sourdough chocolate bread

Chocolate Sourdough Bread is the perfect bread to make any day of the week. It&#x27;s delicious and easy to make, and it can be used in so many ways! This sourdough loaf is not sweet, but still has a tangy flavor that will keep your taste buds happy.

Chocolate Sourdough

sourdough starter

water

g white sugar

bread flour

g cocoa powder

espresso powder

g coarse kosher salt

g chopped walnuts

chocolate

Mix 160g of active and bubbly starter with 245g warm water and 40g granulated sugar in a large bowl, stirring well until mostly combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 330g bread flour, 30g dutch process cocoa powder, and 1/2 tablespoon espresso powder.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until a shaggy dough forms, then continue mixing with your hands or a bowl scraper until combined.

Start The Dough:

Once the dough has been combined, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a shower cap and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes sprinkle 6 g salt on top of the dough and perform a series of stretches and folds: with wet hands, grab the dough and gently pull it until the flap is long enough to fold over itself, then fold the flap, rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat 4 times. Recover the bowl, and set it aside for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, and add 40g chopped walnuts and 70g chocolate chunks and perform the second set of stretch and folds to incorporate the inclusions. Allow to rest for another 30 minutes and perform 1 more set of stretch and folds, for a total of 3 sets.

After the final stretch and fold, rest the dough for 1 hour.

Rest + Fold:

Lightly flour the work surface and use a bowl scraper to turn the double chocolate walnut sourdough out onto the floured surface. Try to get the smooth top part face down so that the sticky underside is on top facing you, this will make shaping the dough easier.

Fold the edges into the middle, alternating sides as though lacing the dough together. Then starting from the bottom, tightly roll the dough into a batard. Stop there if making a batard, or tuck the long ends underneath to create a boule.

Allow the dough to rest covered for 20 minutes.

Place your hands underneath the dough and using your pinkies, apply pressure to the dough and drag it along the work surface to increase surface tension in the dough. Avoid overtightening the dough because it may tear with the inclusions.

Dust the top of your boule or batard with rice flour, then use a bench scraper to pick up the dough, flip the dough, and place it upside down, or seam side up, into a banneton to prove. Don&#x27;t have a banneton? Check out these BANNETON ALTERNATIVES.

Preshape + Shape:

Cover the banneton with a reusable plastic bag and place it in the fridge. During the proving period, the dough will rise in the banneton, but due to the cool temperatures in the fridge, it won&#x27;t be a marked difference. See my post on PROOFING SOURDOUGH IN THE FRIDGE for more information.

Cold proof:

Place your dutch oven, cloche, or desired baking dish in the oven and preheat to 450f. If you don&#x27;t have a dutch oven, I do have a recommendation on HOW TO BAKE SOURDOUGH BREAD WITHOUT A DUTCH OVEN.

Pre-heat oven:

Once the oven is preheated, remove the dough from the fridge and invert the banneton onto a sheet of parchment paper.

Use a lame, sharp knife, or clean razor blade to score the dough, I usually like to make one deep curved slash when adding inclusions, but you can get as fancy as you like!

Carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven, and using the parchment paper as a sling, transfer the sourdough loaf from the counter into the dutch oven.

Bake the dough at 450f covered for 20 minutes and uncovered at 450f for 25-30 minutes, or until the loaf is cooked through. You can test the doneness of the loaf with an instant-read thermometer. Bread is cooked once it reaches 205 - 210 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperature

Bake :

Remove baked bread from the dutch oven and transfer it to a wire mesh cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. I like to leave it for at least 2 hours before slicing, as slicing too soon can affect the crumb and texture of your loaf.

Check out my guide on STORING SOURDOUGH BREAD to ensure it stays fresh for days, or learn HOW TO FREEZE SOURDOUGH bread for a rainy day.

Cool:

This is on my list. It sounds wonderful. I can't wait ro try it. Going to check on my cocoa type.

Chocolate Sourdough Bread is dangerously delicious! Bloomed cocoa powder and chocolate chips make this bread rich and full chocolatey goodness. I love the addition of the melty chocolate chips with the tender crumb. This is no ordinary chocolate sourdough - it&#039;s a chocolate lover&#039;s dream come true.

Chocolate Sourdough Bread

ripe sourdough starter (bubbly/active/doubled in size, about 2 Tablespoons)

flour (about 1/4 cup)

water (about 2 Tablespoons)

coconut oil (about 2 Tablespoons)

cocoa powder (about 3 Tablespoons)

bread flour (about 3 1/4 cups)

water (about 1 1/4 cups)

levain (scant 1/2 cup)

granulated sugar (about 4 teaspoons)

salt (about 1 teaspoon)

milk chocolate chips (see recipe notes, about 2/3 cup)

Levain: Make levain by mixing together ripe sourdough starter, flour and water. Set aside for 3-4 hours at 78-80ºF.

Autolyse: About an hour before the levain is ready, mix together the bread flour and water. Let rest for about an hour.

