This Double Chocolate Yeast Bread recipe is made with rich dutch-process cocoa and studded with plenty of semisweet chocolate chips. It is such an easy bread to make at home that tastes like it came from a fancy bakery. Slices make a great snack, breakfast or dessert.
What you need to make this
This recipe calls for simple ingredients that most home bakers already have on hand. Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy chocolate soft bread:
- active dry yeast
- granulated sugar
- bread flour
- dutch-process cocoa powder
- light brown sugar
- kosher salt
- coffee
- unsalted butter
- egg
- chocolate chips or chunks
Add ins for dessert bread
You can turn any yeast bread into a dessert bread by adding sweet mix-ins like chocolate chips, dried fruit or sweeteners like honey or brown sugar.
My chocolate bread includes chocolate chips, but sometimes I add dried cherries to make chocolate cherry bread. Here are some other mix in ideas:
- White chocolate chips or chunks
- Dried cranberries
- Dried apricots
- Almonds
- Pecans
- Walnuts
- Hazelnuts
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I like to eat mine toasted with plenty of soft butter and a sprinkle of sea salt. In the mornings, I will have it with cream cheese and jam or peanut butter. I have never tried it, but I bet nutella would be decadent on a toasted slice. There is no wrong way to eat sweet bread!
Not in the mood for a chocolate loaf? Try my other bread recipes:
- Best Ever Soft Cinnamon Rolls
- Softest Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Traditional Texas-Czech Kolaches
- Kouign-Amann (Round)
Halloween bread design
This is a perfect halloween bread, when you score the top with a spiderweb design like I did! You could even try a more advanced design, like this Jack Skellington Sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen.
Tips
If you do not have two dutch ovens, you can also just bake one loaf at a time or bake the loaves side by side on a baking tray.
Instead of a floured top, try brushing the loaves with egg white and sprinkling raw sugar before baking.
To make even lines, use a piece of string to mark the lines before scoring.
Lastly, if you make this Double Chocolate Yeast Bread recipe be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating. I love to see when people make my recipes, so please tag me @youthsweets on Instagram if you post!
📖 Recipe
Double Chocolate Yeast Bread
Ingredients
Dough
- ¼ cup water warmed to 105 to 115°F
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (12g)
- 3 ½ cups bread flour (390g)
- ⅓ cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa (35g)
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar packed (77g)
- 1 ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup coffee cooled until warm (105 to 115°F)
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
- 1 egg yolk
- 5 oz chocolate chips (140g)
Instructions
Make the dough
- In a heatproof bowl, stir together warm water, yeast and sugar. Let sit for about 5 minutes, until foamy.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the 3 cups of bread flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar and kosher salt.
- With a wooden spoon, stir in warm coffee, butter, egg yolk and yeast mixture into the flour mixture.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, working in enough remaining flour just to keep the dough from sticking.
- If you think the dough is ready, perform the window pane test. Do this by grabbing a small bit of dough and stretching it between your fingers like this. If it stretches without tearing, it is ready. If it tears when stretched, keep kneading.
- Knead in chocolate chips.
Proof 1 of 2
- Shape the dough into a ball. Place in a large, greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
Proof 2 of 2
- Punch down the dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half. Shape each dough half into a ball. Using the sides of your hands, tuck sides of dough under to meet in center. Rotate and repeat to form a taut ball.
- Prepare two bread baskets or bowls with a clean towel with a light dusting of flour. Place the dough balls top down into the prepared baskets/bowls. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Bake the loaves
- Preheat the oven to 400°F with dutch ovens inside.
- Cut out two circles of parchment paper much larger than the balls of dough. Turn out the loaves onto their respective parchment circles.
- With a serrated knife or single-edge razor blade, cut a spiderweb design (or whatever design you want). Transfer loaves to the preheated dutch ovens.
- Place the lid on and bake until the loaves are crusty, about 35 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
