How To Make Rilakkuma Pull-Apart Bread

Rilakkuma Pull-Apart Bread

I’m sooooo excited about this recipe! I’ve seen a ton of pictures of Rilakkuma pull-apart bread on Instagram, and I’m finally making this for the first time<3 I found this YouTube video (in Japanese language only) and used it as my reference.

Since the referenced video was meant for Japanese audiences, I, who live in the US, had to modify a few things during the process.

Working with Metrics

First of all, I don’t usually work with metrics so I had to convert all measurements to cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. I had some bread-making experiences in the past so whenever I felt the conversion was not accurate, I improvised to make it work. I’m listing the original recipe ingredients plus measurements below in case someone is more familiar with the metric system. If you are like me, try following my improvised version in the main recipe area.

Bread Ingredients in Grams – Original Recipe
flour	250g
salt	⅓ teaspoon
unsalted butter	20g
milk	170cc
dry yeast	3g
sugar	30g
unsweetened cocoa powder	1 teaspoon
warm water	½ Tablespoon

Small Portion

Another problem I encountered was the quantity. This recipe makes a smaller amount of bread than a lot of US-based recipes. I’m used to making everything in US size (=Super size LOL) so I had to find the smallest baking dish I had for this bread, which was 8 inches by 6 inches. Instead of separating the dough into 16 pieces like the original recipe, I divided the dough into 8. Because of it, my bread didn’t turn out square like most of the pull-apart bread on Instagram, but I think it still looks fine:)

Tip: Preparing A Warm Environment for The Dough
The best temperature for yeast fermentation is between 90˚F-95˚F (32˚C-35˚C) [1], but what if you want to bake this bread in cold weather? Instead of cranking up the room temperature, heat your oven to the lowest temperature that you can set to (Mine was 170˚F). Then, turn it off and slightly leave the door open. Cool the inside till it hits somewhat similar to a hot summer day temperature. Then place the dough to rise inside the oven and close the door.

Decorating the Pull-Apart Bread

Decorating the bread would have been a little easier if I lived in Japan. Chocolate decoration pens are commonly available to purchase over there. They come in various colors of chocolate that are already packaged in pen-shaped plastic. I don’t have easy access to them in the US, but making chocolate pens is super easy with some piping bags, Ziplock bags, or paper cones.

Melt some white chocolate in a microwave and add some food coloring of your choice and mix. Package it into a piping bag/Ziplock bag/paper cones and ta-da! You have your own chocolate decoration pen. For a black chocolate pen, using milk chocolate or dark chocolate is recommended to achieve a rich black color without too much food coloring.

Tip: Softening Hardened Chocolate Pens
If your chocolate pens get hardened while you are still decorating, grab some hot water and pour it into a cup. Once the cup gets warm, press the chocolate pens against the cup and soften the chocolate.

Summary

After I finished making this Rilakkuma pull-apart bread, it was too cute to eat. I somewhat felt sad eating it, but the taste was definitely worth it. I liked it was semi-sweet, but not overly sweet like desserts. The texture was soft and chewy, which reminded me of Hawaiian sweet rolls. Overall, I’m really happy how everything turned out, and I hope you get to try this too<3

Rilakkuma Pull-Apart Bread

Semi-sweet rolls with cute Rilakkuma face

Course Snack

Cuisine Japanese

Keyword Bread

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 20

Decorating 30

Total Time 2 50

Servings 8 pieces of bread

Cost $10

Equipment

Baking Dish
Mixing Bowls
Piping bags/Ziplock bags/Paper cones

Ingredients

Bread

1 3/4 cup flour plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
3/4 cup milk
1/2 packet Red Star active dry yeast
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tablespoon warm water
some vegetable oil for greasing the baking dish

White Chocolate Pen

1/8 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon milk

Pink Chocolate Pen

1/8 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon milk
pink food coloring

Yellow Chocolate Pen

1/8 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon milk
yellow food coloring

Black Chocolate Pen

1/8 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon milk
black food coloring

Instructions

For the bread

Grease the baking dish with vegetable oil.
In a small bowl, mix warm milk (about 110°F or 43°C), active dry yeast, and sugar. Set aside.
In another small bowl, mix warm water and unsweetened cocoa powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix flour, unsalted butter, salt, and yeast mixture until it becomes one ball of dough. If the dough is too wet, keep adding ⅛ cup of flour at a time and mix until the dough holds a ball-shape.
Take out the dough on the floured surface and knead the dough by hand until it’s smooth and elastic (about 10 min)
Evenly split the dough into 2. Set aside one half of the dough in a bowl and cover with saran wrap. Let it rest in a warm environment for 1 hour or until it becomes twice the size.
On the other half of the dough, add a small amount of the unsweetened cocoa powder liquid at a time and knead. Keep kneading until all cocoa powder liquid is evenly combined with the dough. Once combined, put the dough in a bowl and cover it with saran wrap. Let it rest in a warm environment for 1 hour or until it becomes twice the size.
Once risen, punch the plain dough to release the air. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, divide the dough into 4 pieces. Then cut about ⅛ portions of the dough from every 4 pieces for ears. Make 4 large balls of dough and 8 small balls of dough for ears. Repeat the same for the chocolate dough.
Line the large balls of dough in a greased baking dish by alternating two colors. Then attach the tiny balls of “ears” to the main dough. *Place the ears on top and grub a small portion of dough from the bottom of the ear with a toothpick, then keep stubbing into the main dough until the ears stick.
Once ears are attached, let it rise in a warm environment for 30 min or until it becomes twice the size.
Preheat the oven to 340°F or 170°C.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake the bread for 10 min. Uncover and bake more for 5-10 min longer depending on the oven (I have a convection oven, and it took a total of 20 min to finish). Let it cool.

Notes

Preparing A Warm Environment for The Dough

The best temperature for yeast fermentation is between 90˚F-95˚F (32˚C-35˚C) [1], but what if you want to bake this bread in cold weather? Instead of cranking up the room temperature, heat your oven to the lowest temperature that you can set to (Mine was 170˚F). Then, turn it off and slightly leave the door open. Cool the inside till it hits somewhat similar to a hot summer day temperature. Then place the dough to rise inside the oven and close the door.

Softening Hardened Chocolate Pens

If your chocolate pens get hardened while you are still decorating, grab some hot water and pour it into a cup. Once the cup gets warm, press the chocolate pens against the cup and soften the chocolate.