“Oh no she didn’t…”
Oh yes, yes I did.
I’ve had so much fun over the past year playing with different variations of the no-knead bread that when I discovered a few left over chocolate chips in my pantry, I knew *exactly* what I was going to do with them.
This recipe only takes a few hours as opposed to the long ferment time of the no-knead focaccia. I literally made it one morning while I was running around finishing errands before company came over. You can totally do this in the background of your “real life.”
I basically used the same technique as I did for this cinnamon raisin bread, except that I mixed all of the cinnamon and brown sugar right into the dough. It’s so good and so easy… it will be your new secret weapon!
Did I mention how good this is toasted with peanut butter for breakfast? But, I guess I didn’t really have to, now did I? ;)
Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Servings 12Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ($0.24)
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour ($0.26)
- 1 1/4 tsp salt ($0.06)
- 1 packet 2 1/4 tsp instant or bread machine yeast ($0.18)
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon ($0.15)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.04)
- 1 - 1 1/2 cups water ($0.00)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips ($0.67)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, salt, yeast, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir until there are no clumps.
- Add 1 cup of water. Stir and add more water, a few tablespoons at a time, just until the dough forms one ball with no dry pieces on the bottom of the bowl. It is okay if the dough is wet and sticky. Cover the bowl loosely and let it rest for two hours at room temperature.
- After two hours, sprinkle some flour on the expanded dough and on a clean work surface. Flour your hands and transfer the dough to the work surface. Give the dough just a few quick “kneads” just to make sure it is evenly mixed (honestly only 3 or for turns/folds). Shape the dough into a long rectangle with the short end the same length as your bread pan (see photos).
- Roughly chop the chocolate chips into small pieces. Sprinkle them over the surface of the bread dough. Working from the short end, stretch and roll the dough up with the chopped chocolate inside. Stretch the dough as you roll and roll tightly so that there as much “swirl” as possible.
- Place the rolled up dough, seam side down, in a bread pan coated with non-stick spray. Cover loosely and let rise until double in size (about one hour).
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, place the risen loaf inside, and bake until deep golden brown on top (about 35 minutes). Remove the baked loaf from the pan and let cool on a wire rack before cutting open. Enjoy!
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Nutrition
Step By Step Photos
Start by mixing the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, salt, yeast, cinnamon, and brown sugar).
Next, add just enough water until it forms one piece of dough. This will probably be somewhere between 1 and 1.5 cups of water. Start with one cup and work up from there. It is okay if the dough is wet and sticky, just as long as there are no dry bits on the bottom of the bowl. Let the dough sit, loosely covered, at room temp for two hours. (Sorry about the weird lighting, it was still dark out when I started the bread)
After two hours it will have expanded into something like this. It’s fluffy, sticky, and not so pretty… but it gets better, promise.
Since the dough is wet and sticky, you’ll want to dust the dough, the work surface, and your hands with flour to keep it from sticking.
Give the dough just a couple of kneads just to make sure it’s mixed evenly and then shape it into a long rectangle. Make the short side of the rectangle the same length as your bread pan and the long side as long as you can possibly make it. The dough will be pretty elastic so you’ll need a little patience.
Oh yeah, at some point chop the chocolate chips into smaller bits.
Sprinkle the chocolate on the dough. The thinner the chocolate is spread, the less the finished bread will want to “separate” at the swirl marks. Roll the dough up, stretching as you go so that it “rolls” as many times as possible before reaching the end. The more it’s rolled, the more swirl marks you’ll have.
Place the rolled up dough in a bread pan (I spray mine with non-stick spray). Let it rise until double in size, approximately one hour depending on your indoor temperature.
When it looks something like this, begin to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Bake the bread until it is a deep golden brown on top (about 30-35 minutes).
Remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing… or else the melted chocolate will smear all over the bread as you slice… like mine did! And this was about 75% cooled! If you try to slice it right out of the oven not only will the chocolate get all over but the bread will be gummy… so let it cool a good bit, at least!
Mmmmm, I’m day dreaming about breakfast tomorrow morning because I can’t wait to have this again!
Fabulous! I like this mix with whole wheat flours. Have you ever done all whole wheat with no-knead recipe? I will be checking your archives…
The dough is rising in my kitchen right now!
iza:)
Beth, I just have to tell you: I’m so so glad that I found your site! We’re eating the pad thai for dinner tonight, and as I was tasting the sauce I just fell in love. I’ve made 3 of your recipes in the last 3 days so far. THANK YOU! I’ve even told friends, family, and complete strangers (those who read my blog at least) about you and your site.
Oh my gosh, I LOVE cinnamon swirl bread. But to put chocolate in it? Heck yeah!
Here is a great bread recipe for Nutella bread for the person who mentioned baking with it. This is really good, but more like a dessert pound cake than a bread. http://theitaliandishblog.com/imported-20090913150324/2010/2/5/nutella-bread.html
chocolate cinnamon swirl now (it’s rising in the pan) for my kids to snack on after school. Looks delish!
Holly – Interesting! Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with baking at high altitudes (I live in New Orleans, which is *below* sea level) but I bet if you do a quick google search for “bread baking high altitude” you’ll find some good message boards and info from people who have had similar problems. Good luck!
Just wanted to say a quick “THANKS!” I’ve been in a cooking funk for months, but today I’m feeling cooking-invigorated (there’s such a thing, right?) after scrolling thru your wonderful site. I made your garlic noodles for lunch today and they were wonderful. Thank you!!
This looks fantastic! Any suggestions for adapting no knead bread to high altitude baking? I’ve tried making various recipes here before and it never turns out fluffy and I think that’s to do with the altitude.
Quit making such yummy things! Now I’ll be forced to make this over the weekend. I have some extreme dark chocolate chips that would be perfect for this.
I love chocolate…and I love all your no-knead bread recipes! Win-win recipe, looks like this is a must-try for me :)
It might work with nutella but you’ll have to spread it pretty thin (which might be difficult on the raw dough). The nutella might cause the bread to separate a lot between the rolled layers. With the chopped chocolate you get *some* contact of the dough between the little chunks of chocolate (as long as it is sprinkled thin enough)… I hope that made sense! But hey, it’s definitely worth a shot!
Would this work with nutella? I”m trying to find ways to bake with it, otherwise i’ll eat it with a spoon…
miss alaineus – I’m really not sure because I’ve never used a bread machine :P But I think bread machines pretty much just take care of kneading for you… and since this doesn’t *really* need to be kneaded, it’s almost as easy as using a bread machine :)
do you have a recommendation for turning it into a breadmaker recipe?
What a great brunch treat! I bet this smells awesome when it’s toasted, and would make a heavenly French toast and/or bread pudding.