XO Milk Bread
XO sauce needs no introduction - made up of ingredients so traditionally indulgent that the sauce itself is named after the Asian uncle drink of choice (Hennessey’s XO Cognac, naturally), it is a spicy umami bomb that elevates everything, and works especially well with fried foods (e.g. turnip cake, omg). I’m surprised that XO sauce hasn’t quite gone viral in the same way that chilli crisp or gochujang have, but it might also be because no two sauces are the same. Whilst there are a couple of variations of chilli crisp (see Lao Gan Ma’s extensive product line), there’s a whole universe of XO sauces because there isn’t an “official”, established recipe. Every batch of XO sauce is unique - one batch might have cured, salted fish and the other abalone.
The only thing all XO sauces have in common is that they have to be packed with umami-filled ingredients - and traditionally, that means dried seafood, dried ham, and chillis. That also means that pretty much every jar is so addictively good, you could even nibble it straight out of the jar. And now you can do that with this bread - in this recipe, the sweet, mild milk bread is really just a receptacle holding an entire jar of XO sauce together. The braids also make it the perfect pull-apart, sharing bread - but if I were you, I might think twice about sharing this one :)
Ingredients:
160ml heavy cream
250ml milk
1 egg
75g sugar
570g bread flour
7g active dry yeast (roughly one sachet)
A 300g jar of XO sauce
1 egg, beaten for an egg wash
Add the heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, bread flour and active dry yeast to a bowl, without mixing any of the ingredients together. Knead the ingredients together at high speed for roughly 15 minutes, or until it passes the “windowpane” test.
To run the “windowpane” test, take a small, thumb-sized piece of dough and stretch it in between your fingers to form a rectangle (or square). Hold the dough up to the light - if the dough has stretched into a square, and is so thin that light can be seen through it (without the dough ripping or tearing), it’s passed!
Once the dough has been sufficiently kneaded, cover it with a damp tea towel and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, which should take about 2 hours.
After the dough has doubled in size, gently punch the dough to knock out any large air bubbles. Remove the dough from the bowl, and roll the dough out into a large rectangle. Generously spread the XO sauce over dough, ensuring that you’re leaving a half inch border around the edge.
Tightly roll the dough up, being careful to ensure that none of the XO sauce drips out. Slice the dough “rope” lengthwise into three long strips, and braid the strips together to form a long dough “braid”.
Place the long dough “braid” in a greased 9 inch round cake tin, with a cake ring inserted in the middle. Press the ends of the “braid” together so that it joins, and place the dough “braid” in a warm place to rise for another hour. You should be able to make two dough braids.
Once the dough has risen again, brush with egg wash and bake for roughly 25 minutes at 175°C, or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and let cool for about 20 minutes before serving.