Chocolate Yeast Bread

"This recipe makes 2 gorgeous loaves sparkling with sugar crystals. The chocolate bread has chocolate chunks throughout and a slice reheated in the microwave is divine. This makes a great Christmas morning treat or gift to a friend. This bread is not difficult or complicated to make, the time involved is for double risings and restings. If you prefer you can make this with an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Cooking time includes 6 hours for the starter to proof. It was originally created by Paula Oland of the Balthazar Bakery in New York."
 
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photo by kzbhansen photo by kzbhansen
photo by kzbhansen
photo by kzbhansen photo by kzbhansen
Ready In:
11hrs 40mins
Ingredients:
17
Yields:
2 loaves
Serves:
20
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ingredients

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directions

  • Chocolate Bread Starter: Dissolve yeast in water for 10 minutes; stir in flour until completely mixed; cover loosely and leave to proof at room temperature 6 hours.
  • Chocolate Yeast Bread: Stir and thoroughly mix flour, cocoa, 1/3 cup sugar, yeast, water and 1/4 cup Chocolate Bread Starter (save the remainder for another use); let rest 15 minutes.
  • Scrape dough onto floured work surface and knead in salt and butter; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes; knead in chopped chocolate thoroughly.
  • Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap; let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours; leaving dough in bowl, fold dough into thirds as if folding a letter for an envelope, recover with plastic wrap; let rest 30 minutes.
  • Butter two 7"x3"x2" loaf pans and coat with remaining 2 T granulated sugar; divide dough in half and then divide each half into 4 even pieces; roll and form each piece of dough into a tight ball; place four pieces, smooth side up, side-by-side in each loaf pan; cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.
  • Preheat oven to 375°; combine egg yolk and cream and brush on loaves; sprinkle with turbinado sugar; place in oven, reduce temperature to 350° and bake for 40-45 minutes or until loaves have a slightly hollow sound when tapped on the bottom.
  • Let rest in loaf pans for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack.

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Reviews

  1. Wow, this was gorgeous, and delicious. Really impressive. I was worried it wasn't rising enough when I made it, but it turned out really well. The turbinado sugar on top is beautiful. And the flavor is simply terrific. this was wonderful, sugarpea! Thank you for the recommendation!
     
  2. My new obsession. This is fantastic dessert bread. It's light, fluffy, and rich enough to satisfy your sweet tooth but not so rich you need a glass of milk. I've made it twice in three weeks now, and I'm sure I'll be making it again really soon!
     
  3. This was a really good bread. The edges of my bread were overcooked and I know my oven temp was ok cause I have a thermometer in it. I used Ghiradelli chocolate and it did need a bit more flour. I love the turbinaro sugar on this, it made it quite pretty and tasted good. I will be making this again, thanks for posting.
     
  4. What a WONDERFUL bread! It has the texture of a brioche and it's not too sweet, just perfect for a special occasion breakfast bread. IMO, all great breads have a starter of some sort - sourdough, sponge, biga or whatever, so I was so excited when, looking for a chocolate bread recipe, I found this one! I made the starter only 4 hours before using it, but it worked very well anyway. In step 2, I dissolved the yeast in water and let it stand until bubbly. Knowing that the organic stone-ground sifted unbleached flour I use is very dry, I added and extra 1/3 cup water, which was perfect. I did knead the mix in step 2 for 10 minutes before the 15 minute autolyse (by trial and error, I found out that this is the way I get the best crumb), and kneaded it for another 10-15 minutes after kneading in the salt and butter. I added in 1/2 cup dried cranberries (it's Valentine's day!!) together with the chocolate pieces. I was afraid this would affect the rise, but not at all (OK, I cheated a bit by addind 1 tsp gluten flour in step 2 to prevent this - looks like it worked), and I loved the contrast of the tangy berries with the chocolate pieces. I let the dough rise (step 4) in the fridge for 7 hours, then took it out and let it rest and come back to room temp for 1 hour. After this, I shaped it into a flower (6 small balls around a bigger one) and put it in a 8 inch cake pan, which turned out to be a little too small! Next time, I think I'll use a cookie sheet for this. We enjoyed pulling apart the little rolls/petals for eating it with cream cheese, YUM! One last change I made: didn't have any cream, so I used milk instead - no problem. Thank you SO MUCH for this recipe!!
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I’m a former interior designer and landscape designer. At the moment I get to enjoy being at home and working only when I want to. I like rollerblading, hiking, backpacking and trips to the ocean. I grew up on a farm in the Midwest and moved to the Northwest when I was thirty, over twenty years ago. I’m afraid they’ll have to bury me here in WA. This is God’s country and I’m never leaving. I have a smallish collection of cookbooks, preferring to use the library and a copy machine. Among my favorites though, are: Recipes 1-2-3, by Rozanne Gold, a collection of recipes containing no more than 3 ingredients (excepting water, salt and pepper); A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Mary and Vincent Price, recipes collected from friends and chefs of great restaurants around the world; The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, about a collection of cuisines I’m convinced are the healthiest in the world and The Low-Calorie Gourmet, by Pierre Franey. Currently my passions are our dogs, the garden, cooking, the natural world and of course, Dh. I can now add Zaar to that list of passions (translate: addiction). We have three dogs, two rescued and one adopted. They are Sugarpea, a Golden Retriever, Chickpea, a Llasa Apso and Sweetpea, a Shih Tzu; small, medium and large. We’re quite a sight out on the trail. One of the things I am most fond of about living here is the ability to vegetable garden year ‘round.
 
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