Double chocolate yeast bread made with rich dutch-process cocoa and studded with plenty of semisweet chocolate chips.
Prep time: PT20M
Cook time: PT35M
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- In a heatproof bowl, stir together warm water, yeast and sugar. Let sit for about 5 minutes, until foamy.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the 3 cups of bread flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar and kosher salt.
- With a wooden spoon, stir in warm coffee, butter, egg yolk and yeast mixture into the flour mixture.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, working in enough remaining flour just to keep the dough from sticking.
- If you think the dough is ready, perform the window pane test. Do this by grabbing a small bit of dough and stretching it between your fingers like this. If it stretches without tearing, it is ready. If it tears when stretched, keep kneading.
- Knead in chocolate chips.
- Shape the dough into a ball. Place in a large, greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Punch down the dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half. Shape each dough half into a ball. Using the sides of your hands, tuck sides of dough under to meet in center. Rotate and repeat to form a taut ball.
- Prepare two bread baskets or bowls with a clean towel with a light dusting of flour. Place the dough balls top down into the prepared baskets/bowls. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F with dutch ovens inside.
- Cut out two circles of parchment paper much larger than the balls of dough. Turn out the loaves onto their respective parchment circles.
- With a serrated knife or single-edge razor blade, cut a spiderweb design (or whatever design you want). Transfer loaves to the preheated dutch ovens.
- Place the lid on and bake until the loaves are crusty, about 35 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.