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This sounds fascinating and delicious! Since your impulse is to add chocolate, I’m guessing that this bread tends toward the sweet rather than savory side?
Oh wow! Your imagination knows no limits Melissa! 
Sharing your love for Indian foodstuff, this sounds like something I have to try!
@wendyk320
The bread is hint-o-sweet. My daughter requested more sugar/honey each time I made it, but I preferred it as it was, a tiny bit sweet. I think I even made my son a turkey sandwich with it once, though pb&j would have been better probably 
@Leah1
Thanks! I’d love to hear what you think, how you modify etc.
@charlesvk
Thank you! Yes, I love Indian food and spice combinations 
I hope you enjoy the bread of you make it.
I do have a couple questions. What type of tea should be brewed? I do have Tazo Organic Chai black tea bags. Would they be a good choice? Or should I stick to basic English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast? BTW, it’ll be quite some time before I try baking this. Dietary restrictions for a while.
Thanks,
Leah
Chai black tea will probably have some cinnamon and ginger action of its own, but I don’t think it will be overwhelming in combination with the ground spices in the recipe. Sorry to hear about your bread haitus.
Bread hiatus for a short while, less than 4 weeks, just needed for a bit. I’ll have to keep feeding Cyril to keep him healthy even though I won’t be baking for myself. I might make a large batch of sourdough pancakes for my friend’s daughter during the time I’m not baking bread for myself. Of course, I still will have to bake bread for my husband. I may end up baking for friends who have requested breads from me so I can use Cyril and not lose Cyril. I just won’t be personally indulging in his goodness until the end of January. I’m rambling…Happy New Year, Melissa!
Leah
I made this bread about a month ago and it has been on the heavy request list from my wife and granddaughters ever since. I’m giving it another go to pair with an Indian cuisine dinner with some friends. I didn’t deviate much from the recipe other than to shape and proof after, rather than before, the overnight cold bulk ferment. That’s my usual means of working within the time constraints of other commitments. It came out great and I’m looking forward to having it again.
That’s wonderful to hear. So glad you and your family are enjoying the recipe!
Hi Melissa - Thanks for this recipe! It looks so interesting, I want to try it, but I have a few questions: Regarding the whole wheat, you mean flour, right? There’s no mention of ww flour, just grain, but the links point to flours. Also, when you say cloves, crushed, do you mean ground to powder? Or do you mean crushed into pieces and then I should strain them out of the liquid before adding the flours? And if you meant the latter, do I strain out the coconut too? Thanks!
Yes, i meant for you to use whole grain flour or milled wheat berries.
I crush the cloves and don’t strain, but I have a good mortar and pestle. If you’re concerned about the size pieces, maybe soak the entire cloves and then remove, but don’t strain and lose the coconut etc.
I guess it all depends on your feelings toward cloves in the first place. I love them…like entire nails in my cranberry sauce; my husband finds that awful and mouth numbing.
He liked the bread by the way 
My friend loved it, and my house smelled amazing. Btw, cinnamon is known to inhibit fermentation a bit but the bread rises just fine.
I scored a sun stencil on the dough with ground cinnamon to try to give a warm spice vibe since the weather where I am is cold and gray all weekend.
where did you source the stencil ?
This recipe so flavorful with all the spices and tea. I used Constant Comment tea. Since I have made this recipe before, I experimented two ways this time. While my starter was building (took 3 hours 15 minutes) I autolysed all the other ingredients, using sweetened coconut.100g honey and left it on the counter top. Then added the doubled starter and went on with the s&f’s. After the bulk ferment, I shaped, wet the top, dipped it in coconut, into the banneton and into the fridge and baked the next day. It did need to bake 5-10 minutes longer to get the temp to 210 degrees. The crust is so beautiful with the flaked coconut, nice open crumb that is soft, not gummy, oh so delicious!
The second loaf I followed the recipe except I added 50g of coconut flour for 50g of the wheat flour, 100g honey and sweetened coconut. At first I was not able to do stretch and folds, the dough was not flexible at all. I just sort of moved pushed it on to itself and back into the Brod and Taylor at 80 degrees. By the fourth 30 minutes it was still not very pliable, so I just let it bulk ferment for 6 plus hours. It did rise and finally felt lighter and a little puffy. I shaped and put it in the fridge and baked it the next day. It baked beautifully, golden coconut crust, dense crumb, but oh so soft and delicious. I can’t stop eating it!
Both loaves sound wonderful! I’ve used coconut milk in a dough before and the result was more dense than usual but also utterly addictive.