Bloom Cocoa Powder: About an hour before mixing the dough, warm the coconut oil and cocoa powder together over the stove or in the microwave. Let cool completely before using in the recipe.

Mixing: Add ripe levain, sugar, salt and bloomed cocoa mixture to the top of the dough. Pinch chunks of dough and reincorporate them together gently. Pick up one side of the dough and fold it over on itself. The dough will be sticky. Wet your hands as needed and continue to work with the dough until it is smooth and all the ingredients are mixed and the dough is smooth. Transfer the dough to a plastic container or a glass bowl if desired.

Bulk Fermentation: Over a total of 3.5-4 hours, perform 3 sets of stretch and folds every half hour and a resting period. This schedule assumes the temperature of the dough is 78-80ºF. If it&#39;s colder than this, bulk fermentation will take longer. Warmer dough will move faster.

To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach down to the bottom of the bowl of dough and pull the dough up and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 1/4 turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another 1/4 turn and repeat. Perform one more 1/4 turn with stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside.

Repeat the stretch and folds every 30 minutes for three times total. After your third set of stretch and folds, wait another half hour and then laminate the dough to add the inclusions.

Lamination: On a clean counter top, stretch the dough as thin as you can without tearing it. See post for pictures and description. When the dough is fully stretched, sprinkle 3/4 of the milk chocolate chips over the dough. Fold the dough up and sprinkle the rest of the milk chocolate as you fold the dough up into a little package. See post for pictures.

Finish the last 1.5 hours of bulk fermentation with the dough covered at 78ºF.

Pre-Shape: Tip the bowl upside down, allowing the dough to fall onto a clean counter surface. Be gentle to avoid cutting and degassing the dough as much as possible. Wet your hands. Push a bench knife under the dough while using your free hand to tuck the dough under itself. Repeat this process going around in a circle until you have a tight ball of dough.

Bench Rest: Let the dough rest uncovered for about 30 minutes at room temperature. The dough will flatten a bit during this period of time.

Prepare a banneton: Prepare a banneton or small bowl. Place a kitchen towel or hair net in the bowl and liberally flour.

Shaping: After the dough has rested for about 30 minutes, it is time to shape the bread into a round or oval shape. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough if desired (I use a fine mesh strainer). Using the bench knife, lift the dough up off the counter and place it on top of the countertop – floured side down. This ensures that the flour is staying mainly on the outside of the dough. Going around in a circle, pull the dough sideways towards you and then fold up to the top of the round. Move 90 degrees and repeat the same process, pulling the dough sideways and then folding up to the top. As you continue this process around the dough, increase the tension as you pull. Gather the bread into a circle and use a bench knife to lift the bread and place into your lined bowl.

Cold Fermentation: Cover the dough and store in the refrigerator overnight or for up 14-20 hours. Alternatively you can let your dough rise outside the fridge for another 3-4 hours and then bake your loaves the same day.

Day 1: Levain/Mix/Bulk Fermentation/Shape/Cold Fermentation

Pre-heat the Oven: Put a dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Allow the dutch oven to heat for about 30 minutes at 500 degrees.

Once preheated for 30 minutes, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap (this is easy to do straight out of the refrigerator if the dough is chilled – not easy if the dough warms up) and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bread dough. Flip the dough over so that the dough is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl/banneton and kitchen towel.

Scoring: Smooth the flour over the top of the dough (add a little extra for more contrast if desired) or leave the flour off completely for no contrast. Use a bread lame or very sharp knife to score the dough.

Bake: Carefully remove the dutch oven from the 500ºF oven with hot pads. Take the top off and place your bread into the dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Be very careful not to touch the sides of the dutch oven. Put your hot pads back on before you pick up the lid of the dutch oven and place it on top of the bread. Put the whole dutch oven back into your oven. Lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for 25 minutes. Once 25 minutes are up, take the top off the dutch oven and continue baking for 20 minutes until the bread is fully baked. Let cool completely and enjoy!

Day 2: Bake

I made a boule for the Superbowl! (Get it?!?!) I used dark chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate and added 30 gm of chopped dried cherries. It was a hit! Not too sweet, with a chewy texture with hints of chocolate and a burst of bright cherries. I'll be making this again!

Love this recipe. I keep confusing myself with steps 5 &amp; 7. If we are supposed to do 3 sets of stretch and folds 30 mins apart, wouldn’t that mean a longer resting period than a half hour before the lamination?

This is really a perfect recipe! I didn't want it real sweet. I used semi sweet mini chocolate chips. I'm going to use dark chocolate next time. I got the most beautiful chocolate color by using King Arthur Black Cocoa powder. You can see it on IG @intheklopkitchen

Thanks for another fabulous recipe!

I had a crack at this and it came out looking rather magnificent. Tastes even better too.

My first time trying chocolate sourdough and it came out great! I did a poor job reading directions so I added the chocolate chips after the bulk fermentation (and probably over proofed it…whoops) but still wound up with a delicious airy loaf!

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Top 2 sourdough chocolate bread recipes from across the web

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Chocolate Sourdough

Chocolate Sourdough Bread

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