Thursday, April 5, 2012

Chocolate Sourdough Bread...nuff' said.

Easter Weekend is fast approaching.  I will have a house full of guests… (though really.. are family still considered “guests” in your home?!)…ANYWAYS…  what I should have been doing is making the filling for perogies.  What I should have been doing is dusting.  What I should have been doing is…...... BUT then I came home and saw Uncle Fester’s work…and well… the rest…  is History.  You see, the day before, I was thinking about ways to use my Sourdough Starter aka "Uncle Fester".  Though I loooove me a good chunk of sourdough bread, sometimes you just gotta change it up a bit!  I’ve done pizza dough.  I’ve done Cinnamon Buns. I’m working on mixing up flavors and adding to the sourdough bread (mmmm garlic and asiago)… but then I came across CHOCOLATE.  WHOA… Chocolate and Sourdough…really?! I mean Chocolate (like bacon) goes with just about anything.. but sourdough…. Hmmm.  SOOOOO, after feeding Uncle Fester a few times…  I decided to play.  The reward…. Chocolate Sourdough Bread.
I used Lindt Dark Chocolate, and a good quality cocoa, mixed it up with regular all-purpose flour and tossed in some very active Uncle Fester, and what came out was a nice crumb, not sweet – more on the savory side loaf of bread that is delicious lightly toasted…. Mmmmm I can only imagine how decadent French toast could become when using this….maybe sprinkled with powder sugar.... *sigh*
SO, before you sit there reading this…turning up your nose at the thought of Sourdough & Chocolate…. Next time you are wondering what to do with the portion of starter you need to “discard” before the next feeding…  just try it!  What could go wrong?! Did I mention as this is baking, your house smells like chocolate cookies?? 
Chocolate Sourdough Bread
  • 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 cup dark quality cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup sourdough starter
  • 1/4 tsp yeast
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoon oil
  • 1/4 cup chopped quality chocolate (I used Lindt Dark Chocolate)
- Combine flour, cocoa powder, salt in your mixer until well mixed
- Mix sourdough starter, water, oil and yeast into a measuring cup, stir well, add to dry ingredients
- Knead using the dough hook on your mixer at speed 2 to 3 until a supple dough ball forms.  (you may need to finish it for a minute or 2 by hand.)  Form into a ball and put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and set aside to rise.
- I left it for about 18 hours on the counter.(made it at night, went to bed, went to work, and then came home to a ready to use dough)
- Gently knead the chopped chocolate into the dough
- Form into a loaf and place on a baking stone (if you have, or baking pan/cookie sheet, whatever works)  Cover, and let rise for an additional 3 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Lightly dust with flour, and using a sharp knife, score top of loaf. (about ¼ inch deep)
- Fill a pan half way with water, and place on bottom rack of oven.  Preheat oven (with water pan in it) to 400F
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
- Remove from oven let cool completely on a cooling rack
Cut and enjoy lightly toasted…maybe with some strawberry preserves? Nutella? Butter?... how about just by itself… don’t mind if I do!  Absolutely submitting this to yeastspotting, as without sites like that, I would not of known of all the fun possibilities of the wonderful world of bread making!
Cheers!
 
 

3 comments:

  1. Just checking in from Food Buzz. Love chocolate and love sourdough so this post really caught my eye! Looks great! Feel free to stop by my blog and say hello. http://wineanddinewithus.wordpress.com

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I was pleasantly suprised how good this is. A decadent treat...would be heavenly used as french toast too.... will be making this often!

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  2. Hey! just a little tip from baker to baker, id go check out sourdoughs international for some bada** sourdough starter. i got the san francisco and OMG way good, came out great.

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