STILL NEW YORK-HUNGRY

5. Italian Chocolate Bread (Hi-Carb)

Now imagine this: your bread and your sweets run out at the same time – what are you to do!?

Like the Good German that I am, I honor Bread Culture – our bread is UNESCO World Cultural Heritage for a reason. Okay, granted, I didn't do one classic German Bread ever (didn't want to dishonor it, I suppose), but, Dudes, it counts anyway, no matter where it comes from. Bread is bread.

So, the above MCA, er, case happened: I wanted sweets and I wanted bread... and by pure chance, I had all the ingredients handy, and some time at my hands – of that you'll need a lot

Don't worry, you can still do things around the house – there's always chores to do around the house across the day – but DON'T go shopping ... for that you WON'T have time, except for a short hop into the shop, deli or bodega around the corner.

I was browsing my cook-/baking book library once more for inspiration, but also on the lookout for ones to "let go" – you see the utter craziness of that!? – and found this recipe in Andrea Menichelli's Das große Italien Backbuch (The Great Italian Bakebook, only in German).

Since I already found "24. South Tirol Ricotta Bread"  in it, and loved it, of course I had to do this one. I wonder anyway how I could've overlooked it for so long!

Since my NY-stories/-novels as well as my own trip there last year is/was influenced by Cucina Italiana – I attended San Gennaro Feast, and what a Feast it was! I saw the fecking biggest Bratwurstschnecke on the planet there! – I can add this to the collection without bad conscience.

You bet that Vince was more than delighted when Laura surprised him with it after... nah, that's a secret. (You wouldn't want that laid out in stark public either!)

What I can say, though, is that this bread is not regionally bound – according to Signore Menichelli, Italians of all regions love to have it for their "sweet" breakfast.

Therefore I'll stop babbling now and vanish in the kitchen so you all can soon enjoy it too!




Serves: 1 springform 11.5 in Esattamente, guys – you can make it in a tin like a cake, which makes making it a lot easier IMHO

Prep Time: 3.5 hrs PLUS letting it cool off several hours. I said it takes time!

Degree of Difficulty: Easy




WE NEED

350 gr / 12.4 oz. flour I used up Spelt flour.
1.5 tbsp cocoa powder neither sweetened nor otherwise foozled
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tbsp sugar
15 gr / 0.5 oz. fresh yeast
250 ml / 8.5 US fl.oz. lukewarm water
2 tbsp softened butter
80 gr / 2.8 oz. dark chocolate 70% cocoa

flour For the working surface
oil For greasing bowl / springform
melted butter For coating the bread after baking



WE DO

1. Fill flour, cocoa powder, salt + sugar into a bowl. Mix the yeast with 50 ml / 1.7 US fl.oz. of the water and stir gently(!) with a spoon until it has dissolved. Then add it, with the remaining water, to the dry ingredients and roughly mix. I used a cooking spoon. At last, add the butter and knead lightly.


2. Oil a bowl. I used Olive Oil; yes, from Italy. Drop the dough onto the working surface and knead decently for 5-8 minutes until it's smooth & elastic. Shape it into a ball, put it into the oiled bowl and cover it with a dish towel. Let it rise in the closed oven for 1 hr.


3. When the hour is almost up, finely chop the dark chocolate. Then flour the working surface and drop the dough onto it. Press it flat lightly, add the chocolate and gently knead it into the dough. Shape it into a ball once more, oil a piece of clingfilm, cover the dough with it and let it sit for 5 minutes.


4. Grease the springform. OR, like I did, line it with baking paper. So you can easily lift it out of the tin after baking Shape the dough into a loaf and put it into the tin. Cover it with the oiled clingfilm and let it rise in the closed oven for another 45 minutes. During that time, it roughly doubles in size.


5. When the time's up, take the tin out of the oven, remove the clingfilm, and preheat the oven to 220°C / 430°F (FAN). Bake the bread for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 190°C / 375°F and bake for another 25-30 minutes.




6. When the times almost up, melt some butter, 0.5-1 oz.. Get the bread out of the oven – and the tin! – and immediately spread with the melted butter. Let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Trust me, it tastes bombastic already plain, but with salt butter...


Guten Hunger & Buon Appetito!