PrincessMushroom posted this Vegetarian Side dish 4 months ago.
Prep time: 1+ days
Cook time: 40 minutes
Yields: 2 loaves
Additional information:
The best grocery store in the world, Wegman's, started to make chocolate bread around Valentine's Day a few years ago, and I got hooked. It just smelled, looked, and tasted delicious. They paired with a coffee infused marscapone cheese, and the combination was just *wow.* Anyway, I sadly moved away from the land of Wegman's, but came across the coffee marscapone cheese in Minnesota. Without Wegman's I had to resort to my own skills to make chocolate bread, and thus found this recipe online. (Thank you NPR). I've adapted it a bit, and the final result is just wonderful!
In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the warm water with 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and set the mixture aside for 10 minutes, until foamy. If the mixture doesn't foam, the yeast might be inactive and you should try again with fresh yeast.
In a large bowl (or in a mixer with a whisk), whisk together the flour, sugars, cocoa, and salt. Add the yeast/water/sugar mixture and mix until just combined. Then, add coffee and egg, and begin to knead dough (or use dough hook on mixer) until all ingredients are well incorporated and the dough is smooth and elastic - maybe five minutes.
Incorporate with your hands (or with the mixer), the butter one tablespoon at a time. Dough will be quite greasy, but continue kneading for about 2 minutes after the butter has been well incorporated.
Then, knead in the chocolate chunks/chips until they are just combined.
Transfer the dough to a non-metal buttered bowl, and cover it closely with plastic wrap or a damp tea-towel. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for roughly 2 hours, or until it has almost doubled in size.
After the dough has risen, punch it down, and again cover with plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or up to 2 days.
Line two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pans with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, divide the chocolate dough in half. Divide each dough half into 6 equal pieces so that you have 12 equal pieces in all. With lightly floured hands, shape each piece into a smooth, round ball. Place 6 dough balls — two by two, at a diagonal — in each prepared pan, pressing them lightly together if necessary. Cover the pans with a tea towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water until blended. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg glaze over the tops of the loaves. You can optionally sprinkle the tops lightly with sugar.
Bake the loaves for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake the bread for an additional 30 minutes. Cool the bread in the pans set on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Unmold the bread and cool the loaves on the rack completely.