The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Chocolate, raisins and cinnamon sweet sourdough

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

Chocolate, raisins and cinnamon sweet sourdough

Hi bakers! 

Today I want to share with you a completely new experiment of mine, a loaf that was in my mind for a long time but I have never had the opportunity to bake it. 

I tried to create a formula for a slightly sweet bread but I was so scared because of the sugar I had to add: will it speed up the fermentation process? will it ruin the texture of the final result? Those two questions were all I could think of.

I decided to give it a go, merging different formulas from the internet and from different books because baking is something that helps me with my anxiety as you have to be precise, gentle, determinate but also emphatic.

The ingredients:

115gr chocolate leaven

400gr water

400gr white bread flour

100gr whole wheat flour

40gr cacao

125gr raisins

50gr sugar

cinnamon

The method is the same as a normal country bread, I added the sugar and cinnamon when I added the salt and the raisins at the first round of stretch and fold during the bulk fermentation.

I am really happy with the result, the crumb is open even if there are the raisins and the sugar, the flavors are mild but you can recognize all of them; it is a perfect breakfast bread with some almond butter :)

Thanks a lot for reading, grazie!

Happy baking, Beatrice!

Comments

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Looks like a winner.

One question though, where is the starter or yeast? 

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

I've added it now, I didn't put it because I didn't write down the recipe properly, thanks for noticing! It is a chocolate leaven made with 25gr of chocolate starter, 45 gr water and 45gr white bread flour :)

MontBaybaker's picture
MontBaybaker

That's a new one.  How is it made, and can I convert a bit of existing NMNF into a chocolate starter for this recipe?

Looks yummy and can't wait to play with your recipe.  Just made an oat-raisin-chocolate chip-pecan loaf cake last night, so I have everything I need except the chocolate starter.  Thanks!

 

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

Hi, I'm happy that you want to try this loaf; make sure to let me know how it turns out!

Here's the starter recipe:

25gr of your starter

75gr white bread flour

25gr cacao powder (I used a normal one but if you find raw cacao I think it will be better)

100gr warm water

10gr sugar

 

With this ingredients you make the starter, let it ferment for at least 7 hours and than create the leaven (as suggested).

Happy baking :)

Ru007's picture
Ru007

Nice bake Beatrice! 

Happy baking. 

Ru

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

Thanks a lot :)

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

I had the same question as everyone else: Chocolate leavan? Thank you for explaining how you made it. 

Your loaf sounds delicious!

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

Thanks a lot! :)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

make one for sure:-) Love this bread.  Its like a chocolate raising bread!  Perfect for breaks=fast and French Toast.

Very nice indeed and happy baking

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

Thanks a lot, make sure to let me know how your loaf will be :)

Elsie_iu's picture
Elsie_iu

as that's what it seems to me whenever I add some cocoa powder into bread. I'm sure it's not due to under-hydration as I've actually upped the hydration.

I also like to mix in some chunks of real chocolate as well since it doesn't taste like chocolate bread to me if cocoa powder is used alone. That might not be an issue to you though since you've put some sugar into the dough to sweeten things up.

Having chocolate for breakfast is a good-enough reason for getting up early!

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

Hi, the cacao didn't make the dough drier in my case but I think this factor has to do with the type and quality of each cacao. I wanted to add chocolate pieces but, as I am a total beginner, I wanted to go slowly with experiments. But my next loaf will have for sure some kind of chocolate inside! This bread is definitely a reason to get up in the morning and it is awesome toasted with some honey/maple syrup and a banana sliced on top! :)

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Interesting. The color looks like it was 100% whole grains.

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

The leaven is made with white bread flour and cacao, the dough has a little percentage of whole wheat flour. I didn't want to add too much whole grains as the fermentation would have been too fast (adding the sugar is always tricky). 

Thanks a lot for your feedback:)

bread1965's picture
bread1965

Beatrice, you're killing me..

I just came across this post as it was referred to by DesigningWoman in a different post. It looks remarkable. And your raisins had me thinking...  for as long as i can remember my kryptonite has always been chocolate. In fact I keep full large bars of Cadburry's Fruit and Nut bars in my office desk and faithfully have some every day around 3pm with a coffee. Not too much, but just enough.. Being on this side of 50 I figure 'what the hell' so long as I don't go nuts..

So when I saw your recipe and the raisins I thought of my chocolate bars.. so i could see this bread with figs and nuts.. now that would be cool.. in fact, maybe I'd even just melt a few bars and put them in the mix! :)

What a great looking bread! Well done!

Beatrice's picture
Beatrice

Thanks a lot! I love this flavours together and I think they could easily be eaten every day, as you do ;)

This bread, at the end, is perfect for you and to satisfie your kryptonite cravings!

Thanks again and happy baking, Beatrice!