Chocolate Sourdough Artisan Bread

When it comes to indulgence, this rich chocolate sourdough artisan bread takes the cake. With its decadent flavor and the ability for you to make it in your home oven, it’s dangerously delicious! What sets this recipe apart is the addition of bloomed cocoa powder in warm oil, elevating the bread’s crumb – making it rich and full of chocolatey goodness. I love the addition of the melty chocolate chips with the tender crumb. This is no ordinary sourdough artisan bread; it’s a chocolate lover’s dream come true.

Ingredients in Chocolate Sourdough Artisan Bread

Sourdough Sample Schedule for Chocolate Sourdough Artisan Bread

A sample baking schedule helps me when baking with sourdough. Sourdough takes much longer to rise than traditional bread. This schedule helps me plan my bake.

A few notes: This schedule assumes the dough temperature is 78 degrees F throughout the process.

Mixing the Levain

Bloom the Cocoa Powder

“Blooming” cocoa powder is a process of mixing hot oil with cocoa powder before adding it to the recipe. This process helps the cocoa powder release its full flavor potential. It deepens and makes the chocolate flavor more intense. About an hour before mixing the dough, warm the coconut oil and cocoa powder together over the stove or in the microwave. It doesn’t need to come to a boil, but should be fairly warm. Stir together into a liquid drizzle. Let cool completely before using in the recipe.

Autolyse the Dough

I use an autolyse method in this chocolate sourdough artisan bread. It helps strengthen the gluten strands in the dough and gives a better overall texture and crumb to this bread. An hour before the levain is ready, mix together the bread flour and water. Cover the dough and let it rest for an hour. As soon as the water hydrates the flour, gluten strands begin aligning and strengthening.

Mixing the Dough

Add the sugar, salt, ripe levain and cooled cocoa mixture to the autolysed dough. Pinch chunks of dough and reincorporate them together gently. Pick up one side of the dough and fold it over on itself. The dough will be sticky. Wet your hands as needed and continue to work with the dough, gently kneading until all the ingredients are incorporated and the dough is smooth. Transfer the dough to a plastic container or a glass bowl if desired.

Bulk Fermentation

The total bulk fermentation time is around 4-5 hours, from the time the levain hits the dough to when the dough is shaped and then put in the refrigerator. During this bulk fermentation, I do some sets of stretch and folds and use the lamination method to add the chocolate chips to the dough.

Stretch and Fold: To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach down to the bottom of the bowl of dough and pull the dough up and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 1/4 turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another 1/4 turn and repeat. Perform one more 1/4 turn with stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside.

Lamination: On a clean counter top, stretch the dough as thin as you can without tearing it. When the dough is fully stretched, sprinkle 3/4 of the milk chocolate chips over the dough. Fold the dough up and sprinkle the rest of the milk chocolate as you fold the dough up into a little package. This strengthens gluten strands and gives even disbursement to the chocolate.

Cold Fermentation

I almost always use a cold fermentation for my sourdough artisan bread. Cover the dough in the banneton and place in the refrigerator for 12-20 hours. If it goes a little longer than that, it should be okay maybe up to 48 hours depending on the temperature of your refrigerator.

Baking Chocolate Sourdough Artisan Bread

Pre-heat the Oven: Put a dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Allow the dutch oven to heat for about 30 minutes at 500 degrees. This builds up steam, which is necessary to achieve the beautiful oven spring and perfect crust that artisan bread is known for.

Scoring the Dough: Once preheated for 30 minutes, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap (this is easy to do straight out of the refrigerator if the dough is chilled –not easy if the dough warms up) and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bread dough. Flip the dough over so that it is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl/banneton and kitchen towel. Smooth the flour over the top of the dough (add a little extra for more contrast if desired) or leave the flour off completely for no contrast. Use a bread lame or very sharp knife to score the dough.

Bake the Bread: Carefully remove the dutch oven from the 500 degree oven with hot pads. Take the top off and place your bread into the dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Be very careful not to touch the sides of the dutch oven. Put your hot pads back on before you pick up the lid of the dutch oven and place it on top of the bread. Put the whole dutch oven back into your oven. Lower the temperature to 450 degrees and bake for 25 minutes. Once 25 minutes are up, take the top off the dutch oven and continue baking for 20 minutes until the bread is fully baked.

Frequently Asked Questions