate than to milk chocolate.

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Why this sugar

Black sugar powder is unrefined cane sugar that has been crushed fine enough to dissolve cleanly into a dough without sandy bits. The flavour is the point. You get a darker amber colour in the crumb, a caramel note that holds up alongside cocoa, and a slightly bitter edge at the back that keeps the loaf from being one-note sweet.

We use the Ship Brand Traditional Black Sugar Powder because it is the same heritage cane we have been milling since 1948, just ground to a baking-friendly texture. Forty grams is enough to colour and flavour the whole loaf without weighing the dough down.

Made with Ship Brand Traditional Black Sugar Powder 古法黑糖粉 300g. Heritage cane sugar, milled fine for baking. Shop the sugar.

Recipe

Yield: 1 toast loaf (450 g pan)

Prep: 30 minutes active

Proof: 90 minutes first proof, 60 minutes second proof

Bake: 45 minutes

Total: about 4 hours

Ingredients

• 250 g bread flour
• 15 g cocoa powder
• 10 g milk powder
• 40 g Ship Brand Traditional Black Sugar Powder
• 3 g salt
• 3 g instant yeast
• 80 g milk, room temperature
• 70 g light cream
• 25 g beaten egg
• 30 g unsalted butter, softened
• 30 g chocolate chips

Directions

1. Whisk the bread flour, cocoa powder, and milk powder in a stand mixer bowl until evenly mixed.
2. Sprinkle the black sugar powder over the dry mix. Place the salt in one corner of the bowl and the yeast in the opposite corner so they do not touch.
3. Pour in the milk, cream, and beaten egg.
4. Knead on low speed for 5 minutes, until the dough pulls cleanly off the bowl walls.
5. Add the softened butter. Continue kneading until the dough passes the window-pane test (a small piece stretches thin enough to see light through it).
6. Drop in the chocolate chips and mix on the lowest speed just until distributed. Stop before the chips break apart.
7. Cover and proof at room temperature until doubled, about 90 minutes.
8. Press out the gas, divide into three equal pieces, round each, and rest 15 minutes under a cloth.
9. Roll each piece into a long oval, then roll tightly from the short end into a cylinder. Place all three cylinders, seam down, into a 450 g toast pan.
10. Cover and proof again to 80 percent of the pan height.
11. Bake at 180 °C (350 °F) for 45 minutes, until the top is deep brown and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the side.
12. Turn out onto a rack. Wait 20 minutes before tearing.

Notes

• For a softer crust, brush the top with cream just before baking.
• The dough is high in fat and benefits from a cold overnight proof for the first rise if you want to bake in the morning.
• Substitute milk for the cream if you want a leaner loaf; the crumb will be slightly less tender.

Closing

Hokkaido toast is meant to be torn, not cut. Pull it apart while it is still warm, eat the first strand standing at the counter, then slice the rest for breakfast tomorrow. Pair it with black coffee, a glass of cold milk, or a cup of strong jasmine tea. The Ship Brand Black Sugar Powder is the part of the recipe you can stock once and keep for the next loaf, the next batch of cookies, the next pot of red bean.

Ship Brand (帆船牌) is the retail line of Yuen Tung Sugar Factory Industrial Company Limited. Sugar refined in Hong Kong since 1948. Shop the collection.