Having little surprises in your bread is such fun. Take chocolate chips and fold them inside, then place your favourite chocolate bar on top!
Kids and adults alike will enjoy this bread! It's great at snack, breakfast, or brunch. Enjoy plain or with homemade butter for a real treat.
I love to have a slice of this with my afternoon cuppa tea in my hand thrown mug. Honey Whole Wheat Muffins can be kept in the freezer for quick grab and go. Sourdough Biscotti are always popular with the chocolate lovers.
Key Ingredients
Flour - A combo of bread flour, AP, and fresh-milled or whole wheat gives this bread the perfect texture. It's also a great way to introduce whole grains to your family.
Sourdough - Use your active starter as-is or create a traditional levain for the most classic sourdough taste and timing.
Chocolate - Milk chocolate chips melt perfectly on the inside of the loaf. Then I love to chop up a "mom's only" bar of dark for the top.
How to Make Chocolate Chip Sourdough
***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***
Step 1: Create a levain for 5 hours and also autolyse your flour.
Step 2: Combine into one bowl with your hands.
Step 3: Let cold ferment for the best flavour.
Step 4: Knead in chocolate chips with your hands.
Step 5: Split dough into two parts on floured surface.
Step 6: Add dough to lined baking pans.
Step 7: After fermenting, press chopped chocolate into the tops.
Step 8: Bake until golden brown.
FAQs
It's not required as long as you have very happy starter. I recommend feeding it the night before you want to bake so you can get started right away. Even without a levain you will autolyse your flour/dough. Especially when using fresh ground grains you need to allow the wheat to hydrate properly before proceeding.
For this recipe, yes. Sometimes I think it truly is easy to just pull out that scale and weight everything out. You can get super accurate results this way - though you also need some knowledge of the feeling of dough since you might not need all the water that's called for. That's why I also recommend learning Intuitive Sourdough because those techniques serve you well even with weighed ingredients.
I love to mix up my chocolates! Also, this bread is purposely made as a light snack rather than a true dessert bread. You can definitely add another cup or so of chocolate if you want this to be a treat. Or try adding a half cup of chopped nuts or dried cherries.
Photos by Dante from Shire by the Sea
More Sourdough Recipes
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Sourdough Bread with Chocolate
Ingredients
Levain:
- 30 grams all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 30 grams freshly milled whole wheat flour
- 60 grams water
- 30 grams active sourdough starter
Dough:
- 820 grams all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 66 grams freshly milled whole wheat flour
- 75 grams cacao powder or cocoa powder
- 750 grams water
- 18 grams salt
- 150 grams levain from above, OR active sourdough culture
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips
- 150 grams chocolate bar chopped
Instructions
- If Making Levain: Mill wheat berries, and mix levain ingredients in a small container, leaving for 5 hours at 25°C/77°F (so a warm room).
- Mix 820 grams bread flour, 66 grams whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, and 650 grams of water, mixing with hands until no dry bit are left. Cover for 2 hours (time it for the last 2 hours of levain, if using) with plastic or damp tea towel.
- When levain is ready, or after dough has autolysed, add salt, chocolate chips, and levain or sourdough starter. Add remaining water (about 100 g) but slowly as it may not all be needed.
- Mix all ingredients together by hand, pinching and folding, until well incorporated. Cover.
- During bulk fermentation (4 hours) give the dough 6 sets of stretch and folds, the first 3 in 15 minute intervals and the last 3 in 30 minute intervals.
- Lightly flour your working surface and pour out the dough. Cut dough in half with knife.
- Shape each half into a rough round shape and leave for half an hour uncovered.
- Shape dough into round or oval shape an put into floured proofing baskets.
- Cover with large plastic bags, seal and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning take out your loaves and set oven to 450°F.
- Line loaf pans with parchment paper and carefully transfer dough over into pans. Chop chocolate bar and gently press into the tops of the loaves.
- Bake loaves for 45-50 minutes until loafs are a golden hue. You can also check for an internal temperature of at least 190°F.
- Cool on rack for 30 minutes.
Notes
- A levain is the traditional way of making sourdough. You can either make that up ahead of time, OR simply proceed with strong and healthy starter in the dough.
- The dough is quite forgiving - you can use pretty much any mix of flours and have a great loaf! I think the tangy sourdough is a great way to add whole grains in your diet because the flavours all blend together.
- Use any type of chocolate you like.
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