The inspiration for this bread has its roots in the braided chocolate cherry bread Paul Hollywood did for a Masterclass during the 2014 season of “The Great British Bake Off” and from an interview with Nathan Myhrvold at the end of an episode of the “The Food Programme” podcast from the BBC. Myrhvold said his favorite bread was a sourdough chocolate cherry bread. No-knead breads are a kinda-sorta way of cheating sourdough. Kinda.
Ingredients:
- 454 grams (1 lb.) All-Purpose or Bread Flour
- ¼ tsp. Yeast
- 2 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1 tbsp. Ground Cocoa
- 43 grams (1.5 oz.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped into chunks
- 43 grams (1.5 oz.) White Chocolate, chopped into chunks
- 45 grams (⅓ cup) dried Cherries
- 340 grams (12 fl. oz.) Water
Directions:
Step 1: Combine dry ingredients. Add chunks of chocolate, white chocolate and dried cherries and mix. Add water and mix by hand just until the mix holds together without working the dough. You do not want to develop the gluten.
Step 2: Set aside in a food-grade container, cover with plastic wrap or a lid and let ferment at room temperature for 24-36 hours.
Step 3: Dust your surface with flour and shape into a ball. Transfer to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone mat dusted with flour. Let prove for about an hour.
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 450°F. Bake for 35-40 minutes***. Use a spray bottle to give 15 spritzes of water in the oven every five minutes. This helps develop a chewy crust. Turn the bread around half-way through the bake in order to insure even baking. Let cool on a wire rack.
***Because ovens can vary on their temperature, the baking time can be between 35-40 minutes. I generally bake it for 35 minutes and that leaves the interior a little on the moist side. It’s really a matter of preference.
Notes:
No-knead breads exploded when Mark Bittman wrote an article about them for the New York Times and you can read more about that phenomenon at his website. By using a tiny amount of yeast and not developing the gluten through kneading, no-knead breads develop a structure with large holes characteristic of artisan breads. Longer fermentation times develop stronger flavors.
I’ve dialed back the hydration level a bit to make the dough easier to work with and I’ve experimented with the length of fermentation. For my taste, 24-36 hours is the sweet spot. When I’ve let it go 48 hours or longer the texture gets a bit gummy.
This bread is an ENORMOUS crowd-pleaser.
Schmecken! 