Dark Chocolate Cherry Sourdough
I baked sourdough bread that tasted somewhere in between a cinnamon raisin bagel and a pain au chocolat. WAT?
Recipe
This recipe is from The Perfect Loaf.
| Ingredients | Weight | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| White flour (~11.5% protein) (King Arthur All-Purpose) | 558g | 70% |
| High-protein white flour (~12.7% protein) (King Arthur Bread Flour) | 120g | 15% |
| Whole wheat flour (King Arthur Whole Wheat) | 120g | 15% |
| Dark chocolate chunks | 159g | 20% |
| Dried sweetened tart cherries | 159g | 20% |
| Unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or dutch-processed) | 24g | 3% |
| Canola oil | 24g | 3% |
| Superfine sugar | 16g | 2% |
| Water | 598g | 75% |
| Fine sea salt | 14g | 1.8% |
| Ripe sourdough starter | 8g | 1.1% |
Number of Loaves: 2
Hydration Percentage: 75%
Slap and Fold (Yes/No): Yes
Autolyse (Time/No): 30 min
Extra Notes: The cocoa powder was “bloomed” by whisking with canola oil in skillet until thickened.
From The Spruce Eats:
Blooming cocoa powder means adding a hot liquid, like water, coffee, or melted fat, to cocoa powder in order to draw out its rich flavor.
…removing the shell of the cocoa bean is one of the first steps in making cocoa powder. But between the shell and the bean is a thin membrane that can remain on the cocoa solids as they’re processed. Blooming cocoa powder encourages this membrane to loosen from cocoa powder particles, thereby exposing the cocoa solids and increasing its overall flavor. What’s more, just as hot liquids extract the flavor from say, coffee or tea, so too does hot liquid with cocoa.
Taste + Takes
Ya’ll this bread is WILD. Stupendously aromatic. Sultry. Sophisticated. I have never tasted bread that was so reminiscent of a fancy pastry before. I did not expect to enjoy it so much that I ate half a loaf on the first day. The dark chocolate makes you feel like your about to indulge in a sweet dessert but the sickly sweetness never comes. The sweetness of the cherries perfectly balances the bitterness of the chocolate. I’ve never baked anything that so completely flipped the character of a sourdough loaf but still was without a doubt a sourdough loaf. It stands on it’s own but is of course sublime toasted with butter.
This recipe is such a great one to have in your back pocket for Valentine’s Day or the winter holidays. It feels so ceremonial and special. I’m excited to add more than seeds to my go-to sourdough additives catalog. This loaf also inspires me to pursue more experimentation with sweeter flavors.
Next Time
There are definitely a few things I’d like to tweak for next time to more suite this recipe to my tastes.
- No canola oil. I wanted to try with it as it was my first time testing the recipe. But it is not for me. I don’t like the oily texture it brings. It’s not fresh like the olive oil in a focaccia. It just adds a greasiness that is wholly unnecessary. Now that I know cocoa powder can be bloomed with any hot liquid I’ll test out water or even coffee next time.
- I needed to cut the dark chocolate chunks and cherries into smaller chunks before mixing into the dough. I just didn’t think about it at all and it made the dough much more unwieldy to fold and shape. I also think smaller chunks would more evenly disperse the flavors in the final loaf.
- I could have added more water. The recipe calls to play it safe with the last 40g of water at the end of mixing/kneading before bulk fermentation. I would say I added about 30g but could have easily done the full 40g and maybe a little more with hindsight.
- I burned the bottom. The delicateness of this recipe (lots of white flour + chocolate) seemed to make it more sensitive to a burnt bottom from the Dutch oven. Next time I will preheat the Dutch oven at a lower temperature, move the rack up a bit, and double up on parchment paper.
But there WILL be a next time. It was worth the fuss.
Pictures
 |
|---|
| Preshaping |
 |
|---|
| A bit frumpy |
 |
|---|
| THE CRUMB |