Leopard Bread

Here's how:

• 1

  Melt the butter, add the milk, and heat to 25 °C. Stir in the yeast and dissolve it.  

• 2

  Add the remaining ingredients and stir until you have a loose batter; mix thoroughly with a spatula or in the mixer for a few minutes.

• 3

  Divide the dough into 2 parts. Add cocoa and milk to one part. Cover the plain dough with plastic wrap or a baking cloth.

• 4

  Set aside half of the dough with cocoa and cover it with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Color the remaining dough with black food coloring. Then cover the black dough with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel.

• 5

  Let the dough rest under plastic wrap or a kitchen towel for 20–30 minutes.

• 6

  Divide each dough into 7 pieces: 5 of equal size and 2 that are slightly larger.

• 7

  Start by shaping the brown dough into long, cigar-shaped pieces.

  If you have a baking pan, it's a good idea to roll out the pieces so they're the same length as the pan.

• 8

  Then roll out the black dough so that it covers the entire brown dough, and brush it with a little water so that the dough sticks together properly.

• 9

  Now roll out the light-colored dough and place it over the black and brown dough.

  Roll out the pieces so they're even and smooth.

• 10

  Place the dough pieces in a greased rectangular pan. Or place the bread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you’ve used a lot of flour, you can brush a little water on the dough pieces as you stack them so they stick together.

• 11

  Let it rise for about 60–90 minutes, covered with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. You can also let it rise in a turned-off oven with the light on. Keep in mind that the rising process will be a little faster in this case and will take no more than 60 minutes.

• 12

  Preheat the oven to 270 °C; reduce the temperature to 220 °C when you put the bread in the oven. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 96–98 °C.

• 13

  When the bread is done, remove it from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.