Dense Pudding Bread

Instructions

1. [Make the Pudding Sheet] Mix together the ingredients marked in the milk marked .
2. Heat in a 500w microwave for 1 minute.
3. Whisk the ingredients together to make sure the heat is evenly distributed.
4. The result should be like a loose custard.
5. Microwave for another 30 seconds, until the custard begins to firm up.
6. If the custard is not firm enough, microwave for another 20 seconds.
7. While the custard is hot, add in the butter marked and mix thoroughly.
8. Bring the mixture together into a ball and press it out between two pieces of plastic wrap to form a sheet.
9. The pudding sheet is now ready to use.
10. [Postscript to step 2: It can be difficult to mix in the butter marked , but please make sure to mix it in thoroughly] Now we will make the bread dough.
11. Place all the ingredients for the dough, except for the bread flour and butter, into the pan of your bread machine, and start the dough setting.
12. After 7~8 minutes have elapsed, add in the flour and butter and let the dough cycle through its first rising.
13. (If you want a caramelized crust to your dough, also add in 15 g of sugar.)
14. Punch down the bread dough and let it rest.
15. then fold in the pudding sheet we made in step 1.
16. Shape the bread into your desired loaf, and bake at 180C.
17. For a 230 g loaf this will take about 23 minutes, for a 300 g loaf, about 30 minutes.
18. While the bread is still hot from the oven, paint the surface with the caramel sauce.
19. This will make the bread even more pudding-like.
20. In the picture of the cross section, the bread is close to pudding coloured, so it is difficult to see the pudding ribbon where the pudding sheet was folded in.
21. I used Nisshin Mills smooth custard pudding mix.
22. It contains about 40 g of pudding mix.
23. I used 30 g for the pudding sheet, and poured the rest of the mix into the bread machine with the ingredients for the dough.