This bread deserves a chorous of praise. Already during baking it filled the house with a seductive chocolate fragrance. And then the first bite of the freshly baked bread … it was everything a chocolate bread can be: fluffy and soft, chocolately, not to sweet, heavenly!

And when you warm a slice of bread a little bit in the toast oven and then add a thin layer of Nutella this slice of bread is a chocolate dream which comes true!

And that makes it worth all the effort you have to put in making this bread. It is – I’m sorry to say this – not a bread for beginners. The dough is very soft and so it is not so easy to handle, but who dare the adventure will be rewarded with a gorgeous bread.

Important for soft crumb is  to knead the dough to full gluten development like for the very soft and fluffy sandwich bread or the pumpkin sandwich bread. This strengthen the gluten network and allows the bread to rise highly. It helps to develope an even crumb, too, an effect which is enhanced by flattening and rolling the dough twice during forming the bread.

Chocolate Bread

yields2 Breads of 1 kg each

Sourdough

• 200g Water
• 200g flour Type 550
• 20g Starter

Water roux

• 60 g flour Type 550
• 300g Water

Dough

• 800g flour Type 550
• 30g cacao
• 200g milk
• 110g Egg (2 eggs size M)
• 120g sugar
• 100g Butter
• 20g Salt
• 5g fresh yeast
• 200g semisweet chocolate, chopped into pieces

Mix all ingredients for the sourdough and ferment overnight (12 to 16 hours) on a warm place (about 25°C).

For the water roux whisk water and flour until lump free, then heat it up to 65°C (needs about 3 min) while whisking. Fill the water roux in a bowl, cover its surface with cling foil and let it cool down to room temperature.

Dissolve the yeast in the milk, add flour, cacao, salt, eggs, water roux, and sourdough and knead 5 min at slowest speed, then around 11 min on fast speed until complete gluten development. Now add sugar and butter and knead for about 2 min until butter and sugar are complete incooperated. At the end add the chocolate and knead shortly.

Ferment for 3 hours.

Degase the dough and 8 parts of about 250g each.Form them to balls and let them Rest for 20 min. Roll each Ball into a long thin oval. Fold the long sides into the middle to form an rectangle. From the short roll tightly  to a log. Now roll it again along the seam to an long, thin oval, fold the long sides into the middle and roll again tightly to a log. The log should be as long as the baking pan is wide. Place four logs in a buttered pan (30 cm long) proof for 6 hour.

Bake with steam at 175°C for about 50min.

I sent this entry to Yeastspotting, Susans weekly showcase of yeast baked good.