Chocolate-Cherry Bread

Chocolate-Cherry Bread

This one is one of the hardest to make, but is worth every minute.  To do it right takes four days.  Three days of feeding and overnighting and one day for a rise, shape, rise and bake. You can do it in one overnight, but the flavor won’t be as rich and complex.

3 C sponge *

2-4 C bread flour (This depends upon how liquid your sponge is.)

2 T dried honey (You can use regular honey, but it will make your dough wetter and harder to shape.)

2 t quick acting yeast (You can make this without yeast, but the rise will take longer—depends on how active your sponge is.)

1 T kosher salt (2 t table salt)

1 C warm (105-115f) water

2 T canola oil (Yes, you can use melted butter)

1 C tart cherries, drained (I use Lansberg Pitted Morello cherries—find them in the international section)

1 C bittersweet chocolate chips

Sponge:

2-3 C bread flour

2 2/3 C warm water

1 T dried honey

1. DAY 1: Mix 1 C flour, 1 C warm water and 1 T honey together in a large bowl. Cover tightly and let rest overnight on the counter.

2. Day 2: Add 1 C of flour and 1 C of warm water. Cover tightly and let rest overnight on counter.

3. Day 3: Add 1 C of flour and 2/3 C of warm water. Cover tightly and let rest overnight.

4. On day 4 smell your starter. It should have a sweetish smell with a hint of sourdough. It is now ready to use. (If you don’t have this smell, wait a few hours or another day—if it stinks something went wrong. Start over…)

5. To the sponge add 1 c of flour, honey, yeast, salt, water and oil. Stir until the flour is fully mixed in. (You can use a spoon, a heavy mixer with a dough hook or your hands. This is not a good dough for a Cuisinart—it’s very sticky and the speed of the blade can cause over mixing and kill your yeast)

6. Turn your dough out onto a thickly floured surface (use your 2nd cup of flour) and try to knead in as much of the flour is possible. If your dough is not sticking to your hands and springs back when you lightly poke it, it is ready. If not, continue to add flour and knead until it cooperates. (This is the part of bread baking that is art—it will take a lot of practice to figure out what “ready” looks and feels like.)

7. Place your dough into a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover tightly and let rise until the dough has doubled. (1-2 hours) Gently push is down to deflate, cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

8. Turn your dough out onto a light floured surface and divide into two equal portions (A scale works really well here…). Gently pat one portion into a rectangle. Then using your rolling pin (If you don’t have one, a full wine bottle works well) roll your rectangle until it is about 8”x 16”. It should be about 1/2—3/4” thick.

9. Evenly spread ½ C of cherries and ½ C chocolate chips over the rectangle. It is very important that you leave a margin of about 1” of dough on all sides. Carefully, from one of the short edges, start to roll the dough into a cylinder.  (The cherries and chocolate will try to escape. Keep pressing the sides to prevent this—this will take practice and be very frustrating. Don’t try to make the roll too tight, this will cause the filling to break though the surface.)  Pinch the edges of the dough together along the long seam. Press the ends together and tuck under the loaf until you have a fat squared off oblong shape. (Just go with it—I said it was hard.)

10. Repeat with the 2nd loaf.

11. Place both loaves at least 4” apart on a parchment covered cookie sheet and light cover with a piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap.  Allow to rise until almost double. (about 45 minutes)

12. Preheat the oven to 425F (I do this during the 2nd rise to make sure my bread doesn’t over-rise while waiting for a slow oven to finally heat to the correct temperature.) Put the rack on the lowest level.

13. (See Notes for a steamy oven.) Carefully place your cookie sheet into the oven and close the door. (Don’t peek at the bread for the 1st twenty minutes.) Cook until the bread is a deep golden brown (You will not be able to “thump” the bottom) and about 170F when an Insta-Read  (Can be found at most grocery stores and of course, Wal-Mart) thermometer is placed near the center.

14. Carefully lift the loaves from the cookie sheet and place on a cooling rack. Let the bread cool completely until cutting and serving. Can be frozen for up to 3 months if tightly wrapped.

Makes 2 medium large loaves ( or 3-4 small loaves)

*See Notes