Chocolate Cherry Rye Bread

Whether for breakfast or as an afternoon snack, this rye bread, enriched with dark chocolate and dried cherries, will make all sweet tooth happy. It is chocolatey and fruity at the same time and also has a proportion of rye flour, which makes it more wholesome and less guilty. If you don’t have dried cherries, dried cranberries would work too. This is a high hydration dough, so a sticky dough is expected. If you add more flour, you'll end up with a really tough, dry loaf, so don't add more flour! Bread is best baked with conventional top and bottom heat, as it would dry out too quickly with circulating air. This makes it nice and crispy on the outside and keeps it soft and fluffy on the inside.

350 ml Water, lukewarm
255 g Plain flour
100 g Medium-dark rye flour
7 g Active dry yeast
3/4 tsp Sea salt
20 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
20 g Caster sugar
120 g Dried cherries, chopped
150 g 60% Dark chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)

Place the flours, yeast, salt, cocoa powder, sugar and water in the bowl of your mixer. Mix everything at a slowest speed until they are all moistened. Increase the speed and knead until a dough has roughly formed. Add in chopped cherries and chocolate and knead into the dough.
Dust the top of the dough with a little flour, cover the bowl with a lid and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 1.5 - 2 hours.
Scrape the dough onto your generously floured work surface. Stretch out the dough with wetted hands and then fold the dough together like an envelope. It is best to start at the top and work your way clockwise.
Repeat this 3 more times. You will notice that it becomes increasingly difficult to pull the dough. After the last pull and fold, turn the dough with the folded side down. Now gently shape the dough into a ball with both hands.
Place the dough in a proofing basket lined with a towel and dusted with flour. Cover with a towel and leave the dough to rest for a further 30-45 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 230C/450F, with a tray of water at the bottom of oven.
Turn the dough onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Slash a cross in the center and place in the middle of hot oven. Bake the bread for 25 minutes, then remove the water and lower the temperature to 200C/400F. Continue to bake the bread for a further 15-20 minutes until the crust is dark brown and crusty.
Remove and leave the bread to cool on a rack before slicing.

13 comments:

Lola Martínez 13/1/25 12:35: Pocas cosas me imagino tan ricas como ese pan, tiene un aspecto que alimenta!
Lucimar da Silva Moreira 13/1/25 12:55: Angies que delicia para o café da manhã e para o lanche, desejo uma ótima semana bjs.
ellie 13/1/25 13:09: Good to know about the dough. Looks lovely!
Ivy's Closet 13/1/25 13:10: Beautiful bread. Is that mustard you put on it? Wonderful.
Angie's Recipes 13/1/25 13:43: It's natural pistachio cream with 100% roasted pistachios and nothing else.
DEZMOND 13/1/25 14:01: Oh, my, I'd eat anything with cherries! And that pistazienhumus looks lovely as well.
Judee 13/1/25 14:07: Give me a slice of that bread. It looks amazing.
Tom 13/1/25 14:22: ...such an interesting combination.
Anonymous 13/1/25 14:34: Oh yes.
www.rsrue.blogspot.com
Kathy G 13/1/25 15:36: This looks amazing!
Christine 13/1/25 15:50: Yummy
Teresa Isabel SIlva 13/1/25 16:33: Oh que delicia! Fiquei com água na boca!

Bjxxx
Teresa Isabel Silva
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thepaintedapron.com 13/1/25 16:36: Wow Angie, your bread baking skills continue to amaze me!
Jenna