Who doesn’t like good chocolate bread? Yea I don’t see lots of raised hands. There is 2 kind you can make more of brioche or this one that is a bit more compact and taste more like a bread. I personally prefer this one over the brioche. For this recipe instead of using my homemade hazelnut paste ( I was out of hazelnut) we made a chocolate paste.
My kid opinion is “It almost tastes too much chocolatey”
Never thought I would hear those words together from him!
Dough
- 50g butter at room temperature
- 50g sugar
- dash salt
- 6g instant dry yeast
- 80g milk ( I use oat milk and needed about 20g more)
- 310g flour
- 1 egg
Filling*
- 90g dark chocolate
- 60g butter
- 30g icing sugar
- 21g cocoa powder
*You can use several ones like homemade hazelnut paste(favourite) ,store-bought “Nutella” or chocolate paste ( very intense, shown above )
Coating
- 50g water
- 50g sugar
Instructions
- In a stand mixer bowl put the milk and the yeast, stir and let it bloom for 10 minutes. Add the egg, salt, flour, sugar and about 2/3 of the butter. Mix on medium-low speed for 6 minutes.
- Reduce to low speed and add half the remaining butter, mix for a minute then add the leftover. Mix for another minute.
- On a lightly floured surface dump the dough and shape it into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and let it sleep in the fridge for 8 -12 hours.
- Take some butter and grease the inside of your loaf pan so the bread doesn’t stick, set aside.
- Before working the dough, prepare the hazelnut paste, or in this case, we will make a chocolate paste. Melt the chocolate with the butter and stir until all combined then add the remaining ingredients. Again stir until all incorporated. Reserve
- Lightly flour your work surface and put the dough on. Using a rolling pin, shape into a rectangle approximately 12×20 ( don’t need to have a perfect shape). Spread your hazelnut paste or chocolate paste onto the dough.
- Roll the dough to form a log. You want it to be tight but obviously, don’t tear the dough 😉
Using a serrated knife, cut in half ( lengthwise) and then simply braid each side. I like to start from the middle and do the first twist there, then one left side, one right side and so on. Pinch the extremity and place it in your loaf pan.
- Turn your oven on at 350 for a minute then turn it off. Cover your loaf pan with a clean dishcloth and put it in the oven for 2 hours; this creates a nice warm environment for it to proof.
- Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
- While you wait, put the water and sugar in a small pot over medium-high.Let it simmer for about 2 minutes, the sugar should be all dissolved. Reserve
- After 30 minutes, take the bread out of the oven and brush the sugar coating on top of the bread. Let cool before unmolding.
