Well, this is actually the Chocolate Cinnamon Babka recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day. I followed the recipe to a T except I substituted the chocolate for dark brown sugar, as per the request from my girlfriend, who barely ate any after it was done, haha.

I really like how it came out and I love the look. A loaf doesn't get any cooler looking than this and you can't go wrong with a rich, sweet, cinnamony, streusel topped bread. I gave my parents half the loaf and I pretty much ate the rest by myself over two days, my girlfriend only had a taste and acknowledged it was fantastic, she considers herself a expert. She had to look good in a bikini the following week so she said "I should stop making bread!".

This is the first bread I made out of this book, I have made many from PR's other books. I have my eye on taking a whirl at the croissant recipe in this book but I don't know when I will get to that. This was easy, fast, and fun to make and I will definitely be making it again, next time with the chocolate. It is a cool bread to bring to a dinner party for desert, in my opinion.

Enjoy the pictures,

Nick

Hi all,

I'm really keen on knowing which ingredient is responsible for the very dark almost black color of some breads. When I make bread, regardless of the recipe at most it's grey. Sometimes a little darker, but never deeply brown/black.

I read that dark sugar might be used or roasted malt. Yet, I can't exactly pinpoint the cause of the deep dark color. So anyone any ideas on which ingredients might darken the bread?

Cheers

I have a friend from Liverpool who loves to visit Ireland when he journeys back home.  He speaks fondly of a dark, whole grain bread he enjoys there that is popular in Dublin.  As he describes it, it is a yeast bread that is only mildly sweet.  I've searched for "Irish bread recipes" to no avail... Does anyone have any ideas?

I've been craving chocolate lately so I made these on a whim:

Here is the recipe link.