• Poolish: Mix whole wheat flour, yeast, water, and soy milk together in a large bowl. Cover and rise at room temperature for 1 hour, then transfer to the fridge overnight. The next morning, take it out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature until doubled in size and bubbly (about an hour).
  120 grams (1 cup) whole wheat flour, ¼ tsp instant yeast*, 80 grams water, 40 grams soy milk

Kneading

• Combine: To the bowl of your stand mixer, add remaining soy milk, sugar, yeast, bread flour, salt, vital wheat gluten (if using) and the poolish. Attach a dough hook to your stand mixer. Turn it on at low speed (1-3) to combine the ingredients, then gradually increase speed to medium (4-5) as the dough comes together. Knead on medium for about 5 minutes. The dough should come together into a ball and loose some of its stickiness. Turn off the stand mixer, cover with a towel, and let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes.
  50 grams soy milk, 18 grams granulated sugar, ¼-¾ tsp instant yeast1, 120 grams (1 cup) bread flour, 3 grams (½ tsp) salt, 5 grams (1½ tsp) vital wheat gluten*2
• Rough windowpane: Turn the mixer back on to medium speed and knead another 5 minutes or so until the dough is smooth and forms a rough windowpane⁴ (i.e. you should be able to stretch it out fairly thin before it breaks, but maybe not enough for light to pass through yet). Cover and rest again for 10 minutes.
• Windowpane: Turn the mixer back on at low speed and gradually add in the butter cubes. Increase the speed to medium as the butter gets incorporated into the dough. Continue kneading on medium speed for 5-10 minutes until the dough reaches the windowpane stage. You can stop to scrape down the dough every couple minutes if needed. If your mixer gets too hot, turn if off, cover the dough, and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
  13 grams unsalted vegan butter

First Proof

• Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased large bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and set on the counter to rise for 1-3 hours until doubled in size. You can also use the "proof" setting if your oven has one to speed up the proofing time.
• Deflate and divide: Press down on the dough to deflate it and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into three equal pieces (about 150 grams each). Gently roll each piece into a ball and cover with a kitchen towel. Rest for 10-15 minutes.
• Grease pan: Meanwhile, melt about 2 tsp of vegan butter. Use a pastry brush to brush the butter all over the bottom and sides of your loaf pan (and the lid if you are making a flat-topped loaf). You can also use oil if you prefer.

Shape Dough

• Lightly flour your work surface. Take one dough ball and roll it out into a vertical rectangle.
• Spread the sweet red bean paste onto the dough, leaving a few inches of space around the perimeter of the dough.
  200 grams sweet red bean paste3
• Fold dough into thirds, overlapping 1-2 inches in the center.
• Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll it out again into a vertical rectangle. Fold dough into thirds and rotate 90 degrees. Repeat the process once more.
• Cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.
• Finally, roll the dough out into a rectangle the length of your bread pan. Cut into thirds about a 1/2-inch down from the top of the rectangle (leave the dough connected at the top), and braid the strands together.

Second Proof

• Place the braided dough into your greased bread pan. Cover and let the dough proof until doubled in size, 1-3 hours.
• When the dough has risen a little over halfway (after about 40-60 minutes), preheat oven to 385°F/195°C (or 360°F/180°C for convection oven).

Bake

• Uncover the dough and place into the oven on the middle rack. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 195°F/90°C. It should be nicely browned on the outside and spring back when you push on it. Tent with foil if the top is browning too quickly (check after 15 minutes).

Cool

• Tap the pan on the countertop 1-2 times to let water vapor escape (this prevents the bread from shrinking).
• Turn the pan on its side and give it a few thrusts to slide the bread out. Place the bread on a wire rack to cool completely.
• Let the bread cool completely before slicing so the structure can set. If you cut into the bread too soon, it may shrink and lose moisture.