This chocolate stuffed bread was an accident recipe, but it was a happy accident. Gotta love when you have a winner at first bite!
It’s fall. It’s officially fall by the calendar and by the weather outside in beautiful Chicago. For me, that means that I’m back to cooking inside with the oven and that I’m starting to make more hearty dishes.
I made a bunch of bread dough this weekend, and I had some left in the fridge yesterday. As I tried to decide what I wanted to do with it – breadsticks? A boule? More pizza? – I hit upon an idea.
I was in the mood for something desserty but not overly sweet. I adore chocolate babka, but oh my word is that an involved process compared to the time I had at 7:30 last night. Plus I already had dough made.
So I made my own version of most definitely not chocolate babka but something vaguely reminiscent of it. And that loaf? Twelve hours later, it’s gone. I think that’s a ringing endorsement, don’t you?
That said, making my own chocolate babka is definitely on my list of things to work on. It’s much prettier than this and has such a great flavor, too.
That said, I do at least make my own challah the “real” way. My favorite is a chocolate cherry challah, and maybe you can sense a theme.
This bread is great just on its own, as my family proved. I’m tempted to use it to make French toast one day, too. I use the recipe for my no-knead bread dough that’s super quick to pull together.
You could also use my sandwich bread recipe if you prefer. I haven’t tried it with that recipe, but it would definitely work just like I make homemade bagel dogs and then use the leftover dough to roll up with chocolate chips or Nutella and cherries.
Alternatively, this works well with the refrigerated pizza dough you can pick up from your local grocery store if you aren’t quite ready to mix up your own yeast dough quite yet. That said, try it. It’s easier than you think it will be, and bread tends to be pretty forgiving.
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How to Make Chocolate Stuffed Bread
Make the bread dough according to the regular instructions. Let it go through its first rise.
At that point, you’ll want to start deviating. Flour your surface well. Go ahead and get your dough nice and flat, maybe 1/4 inch thick or a little less and long. You want it maybe 4 inches tall and the rest goes to length.
Note that I am not being in the least exact in what I’m doing. It’s bread. It isn’t supposed to be perfect.
This is how people know you made it yourself. Now for the easy part. Sprinkle the brown sugar along the length of the dough.
You want just a hint of it, not covered like you would with a cinnamon roll. The idea is to make the dough a little sweeter so that it isn’t bread. And chocolate. It’s a little more nuanced.
Then sprinkle the cinnamon over the brown sugar because cinnamon and chocolate are awesome together. The chips go atop the sugar and cinnamon.
Gently press the chocolate chips in just a little so they’ll hold but not so much that they poke through the other side of the dough.
Starting at one of the small ends, start rolling it up like a giant cinnamon roll. Once you have it completely rolled, curl it around itself and press the two open ends together so that it makes a circle.
Again, this isn’t exact. You just want a shape for your bread, so have fun with it.
Place your bread onto a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal to rise. You don’t want to have to touch it again and destroy the rising it will do.
Whether you make homemade pizza or boules, the pizza peel will be your lifesaver. It’s perfect to slide your bread into the oven and have it bake perfectly every time.
On a related note, you also want to invest in a pizza stone for your oven. This is what really crisps the crust, and it makes far better pizza than cooking it on a pan.
If you are going to bake this in a pan because you don’t have a peel and stone to bake it on, that’s fine. Simply make sure your pan is greased so it won’t stick when you take it out after it’s baked.
Let your dough rest for an hour to rise, lightly covered with a barely damp towel.
About twenty minutes into the rise, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Make sure you have a small, empty pan in the oven on the bottom shelf.
When the dough has finished its rise, go ahead and put it in the oven. Immediately fill a cup with water and put the water into the empty pan to create steam. This is how you have a nice crunchy crust on the outside.
Once you’ve added the water, close the door and don’t open it again until the bread is done.
Depending on the size of your loaf, the cook time will vary. With a normal size serving of bread dough, bake it for 35 minutes, but adjust based on your oven and amount of dough you’re using. I baked my smaller dough for 28 minutes, and it was perfect.
You can also choose to rub the exterior with a bit of butter as soon as it comes out of the oven. This gives it a soft top, and I do this often when I make it. Try to let your bread cook before cutting into it, but if you can’t… you weren’t alone!
Have you ever made chocolate stuffed bread?
Chocolate Stuffed Bread
Ingredients
- 1 recipe of your favorite bread dough
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- cornmeal
Instructions
- Make bread dough according to instructions through its first rise. (Or remove purchased dough from the fridge.) You want enough for one loaf of bread.1 recipe of your favorite bread dough
- Flour surface well. Roll dough to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick into a rectangle 4 inches on the short side.
- Lightly sprinkle brown sugar along the length of the dough.1/2 cup brown sugar
- Sprinkle cinnamon over brown sugar, and gently chocolate chips in just a little so they’ll hold.1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- Roll it up like a giant cinnamon roll so it’s long. Next, curl it around itself and press the two open ends together to make a circle.
- Place bread dough onto pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal to rise. Alternatively, place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment papercornmeal
- Let dough rise for an hour, lightly covered with a barely damp towel.
- Twenty minutes into the rise, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a small, empty pan on the bottom shelf.
- At the end of the rise, place bread in the oven on your stone or cookie sheet. Immediately fill a cup with water and carefully put water into empty pan to create steam for a crunchy outer crust. Close door immediately.
- Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.
Equipment
Notes
- Feel free to make your own bread dough or use either frozen bread dough that you’ve thawed or refrigerated pizza dough from the grocery store. You want enough dough to make a single loaf of bread. The shaping isn’t critical, as this is a free-form loaf, so don’t stress on it!
- For more tips and tricks, be sure to read the full article above.
Nutrition
This site uses an online source to provide nutrition estimates as a courtesy. If you need exact values, please calculate yourself.
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This is the most beautiful bread ever created. Looks so yummy!
That looks pure evil, and I must make some.