3-Strand Braided Bread with Sweet Black Bean Filling Video

Tasty and soft 3-strand braided bread filled with sweet sticky and spiced black bean paste. Great on its own, for tea and as dessert. Includes a how-to video. 

Let’s face it, this pandemic has made us stock up on beans more than we would like to admit. And this is not to sound like an insensitive person because the fact that I am saying this or that you are agreeing with me means we are both privileged enough to even think it.

So what happens when you have too many beans and have had your fill of this incredible bean stew? You start to wonder what else beans can become. I am here to answer your question with this 3-Strand Braided Bread with Sweet Black Bean Filling that you won’t even recognize has beans as a filling until someone tells you. I told you. Imagine a soft loaf of bread filled with sweet paste except this is bean paste. Yes. It is as good as it looks in case you are wondering. You are welcome. because I wanted you to believe for yourself, I even created a video for it. 

Observations

1. Black beans add a beautiful contrast but you can use any other type of dark/red beans. 

3-Strand Braided Bread with Black Bean Filling Video

What you will need:

Bread Dough

3 C. Flour

4 Tbsp. Sugar

1/2 Tsp. Salt

2 Tsp. Yeast

1 C. Milk, warm

1/4 C. Oil

Additional cup of flour for kneading

Filling

1 C. Black beans

1 C. Sugar

1/3 C. Condensed milk

1 Tbsp. Vanilla essence

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

1 Tsp. Allspice

1 Tsp. Ground Cloves

1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 Tsp. Salt

Method

Bread dough

1. Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and yeast) in a large bowl. In a separate small bowl, add the milk and oil and mix well.
2. Slowly pour the milk oil mixture in the bowl of dry ingredients while mixing gradually.
3. Mix till a dough is formed. Cover the dough with a damp towel and set aside to rise for 1 hour

Filling

1. Soak the beans for 6 hours or overnight till they are soft. Boil the beans till they are tender. This can take about an hour in a regular pan or 25 minutes in a pressure cooker. 
2. Once the beans are boiled, divide them into two equal parts. Keep the other part for stews. add half a cup of water into the remaining beans and let them simmer
3. Add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, ground cloves/ allspice, nutmeg and salt. Let the beans simmer till all the liquid has reduced. Keep stirring while mashing them. Add condensed milk and continue stirring while mashing the beans. 
4. Remove the beans from fire and let them cool. Using either a glass or a wooden spoon, mash the beans until they turn into a thick rich paste. If you want it to be very smooth, you can use a blender or food processor. Set your paste aside. 

Braided Bread

1. After the dough has risen for an hour, punch it down and knead it for about 5 minutes or until it is smooth and not sticky.  
2. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll out each part. Spread the filling on each rolled out part of the bread and roll it into a log. Braid these three ‘logs’ into a braided bread. Make sure to seal the edges so the filling doesn’t come out when baking.  Set on a greased baking tray and let it rise for another 20 minutes. 
3. Bake at 350 degrees F 45 minutes. The bread will double in size and had a golden brown exterior. 
4. Serve the bread when cool.  

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