Totoro Pull-apart Bread Recipe

I always love to make pull-apart bread! This pull-apart bread recipe is simple to make and cute to eat. This Totoro-inspired food recipe is a must-try at home! Very cute and fun pull-apart bread idea. Here is how to create this cute bread.

Ingredients:

I have attached links for some of the ingredients/items that I used below.

• Gray (Totoro) Dough

  • 300g All Purpose Flour

  • 156g Lukewarm Milk

  • 55g Sugar

  • 3g Instant Yeast

  • A Pinch of Salt

  • 20g Unsalted Butter

  • 1 Egg

  • 2 Tbsp + 1 Tsp Black Sesame Powder

• White (Totoro’s belly) Dough

  • 30g All Purpose Flour

  • 16g Lukewarm Milk

  • 10g Sugar

  • 1/8 Tsp Instant Yeast

• Square Pan dimensions: 8 inch by 8 inch

• Decoration

  • Dark Chocolate

  • White Chocolate

Steps:

To make the gray (Totoro) dough:

1. Take lukewarm milk and add a pinch of sugar.

2. Add instant yeast to the milk. Stir and let it sit for 5 minutes.

3. Sieve in the flour, add black sesame powder, sugar, salt, egg, and milk with instant yeast in a separate bowl, and stir until a dough forms. If the dough is too dry, gradually add milk until the dough is a little sticky to the touch.

4. Cover the bowl, and wait for 20 minutes.

5. After 20 minutes, add in butter. Knead for about 5 minutes or until you can stretch the dough, where it almost becomes transparent.

6. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover it. Let it sit for 1 hour or until the dough doubles in size.

To make the white (Totoro’s belly) dough:

1. Take lukewarm milk and add a pinch of sugar.

2. Add instant yeast to the milk. Stir and let it sit for 5 minutes.

3. Sieve in the flour, add sugar and milk with instant yeast in a separate bowl and stir until a dough forms. If the dough is too dry, gradually add milk until the dough is a little sticky to the touch.

4. Cover the bowl, and wait for 20 minutes.

5. After 20 minutes, knead for about 5 minutes or until you can stretch the dough, where it almost becomes transparent.

6. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover it. Let it sit for 1 hour or until the dough doubles in size.

After an hour:

1. For the gray dough, divide them into 16 portions. Each portion will be 34g. The remaining dough will be the ears.

2. Knead the 16 portions into a circle and cover/proof for 15 minutes.

3. 15 minutes later, knead again into a circle and place them in your square pan lined with parchment paper.

4. With the leftover dough, make little small ears (in a triangular shape). You can look at the picture below for reference.

5. For the white dough, divide them into 16 portions. Each portion will be 3g. Roll the dough horizontally. These will be Totoro’s belly. You can look at the picture below for reference.

6. Preheat the oven to 300F.

Time to Decorate:

1. Add the ears to each bun. To prevent the ears from falling off, you can add a little bit of water to the head before sticking on the ears. The water acts like our glue. Do the same for Totoro’s belly.

1. Once everything is attached, take aluminium foil and cover the square pan before baking. This will prevent the buns from turning colours.

2. Bake the buns at 300F for about 25 minutes. I am using a countertop oven.

3. Once the time is up, leave the buns in the oven for 5 minutes before taking them out. This will help prevent them from deflating or getting wrinkly.

4. Let the bread cool off.

5. Take melted dark & white chocolate to draw the eyes, nose, whiskers, and the arrows on Totoro’s belly.

6. Your Totoro pull-apart bread is ready! My favourite way to enjoy these is by adding condensed milk.

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