If you thought this recipe was going to be premade bread, premade mascarpone cheese, and fresh strawberries, you would be only 1/3 right there. I was inspired to do this from my trip to Japan(which honestly inspired a LOT of new recipes for me). I got some strawberry sando’s from Tokyo Station on my Shinkansen ride to Kyoto, and they were delicious. Mine specifically had cherry blossom-white bean paste in them, which I adored, but for this version, I wanted to make it more summery, and since cherry blossoms are more of a spring flavor, I opted out of using them. I also wanted the sando to have a richer flavor profile, and a little more body than what whipped cream would provide, so that inspired me to go the route of mascarpone cheese instead. When in doubt, cream cheese and mascarpone are your friends. Unless you’re vegan or lactose intolerant. In which case, I’m terribly sorry. Now I get that the expectation for those who are familiar with me is to make my own bread. Which I did. I made a milk bread, because I love milk bread. It is soft, springy, and light, which are all great qualities in a sandwich bread. Making or using brioche works nicely here too, since brioche plus fruit and cream is literally a tropezienne. I also rippled my dough with a pink-tinted bread dough, just because I wanted there to be a pleasant and fun color contrast! For the strawberries, fresh strawberries of any kind work, but I specifically went for Harry’s Berries, which are a variety that are grown specifically in California. These berries are modeled after Japanese strawberries, and are perfumy, sweet, and really juicy, so they don’t need a whole lot done to them for their flavor to shine through!

Homemade mascarpone is something I used to make all the time in college, because it was a really relaxing process that provided a much-needed distraction from being a student. And nothing worked better than learning how to make your own cheese from scratch! Fresh mascarpone has a really distinct milk-forward flavor to it that I personally adore. If you have ever eaten fresh milk ice cream before, homemade mascarpone has a very similar flavor profile to that. Fragrant, nutty, dairy-forward to the point where someone who is lactose intolerant may regret consuming it, that’s fresh mascarpone for you. If you are wondering what makes this mascarpone even more special, besides it being made from scratch, I actually infused it with a little bit of tonka bean. Tonka beans are like a cousin to vanilla beans, but on steroids. In that they have a more robust flavor, with notes similar to vanilla, but also containing hints of almond, cherry, and cocoa. You are more than welcomed to just use vanilla of any kind as well, since tonka beans are kind of contraband anyways(only for commercial selling, but not for home cooking before someone tries to report me to the FDA). If you want to make this recipe but don’t feel like making the mascarpone and bread from scratch, I suppose you can always just buy all of the premade stuff and just enjoy your sandwiches that way! I just wanted to make everything from scratch because I love making my own bread, and it has been a while since I made mascarpone from scratch, so doing both just felt right.

For the milk bread:
5 cups all-purpose flour, in 2 parts
3/4 cups milk
3 tbsp canola oil
1 egg
2 tbsp mayonnaise
a pinch of salt
2 packets active-dry yeast
1/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp red beet powder

In a pot, heat up 1 part of flour with the milk, stirring on medium-high heat until both ingredients have thickened into a paste. Take off heat and stir in the butter first. Then add in the egg and salt. In another bowl, mix together the yeast with water and sugar. Once the cooked flour mixture is cool dough to touch, mix that into the yeast mixture, and stir in the rest of the flour. Knead the dough together for 10 minutes, or until it is elastic and smooth. Portion out 1/2 of the dough and mix in the red beet powder into that bit of the dough. Cover then rest both doughs for 1 hour at room temperature, then another hour in the refrigerator. After resting the doughs, roll each of them out into an ovular shape. Place the red/pink dough on top of the undyed doll, then roll them together into a thick scroll. Place the doughs into a lined shokupan tin, and proof at room temperature for another hour before baking at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes. Allow the bread loaf to fully cool down before using for the sando’s.

For the homemade mascarpone cheese:
2 cups heavy cream
a pinch of salt
a pinch of grated tonka bean or 1 vanilla bean pod or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp lemon juice

In a pot, heat up the heavy cream, salt, and the tonka bean/vanilla. If using a vanilla bean pod, be sure to slice the pod in half, scrape out the beans, place that into the cream in addition to the husk, and be sure to strain out the pod husk prior to storing the mixture in the refrigerator! Once the cream has reached 200 degrees F, add in the lemon juice. Low the heat and continue stirring, maintaining the temperature of 200 degrees F in the cream for 5 minutes. Then take the cream off heat, and pour into a container. Refrigerate overnight to create your cheese.

For assembly:
Fresh strawberries, hulled

To start, cut your bread into 1/2-inch thick slices. Spread about 1 1/2 tbsp of mascarpone onto two slices. On one, layer on your strawberries, just down the middle – you can either do them along one corner to the other, or along one side to the other, depending on if you want to make triangular or rectangular sandwiches respectively! Then press the two sandwiches, mascarpone-spread sides facing one another, together. You can use cling wrap here to add more pressure/to keep the mascarpone from somehow running out the sides. Then slice it down the middle, either diagonally or perpendicularly, depending on how you arranged the strawberries, to reveal the berries inside.