Although this creative bread doesn’t taste a whole lot like watermelon, this fun and exciting recipe creates a soft, fluffy watermelon look-alike bread that’s not only beautiful, but also tasty. Studded with chocolate chips, this sweet bread is best served warm with butter.
Ingredients
Fresh Watermelon Juice
2 Tbsp fresh watermelon juice
Watermelon Bread
2 ⅔ cups bread flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 packet (2 ¼ tsp) active dry yeast
¾ tsp salt
1 large egg
¾ cup whole milk, warm
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
Red and green food color
1 ¼ cups mini semisweet chocolate chips (raisins could work also)
Directions
Fresh Watermelon Juice
Place watermelon in a blender and puree until smooth. Then pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer.
Watermelon Bread
In a stand mixer fitted with the bread hook attachment, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt and mix well. Add the egg and milk, and knead the mixture until it comes together. Add the butter and knead for another 10-15 minutes until the dough becomes very smooth.
Divide the dough into four parts, one slightly larger than the other three. Tint the larger portion with red food coloring, and add in the watermelon juice and chocolate chips. Knead the dough until the juice and chocolate chips are thoroughly incorporated. Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.
Form one of the remaining three doughs into a smooth ball, place the untinted dough into a separate greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Tint one of the remaining dough balls light green. Form the dough into a smooth ball, place it into a third greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Tint the last dough ball dark green. Form the dough into a smooth ball, place it into a fourth greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.
Allow all four doughs to rise until they have doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Generously spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Once the doughs have doubled in size, remove each dough ball from its bowl and punch it down, one at a time.
Use your hands to form the red dough into a log almost the length of the loaf pan. Use a rolling pin to roll out the untinted dough into a thin layer. Wrap this thin layer around the red dough.
Use a rolling pin to roll out the dark green dough and cut it into thin strips. Then roll out the light green dough and place the dark green strips on top of the light green dough. Use a rolling pin and slightly roll out to incorporate the two layers of dough. Wrap the green layer around the untinted watermelon log with the stripes parallel to the length of the loaf pan.
Place the dough into the greased loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 45-50 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Once the dough has finished rising, remove the plastic wrap and place the loaf pan in the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove the loaf from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn the loaf out onto a wire rack and allow to cool slightly before slicing.