Pretty and pillowy soft, this tri-coloured braided bread brings together the delicious combination of beetroot and chocolate!
There are 3 doughs in this recipe – a pink beetroot dough, a chocolate beetroot dough and a white dough. Try it and you’ll fall in love with this delightfully fun and wholesome bake!
What you’ll need:
Starter Dough
- 50g flour
- 40ml water (above 90 deg C/190 deg F)
White Dough
- 150ml milk (room temperature)
- 15g sugar
- 3g dried instant yeast
- 10g unsalted butter (softened)
- 200g bread flour
- 5g salt
Pink Beetroot Dough
- 150ml beetroot juice (room temperature) + 1-2 tbsps lemon juice or vinegar
- 30g sugar
- 3g dried instant yeast
- 10g unsalted butter (softened)
- 200g bread flour
- 5g salt
Chocolate Beetroot Dough
- 150ml beetroot juice (room temperature)
- 2 tbsps high quality cocoa powder
- 15g sugar
- 3g dried instant yeast
- 10g unsalted butter (softened)
- 200g bread flour
- 5g salt
How to make it:
Starter Dough
- Combine starter dough ingredients together and mix well. Leave in fridge overnight.
- Divide into 3 portions on day of baking.
White Bread Dough
- Dissolve sugar in warm milk then stir in the yeast. Rest for 10 mins until mixture becomes foamy.
- Add the mixture, bread flour, salt and 1 portion of starter dough into a stand mixer bowl.
- Attach the kneading hook onto the stand mixer and combine all ingredients on low speed 1.
- When all ingredients are combined, turn the speed up to 5 or 6 and knead the dough for 20 minutes, until smooth.
- Roll the dough into a ball and place it into a greased bowl.
- Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise for about 45 min to 1 hour at about 86°F(30°C) or until doubled the size.
Pink Beetroot Dough
- While the white dough is resting, make the pink beetroot dough using the same steps for the white dough above. Ensure the beetroot juice + lemon juice mixture is at room temperature before mixing with the sugar and yeast in step 1. Once this is done, rest the dough for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Chocolate Beetroot Dough
- Repeat the above with the chocolate beetroot dough.
Combining the Three Doughs
- Punch the doughs down. Using a rolling pin, roll out to form separate rectangles of similar sizes.
- Stack the doughs on one another, then roll them together.
- Shape and braid the combined dough into your preferred size/shape.
- Place on baking tray. Cover with a wet cloth and stand for 30 minutes.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 365 °F/ 185°C for 15 to 18 minutes.
- To check if the bread is fully cooked, tap the bottom to see if it makes a hollow sound.
- Once completely cooked, remove bread from oven and cool it down on a rack.
Notes:
- The addition of lemon juice or vinegar to beetroot juice will help ensure the colour of beetroot is retained during the baking process.
- Never mix salt into the yeast mixture as salt slows down yeast fermentation.