I've been mostly using Bernard Clayton's recipes when making bread lately, but I felt like changing things up a bit this time. I'd been looking at the King Arthur Flour website for pancake recipes anyway and figured that maybe I'd give some of their bread recipes a go. They have quite a few sourdough recipes listed, but this chocolate sourdough sounded particularly interesting. The cocoa makes for a very dark, rich-tasting bread. And the chocolate chunks add a bit of sweetness without being overwhelming.

The recipe claims that this bread is more savoury than sweet. And, while I'd agree that the dough itself is not very sweet, the amount of chocolate worked into it does shift it more away from the savoury end of the spectrum than I was expecting. It's definitely not aggressively sweet or anything and I do think it works well paired with mild cheeses as a sort of sweet-and-savoury combo, but I would still say it leans more savoury than sweet, personally. It's lovely! I just wouldn't necessarily classify it as "savoury".

Chocolate Sourdough Bread

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

Preferment

• 25g ripe (fed) starter @ 100% hydration
• 210g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 145g water

Dough

• 480g water
• 500-600g hard (strong/high grade/bread) or all-purpose flour
• 36g Dutched (alkalized) cocoa
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 200g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Combine the starter, whole wheat flour, and water and mix well.
2. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 12-16 hours.
3. The next morning, add the water to the preferment and use your fingers to break up the dough and mix it into the water.
4. Mix vigorously for a few seconds, then begin adding the flour, cocoa, and salt. Start with 500g of flour, but add a little more if the dough seems excessively sticky or loose. That said, it's probably better for the dough to be a little too loose than too tight.
5. Mix very well, then cover and allow to rest for 30-60 minutes.
6. Perform a bowl fold, cover and rest for another hour or so.
7. Wet your bench/work surface and turn the dough out. Press it into a large, flat rectangle.
8. Sprinkle the chocolate evenly over the surface.
9. Perform a letter fold (folding the dough into thirds) and then roll it up (as if shaping a large loaf).
10. Return to bowl and allow to rest for another 30-60 minutes.
11. Repeat the folding/rolling and resting process until the dough begins to feel light and well-risen. (Probably 1-3 additional fold/rest periods, but it will depend on the temperature of your room and the activity of your starter.)
12. Knock the dough back and divide into two equal portions.
13. Round each one, cover, and rest for 10-20 minutes.
14. Shape into loaves and place, seam-side-up, into well-floured bannetons.
15. Cover and place in fridge to proof overnight.²
16. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 250°C (475°F) and put a kettle on to boil.
17. Grease a baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal.
18. Turn the loaves out onto the prepared baking sheet. Optionally lightly wet the surface of the loaves.
19. Slash loaves as desired.
20. Once the oven is preheated, pour some boiling water into a large pan and place it on the lower oven rack.
21. Place the bread on a rack set above the pan of boiling water and bake at 250°C (475°F) for 15 minutes.
22. Reduce heat to 200°C (400°F), remove water pan, and bake until done (~15 minutes longer).
23. Turn oven off and allow bread to stand in hot oven for an additional 5-10 minutes.
24. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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¹ I didn't have room in the fridge when making this bread, so I proofed mine at room temperature. I think it took ~2 hours at 21°C (70°F). ^Back