Chocolate Sourdough Bread...nuff' said.

Easter Weekend is fast approaching.  I will have a house full of guests… (though really.. are family still considered “guests” in your home?!)…ANYWAYS…  what I should have been doing is making the filling for perogies.  What I should have been doing is dusting.  What I should have been doing is…...... BUT then I came home and saw Uncle Fester’s work…and well… the rest…  is History.  You see, the day before, I was thinking about ways to use my Sourdough Starter aka "Uncle Fester".  Though I loooove me a good chunk of sourdough bread, sometimes you just gotta change it up a bit!  I’ve done pizza dough.  I’ve done Cinnamon Buns. I’m working on mixing up flavors and adding to the sourdough bread (mmmm garlic and asiago)… but then I came across CHOCOLATE.  WHOA… Chocolate and Sourdough…really?! I mean Chocolate (like bacon) goes with just about anything.. but sourdough…. Hmmm.  SOOOOO, after feeding Uncle Fester a few times…  I decided to play.  The reward…. Chocolate Sourdough Bread.

I used Lindt Dark Chocolate, and a good quality cocoa, mixed it up with regular all-purpose flour and tossed in some very active Uncle Fester, and what came out was a nice crumb, not sweet – more on the savory side loaf of bread that is delicious lightly toasted…. Mmmmm I can only imagine how decadent French toast could become when using this….maybe sprinkled with powder sugar.... *sigh*

SO, before you sit there reading this…turning up your nose at the thought of Sourdough & Chocolate…. Next time you are wondering what to do with the portion of starter you need to “discard” before the next feeding…  just try it!  What could go wrong?! Did I mention as this is baking, your house smells like chocolate cookies?? 

Chocolate Sourdough Bread

• 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup dark quality cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sourdough starter
• 1/4 tsp yeast
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1/4 cup chopped quality chocolate (I used Lindt Dark Chocolate)

- Combine flour, cocoa powder, salt in your mixer until well mixed

- Mix sourdough starter, water, oil and yeast into a measuring cup, stir well, add to dry ingredients

- Knead using the dough hook on your mixer at speed 2 to 3 until a supple dough ball forms.  (you may need to finish it for a minute or 2 by hand.)  Form into a ball and put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and set aside to rise.

- I left it for about 18 hours on the counter.(made it at night, went to bed, went to work, and then came home to a ready to use dough)

- Gently knead the chopped chocolate into the dough

- Form into a loaf and place on a baking stone (if you have, or baking pan/cookie sheet, whatever works)  Cover, and let rise for an additional 3 hours, or until doubled in size.

- Lightly dust with flour, and using a sharp knife, score top of loaf. (about ¼ inch deep)

- Fill a pan half way with water, and place on bottom rack of oven.  Preheat oven (with water pan in it) to 400F

- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.

- Remove from oven let cool completely on a cooling rack

Cut and enjoy lightly toasted…maybe with some strawberry preserves? Nutella? Butter?... how about just by itself… don’t mind if I do!  Absolutely submitting this to yeastspotting, as without sites like that, I would not of known of all the fun possibilities of the wonderful world of bread making!

Cheers!