Made this Chocolate Chocolate Challah (an eGullet recipe) today; unsweetened cocoa powder in the dough and dark chocolate chunks kneaded in. Smells delumptious...cooling down now. I know there are Sourdough [u]Plain[/u] Challahs, but can a chocolate one be made from natural leaven? Someone said he tried but it didn't work...just won't budge. What impedes the proving of the dough?
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Oh my goodness. Chocolate and sourdough.
This is as pleasing as that lovely snack that the Basque's take credit for ... fresh bread eaten with fresh apricots and bitter chocolate ...
It's all good!
But HOW DID IT TASTE, TP?
Carol...you [i]do[/i] know this challah was yeast-based, didn't you? Not sourdough....yet.
From the time it got out of the oven....no..no...wait....from the time it was halfway through baking...heavenly chocolatey smells filled the kitchen. Mmmm...mmm. Got 3 thumbs-up from my powerpuff girls despite (my mentioning earlier) the relative denseness. They want it...often. It wasn't sweet (tho' sweet-toothed me wouldn't mind it either way) coz the cocoa used was unsweetened, and the chunks (Ooooo!) were dark.
I'll probably try a sourdough version in 2 weeks' time. Think I'll aim for mild sourness, so I'll probably give it a bigger dose of starter but shorter proving time. Think it'll work?
TP ... I'd have no idea if it will work ... probably ... but I'd definitely help eat it!
Teepee,
Cocoa powder added to a bread tends to tighten the dough and slow down the fermentation activity and there is a need to increase the yeast quantity.
Bingo!
The recipe did ask for a lot of yeast and, being yeast-averse (actually what I thought was a smart move which turned out not-so-smart), I reduced it by a third. Well....the result ... challah is a little on the dense side. And, the bottom got burnt, as I left it in the oven (timer on) and went out.
Thanks, chembake.