Chocolate Sourdough Bread - Amy Bakes Bread (2024)

• Sourdough Starter: Use an active/ripesourdough starter(doubled in size/bubbly/mild sour aroma) to mix thelevain.
• Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder:Using a dark/dutch processed cocoa powdergives this chocolate sourdough artisan bread a rich chocolate flavor.
• Coconut Oil: This recipe calls for coconut oil. The coconut oil softens the crumb and helps bloom the cocoa powder when heated. You can substitute any neutral flavored oil.
• Sugar: These rolls taste fairly sweet. If you prefer a less sweet roll, cut the sugar in half.
• Bread Flour:I almost always use a 12.5% protein bread flour for any bread that I am kneading. The higher protein content and properly activating the gluten results in a lighter/springy baked good.
• Salt:Salt enhances the flavor, don’t leave it out!
• Milk Chocolate Chips: Milk chocolate makes this chocolate bread sweet. If you prefer to use a semi-sweet or dark chocolate, the bread will not taste as sweet but will still be delicious. Choose your favorite chocolate chips to add to the dough.

Levain (1:1:1, about 3-4 hours at78-80ºF)

• 35 grams ripe sourdough starter bubbly/active/doubled in size, about 2 Tablespoons
• 35 grams flour about 1/4 cup
• 35 grams water about 2 Tablespoons

Chocolate Sourdough Artisan Bread

• 20 grams coconut oil about 2 Tablespoons
• 20 grams cocoa powder about 3 Tablespoons
• 450 grams bread flour about 3 1/4 cups
• 300 grams water about 1 1/4 cups
• 100 grams levain scant 1/2 cup
• 20 grams granulated sugar about 4 teaspoons
• 7 grams salt about 1 teaspoon
• 100 grams milk chocolate chips see recipe notes, about 2/3 cup

Day 1: Levain/Mix/Bulk Fermentation/Shape/Cold Fermentation

• Levain: Make levain by mixing together ripe sourdough starter, flour and water. Set aside for 3-4 hours at 78-80ºF.

• Autolyse: About an hour before the levain is ready, mix together the bread flour and water. Let rest for about an hour.

• Bloom Cocoa Powder: About an hour before mixing the dough, warm the coconut oil and cocoa powder together over the stove or in the microwave. Let cool completely before using in the recipe.

• Mixing: Add ripe levain, sugar, salt and bloomed cocoa mixture to the top of the dough. Pinch chunks of dough and reincorporate them together gently. Pick up one side of the dough and fold it over on itself. The dough will be sticky. Wet your hands as needed and continue to work with the dough until it is smooth and all the ingredients are mixed and the dough is smooth. Transfer the dough to aplastic containeror a glass bowl if desired.

• Bulk Fermentation: Over a total of 3.5-4 hours, perform 3 sets of stretch and folds every half hour and a resting period. This schedule assumes the temperature of the dough is 78-80ºF. If it's colder than this, bulk fermentation will take longer. Warmer dough will move faster.

• To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach down to the bottom of the bowl of dough and pull the dough up and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 1/4 turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another 1/4 turn and repeat. Perform one more 1/4 turn with stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside.

• Repeat the stretch and folds every 30 minutes for three times total. After your third set of stretch and folds, wait another half hour and then laminate the dough to add the inclusions.

• Lamination: On a clean counter top, stretch the dough as thin as you can without tearing it.See post for pictures and description.When the dough is fully stretched, sprinkle 3/4 of the milk chocolate chips over the dough. Fold the dough up and sprinkle the rest of the milk chocolate as you fold the dough up into a little package.See post for pictures.

• Finish the last 1.5 hours of bulk fermentation with the dough covered at 78ºF.

• Pre-Shape: Tip the bowl upside down, allowing the dough to fall onto a clean counter surface. Be gentle to avoid cutting and degassing the dough as much as possible. Wet your hands. Push a bench knife under the dough while using your free hand to tuck the dough under itself. Repeat this process going around in a circle until you have a tight ball of dough.

• Bench Rest:Let the dough rest uncovered for about 30 minutes at room temperature. The dough will flatten a bit during this period of time.

• Prepare a banneton:Prepare abannetonor small bowl. Place a kitchen towel orhair netin the bowl and liberally flour.

• Shaping:After the dough has rested for about 30 minutes, it is time to shape the bread into a round or oval shape. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough if desired (I use afine mesh strainer). Using the bench knife, lift the dough up off the counter and place it on top of the countertop – floured side down. This ensures that the flour is staying mainly on the outside of the dough. Going around in a circle, pull the dough sideways towards you and then fold up to the top of the round. Move 90 degrees and repeat the same process, pulling the dough sideways and then folding up to the top. As you continue this process around the dough, increase the tension as you pull. Gather the bread into a circle and use a bench knife to lift the bread and place into your lined bowl.

• Cold Fermentation:Cover the dough and store in the refrigerator overnight or for up 14-20 hours.Alternatively you can let your dough rise outside the fridge for another 3-4 hours and then bake your loaves the same day.

Day 2: Bake

• Pre-heat the Oven:Put adutch oven(top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Allow thedutch ovento heat for about 30 minutes at 500 degrees.

• Once preheated for 30 minutes, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap (this is easy to do straight out of the refrigerator if the dough is chilled – not easy if the dough warms up) and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bread dough. Flip the dough over so that the dough is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl/bannetonand kitchen towel.

• Scoring: Smooth the flour over the top of the dough (add a little extra for more contrast if desired) or leave the flour off completely for no contrast. Use abread lameor very sharp knife to score the dough.

• Bake:Carefully remove thedutch ovenfrom the 500ºF oven with hot pads. Take the top off and place your bread into the dutch oven(including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Be very careful not to touch the sides of the dutch oven. Put your hot pads back on before you pick up the lid of the dutch oven and place it on top of the bread. Put the whole dutch oven back into your oven. Lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for 25 minutes. Once 25 minutes are up, take the top off the dutch oven and continue baking for 20 minutes until the bread is fully baked. Let cool completely and enjoy!

Milk Chocolate Chips: Using milk chocolate chips makes this chocolate bread fairly sweet. The milk chocolate complements the rich cocoa powder and enhances the chocolate flavor. For a less sweet loaf, use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips.

Sourdough Tools: You can find all the tools I used for making this chocolate sourdough artisan bread on my Amazon storefront.