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Chocolate Sourdough Bread
Description
This chocolate sourdough bread is a delightful fusion of rich cocoa flavor and the signature tang of naturally fermented sourdough.
With a tender crumb and a beautifully crisp crust, it’s perfect for breakfast, dessert, or an indulgent snack. Made without commercial yeast, this artisanal loaf relies on the strength of your sourdough starter to rise, delivering depth of flavor and a slight chew.
Add chocolate chips or chunks for an extra boost of decadence. Whether enjoyed on its own or lightly toasted with a spread of butter, this bread offers a unique and irresistible twist on traditional sourdough.
Ingredients
Instructions
Mixing
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Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl. Add the brown rice flour, millet flour, buckwheat flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, cocoa powder, psyllium husk, and kosher salt to the fine-mesh strainer and sift them into the bowl.
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Place the sourdough starter, water, espresso, and maple syrup or other sweetener into a bowl of a stand mixer, or into a medium bowl, and mix with a paddle attachment or whisk until combined.
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Pour it into the flour mixture and mix it in with the machine or by hand with a
whisk
Kneading
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Use your hands to mix the dough until it has a uniform structure. Alternatively, you can mix it with the dough hook in the stand mixer until it is thoroughly combined and uniform in structure.
Proofing
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Let the dough sit for 30 minutes for the flours and binders to absorb the liquid.
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Dust a lined or unlined banneton with brown rice flour. Alternatively, you can line a glass bowl with a clean, lint-free tea towel and dust it with rice flour.
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Next, shape the sour bread dough into a smooth ball. If it feels too sticky, you can wet your hands with water, and then shape the dough into a ball.
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Place the dough into the center of a banneton or glass bowl with the smoothest side facing downward. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
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Let it rise in a warm area for 5-6 hours until it rises one inch in height. Additionally, you can gently press the dough, and it should indent. If it springs back, it is ready to bake.
Preheat The Oven
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An hour before you plan to bake the sourdough, place the rack in the center of the oven.
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Place the covered Dutch oven on the rack. Next, place a baking sheet on the lower rack directly beneath the pot.
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Preheat the oven to 220°C/ 450°F.
Shaping
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Cut a sheet of parchment paper that is slightly larger than the banneton using a pair of kitchen shears.
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Place the parchment paper on top of the banneton, then place a large cutting board on top of the paper.
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Carefully flip the dough over, holding both the banneton and the cutting board. Gently lift the banneton and set it aside.
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Place a few tablespoons of brown rice flour into a fine-mesh sieve and dust the dough lightly with flour.
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Gently brush the excess flour away from the sourdough using a pastry brush. Score the dough using a bread lame, making 1 vertical slit down the center that is 1/4-inch. Cut a horizontal slit in the center of the bread to make an X pattern.
Baking
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Take the Dutch oven out of the oven. Remove the lid. Carefully place the sourdough bread into the Dutch oven.
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Arrange the ice cubes under the parchment paper, then cover it and place it in the oven.
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Bake it covered for 20 minutes, then remove the cover, reduce the heat to 400 degrees, and bake the loaf for another 30-40 minutes until it has an internal temperature of 100°C/ 210°F and the crust sounds hollow when tapped with a
finger.
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Take the sourdough bread out of the Dutch oven and place it on a cooling rack. Let it cool for 2-3 hours before slicing and serving.
