Wow, amazing bread. I have been meaning to try this recipe for awhile, and Valentine’s Day seemed an ideal opportunity . My husband says I have outdone myself.
Mixed the dough up Weds morning, bulk fermented on the counter for about 10-12 hours, preshaped, rested, then shaped and placed into a well-floured banneton and into the fridge overnight. Thursday morning preheated Dutch oven then baked proofed loaf cold, pretty much straight from the refrigerator. Turned out beautifully. Thanks Melissa!
That’s beautiful! You’re making me crave it when instead I have a sprouted lentil bread on the docket for this weekend haha
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe : )
This recipe was inspiring but since we don’t eat sugar I used cocoa - just not the same. However, gave it another try using the montmorency cherries (superb!) and toasted walnut pieces. Also, substitute stone ground whole wheat for the rye - absolutely fabulous! One of my favourite breads. However, since then I have discovered a source for sugar free chocolate chips and plan to try the original recipe again soon. Love this website
ps further to my previous post using walnuts and whole wheat instead of choc chips and rye - should also mention I basically used the same quantity of ingredients (substituting 100 g cherries and 100 g toasted walnuts, 250 g ww stone ground flour instead of rye) but my own method. 70 g sourdough starter, no yeast or yeast water - mix at night, let it sit overnight and in the a.m. shape it, rest for an hour or so on parchment paper in a basket then bake in a preheated oven and covered cast iron or clay roaster 450 degrees 25 minutes then uncovered 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Seriously delicious, my husband’s favourite.
Great work on the substitutions. I think that shifting a recipe into your personal preferences is fun and so rewarding of course. Glad you’re enjoying this recipe as a springboard
So I altered the recipe a bit I decreased the water to 350 grams and increased the RYE Starter to 150 Grams and added a tablespoon of dutch process cocoa powder to the flours mixed it up in a stand mixer until the dough started to pull from the sides of the bowl, First stretch and fold was stick quite sticky, second stretch and fold was a little easier to work with so I added the dried cherries and dark chocolate chunks returned it to the bowl and left it sit covered with a plastic bag for about five hours, then put it back on the floured counter and stretched the top with both hands tucked the sides under forming a boule, placed the boule into my clay baker I’d sprayed with baking Pam to proof. I started pre heating the over to 485 filled an old broiler pan on the bottom shelf with water and put the covered baker in for 55 minutes dough had proofed up in about 90 minutes, got a decent over spring and while I uncovered it for ten minutes at then end I got a nice brown on the loaf without the burning I’d experienced the last time. had a nice crumb as well as an instand read had it at 205 in the edges and 195 in the center.
Mmmm was so happy to try this recipe, and overall I am very happy with it. I made a few modifications, such as pumpernickel instead of rye flour and white whole wheat bread flour instead of bread flour. And I split the dough in half to make two small breads instead of one larger boule. I love 100% whole grain, and so for me the results were hearty and delicious. For someone who likes a lighter bread, I think the original flours specified would still be quite amazing! Next time I will use either fewer chocolate chips or mini-size, as there just seemed to be too many chocolate chips for the amount of dough yield (although maybe there would have been “more” dough with the rye and bread flour). And I think some walnuts would be nice too. slices|666x500
This time of year I tend to crave hearty substantial loaves of bread with “stuff” in them. Breadtopia’s cranberry pecan sourdough loaf is one of my total favorites and one I bake very often all year long. However, I’d been wanting some rye lately. It’s been a long time since I baked a rye bread. And, being in need of some comfort food I’ve also been wanting chocolate. Then I remembered Breadtopia’s Cherry Chocolate Sourdough Rye! I just pulled this loaf out of the oven. I’m going to let it cool for several hours before cutting into it but I thought you’d enjoy seeing this loaf before I tear into it. This one took a lot longer to bake than I anticipated as it just wouldn’t get up to 205 degrees F without an extra 15 minutes bake time. I do look forward to a nice slice, slathered with butter and a hot cuppa tea later this afternoon. Hopefully I’ll remember to take some pictures once I slice into this one.
That looks great! Did you use cranberries or cherries? I think I’ll edit the bake time to be longer. I haven’t made this in a while, but I routinely need more time with loaded berry breads.
@Fermentada Thanks, Melissa! I indeed did use cherries in this one because I still had one 8 ounce bag of dried cherries in the house. I simply split the amount in half so I’d have enough to use for another loaf. I do have a plethora of dried cranberries since I make the sourdough cranberry pecan quite often. I plan on just using the cranberries instead of the cherries after I use the last of the cherries. I know dried cranberries are a good substitute for dried cherries if need be. Also, to keep up with my husband’s medical requirements I lowered the amount of salt to only 1/2 teaspoon instead of 1-1/2 teaspoons AND used allergy-free non-dairy chocolate chips. He isn’t supposed to eat lots of whole grain but a little bit is okay and by making it both low sodium and dairy-free he can indulge in a slice or two if he wants to.
I hope to cut into that bad boy very soon and indulge with a nice hot cuppa.
It’s Fall. It’s rye. It’s chocolate. I honestly don’t know why I haven’t baked this loaf in such a long time. Those tart Montmorency cherries are da bomb! Paired with dark chocolate there’s almost hint of the flavor being a bit savory that balances the cherries; which being tart are not overly sweet to begin with. Dang, I ate 3 large slices slathered with good Irish butter yesterday and am currently finishing another with my morning coffee for breakfast. That’s one tasty (and perhaps addictive) loaf of bread! YUM!
I have only put cacao nibs in crunchy granola at this point so I’m not speaking from experience.
I think they will stay crunchy based on this back-and-forth about using them in bread:
Thank you @Fermentada. Think I’ll hold off until i’m able to get hold of some chocolate drops or find a way to process the cacao nibs to soften when baked. This looks like a lovely recipe and don’t wish to compromise the results in any way. Better to wait for the correct ingredients.
@Abe Abe, I think waiting until you have some chocolate drops is most definitely the correct decision for making the chocolate cherry rye. Cacao nibs, though wonderfully healthy, are rather bitter tasting on their own which means the bread would need some kind of sweetening and the nibs basically won’t melt like the drops do. In my opinion, you’d end up with bitter crunchy bits in your bread which is probably not the best flavor or texture profile. When you do have the right ingredients and decide to bake this, I’ll love to hear your opinion of it, whether positive or negative. Everyone’s tastes are different. I love this bread. It’s a decadent and quite unique bread. Pre-COVID-19 days I was regularly baking rye breads for a friend of mine. When I mentioned this chocolate cherry rye he looked at me like I had lost my mind. Turns out he doesn’t like chocolate (oh, the travesty ).
@Fermentada Melissa, when I used the sour cherries I knew without a doubt that would be the only type of cherry I’d be using in the recipe. The flavor difference, to me, was astounding. While using the Bing cherries resulted in a good tasting bread, using the sour cherries resulted in an outstanding tasting bread. I also use dairy-free chocolate chips in case my hubby wants a slice and only 1/4-1/3 of the salt called for in any recipe (whichever is easier to measure properly ). This is quite a decadent bread that just screams to be toasted, slathered with good butter (or plant butter to stay dairy-free) and accompanied by a nice hot cuppa favorite strong tea or coffee. Good grief, I’m going to have to bake one soon now that I’m writing about it. Lots of bread in my freezer though so I’d better start eating my inventory.
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). This is quite a decadent bread that just screams to be toasted, slathered with good butter (or plant butter to stay dairy-free) and accompanied by a nice hot cuppa favorite strong tea or coffee. Good grief, I’m going to have to bake one soon now that I’m writing about it. Lots of bread in my freezer though so I’d better start eating my inventory. 
