While writing my last post on Red Wine and Dried-Fruit Bread, I have talked about Wu Pao-Chun and his Fermented Glutinous Rice and Dried Longan Bread. Someone who closely related to Wu Pao-Chun is Chen Fu Guang (陳撫洸) – the legendary bread master who is the mentor of Wu Pao-Chun and the one who lead him to explore the wonderful world of tastes.

There is one saying in the Taiwan Baking Industry – “北野上、中阿洸、南寶春“. This refers to the famous bakers Tomohiro Nogami (野上智寬) in Taipei, Chen Fu Guang (陳撫洸) in Taichung and Wu Pao-Chun (吳寶春) in Kaohsiung. They are the leading bakers in Taiwan.

Since there are so many articles and posts written on Chen Fu Guang and his Domoto Bakery Store, I am not intended to repeat here.

In fact, I have come across his book “堂本麵包店  小巷𥚃的味蕾奇蹟” (ISBN 978-986-93284-4-9) and would like to learn from the master by following some of the recipes and tips shared by him.

Today, I will try to make his “Black Tea Bread with Raisins (紅茶葡萄包)”.

Black Tea Bread with Raisins recipe:

Remark: Master Chen’s original recipe calls for the use of nature yeast cultivated by him. For simplicity, I have omitted this and probably I should incorporate this to give a rich flavour to the bread, in the future baking exercises.

Preparation

Fillings – Raisins

• Prepare a pot of boiling water and soak the dried raisins into the water for 30 seconds
• Take out and dry the raisins with kitchen paper
• Filter off the water and let it cool down
• Substitute the water of the dough with those used for soaking of the raisins (This will add more flavour to the bread – Master Chen’s tips)

Earl Grey Tea

I am using those 2 g per pack Twinings Earl Grey tea-bags and so two and a half packs are required.

• Unpack the Earl Grey tea-bags and soaked in 65 ml of hot water (Boiling water is preferrable)
• Put aside the Earl Grey tea powder and let it cool down completely before use

Main Dough

1. Mix all the ingredients including the Earl Grey tea powder (except the unsalted butter and raisins)
2. Knead the dough until it is smooth on the surface
3. Add the unsalted butter and knead until the dough is firm
4. Add the raisins to the dough and mix them thoroughly
5. Put the dough in a bowl and cover with wet cloth
6. Leave the dough to rise for 60 minutes
7. Relax the dough
8. Divide the dough into 6 pieces and shape them into balls
9. Cover them with wet cloth and leave them for 30 minutes
10. Shape the dough into short bars of 17 cm each and leave them for a final proof of 60 minutes or until double in size

45 minutes into the final proof, I made the necessary scoring of the bread.

Baking

Pre-heat the oven to 230°C and lower the temperature to 220°C right after putting the dough inside the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Wow, freshly baked Black Tea Bread with lot of raisins and the strong flavor of bergamot is really appealing.

By the way, I have extended the baking time to 15 minutes to give the bread a darker colour.

The crumb inside is not too bad and the bread tastes so good that I don’t wanna stop.🤣🤣

No wonder Chen Fu Guang is a genius in taste.

My version of the Black Tea Bread is quite soft and chewy inside given that it has a higher water content.

Personally, I would like to add more Earl Grey tea to strengthen the flavour in my next attempt. 🤣

What I Have Learnt from the Master?

• Don’t waste anything that may retain taste of the ingredients during the preparation process
• We may need to slightly increase the amount of those ingredients that give wonderful smell and taste as they may escape during the baking process