I wanted to try something different, and as I was flipping through my baking books I noticed I had marked a recipe for chocolate bread. I almost flipped past, but then I noticed the ingredient list was relatively simply. So I decided to try it.

Please note, that as usual for me, I did not thoroughly read the recipe, so I failed to notice this had TWO overnight rises. So starting on Saturday? Not so great.Otherwise, it’s a fairly straightforward recipe.

Now I need to decide what is the best topping to go with it.

Chocolate Bread (recipe is actually White and Dark Chocolate Bread, but 1) I was out of white chocolate and 2) I wanted all dark chocolate)
I actually diverged a bit from her process, to make things easier for me.

1 3/4 cup warm water
5 tsp yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup Dutch process cocoa
4 to 5 cups bread flour

1/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Proof yeast. Add sugar, cocoa, salt and 3 cups of sugar and mix. Switch to dough hook and add more flour as necessary till pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Place dough in oiled rising bowl and refrigerate overnight.

In a food processor, combine butter, sugars, and cocoa and process until you have a crumbly mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a large rectangle (16″ x 10″). Sprinkle butter, sugar and cocoa mix over the dough. Sprinkle bittersweet chips over that.

Working from one of the short ends, roll up like a jelly roll. Divide roll in half and place into two greased 8″ bread pans.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove pans from refrigerator and allow to rise for 2 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray tops with water and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (I had vanilla sugar and that was fabulous!)

Bake 35 to 45 minutes, cool for 20 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman