Want an excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast? Then make this buttery and rich dark chocolate bread. Shhh – it tastes like cake!
My little girl isn’t so little anymore. She’s approaching 5 feet tall, and her feet are about the same size as mine (ladies 8.5 – she wears an 8.0). Every day she grows more and more opinionated, and I feel like we are raising a teenager, even though she just turned 10. These upcoming years are going to be challenging.
As she’s gotten older, she’s gotten more and more into chocolate. That’s my girl, right? It helps that I host a chocolate-tasting party every year, so she’s learned about various types of chocolates across the world.
One weekend, I asked her what I could bake for her to eat for breakfast that week. Naturally, she asked for something chocolate. My brain was fried that day, so I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head. Thankfully, I remembered that I had the Back in the Day Bakery cookbook and flipped through it. That’s when I came across this chocolate bread. Surprisingly, I hadn’t made this yet.
I had a little trouble with the dough coming together. It was too sticky and wet, so it wouldn’t form into a ball while it was mixing in the stand mixer. As a result, I added a little bit of flour to bring it all together. It finally did, and my dough was nice and tacky.
This bread baked up beautifully and made the house smell like a million bucks. Naturally, I had to quality control a slice to see if it was kosher to eat. The bread was soft, buttery and full of a rich, dark chocolate flavor. The turbinado sugar on the top and bottom added a fun, crunchy texture as well. In fact, this bread reminded me of a quality chocolate cake. So, I felt like I was eating cake for breakfast.
All in all, this was a solid recipe that I will absolutely make again.
Husband’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
My rating: 4.5 out of 5
Chocolate bread
Ingredients
- 2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder Dutch process preferred (I used Hershey's Dark)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 and ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter cubed and at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup turbinado sugar
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
Instructions
- Generously grease or line a standard loaf pan. Sprinkle a light layer of turbinado sugar on the bottom and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar and yeast until well blended. Add the 1 cup of water and mix on low speed for about 3 minutes or until the dough comes together. Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes in the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to medium low and slowly add the butter one cube at a time. Turn the mixer to medium speed and keep mixing until the dough comes together and has a satin-like texture. My dough was a bit too wet so I added about ¼ cup of flour to the dough. This should take about 5 minutes or so.
- Turn the mixer down to low and add in the chocolate chips. Mix for another 1-2 minutes or until the chips are well incorporated.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly dusted work surface and knead a few times. Shape it into a ball and place it seam-side down in a well-greased bowl. Cover and allow to rise for about 2 hours or until doubled.
- Punch the dough down and transfer it to a lightly dusted surface. Press the dough into an approximate large rectangle. Then roll it up and place it seam-side down into your prepared baking pan. Cover and allow to double again, another 1-2 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Gently brush the top of your bread with the cream or milk. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top and bake in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the sugar on top starts to caramelize. The bread should not jiggle.
- Allow the bread to cool before slicing and serving.