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Rye Chocolate Cherry Sourdough
This Rye Chocolate Cherry Sourdough bread packs a trio of intense flavors: earthy whole grain rye, semi-sweet chocolate chunks, and tart Montmorency cherries. Spread butter on a slice and you’ll be tempted to call it a dessert, but the high fiber and mineral content of rye, the antioxidants in chocolate and cherries make the bread nutritious too.
Rye is increasingly being used in sweet baking according to this LA Times article, and it has long been a part of breads Eastern European, Nordic, and Baltic countries. Rye is one of my favorite flours to add to berry breads because the grain isn’t overwhelmed by the sweetness of the berries.
Rye flour is low in gluten, but the acid from sourdough fermentation helps the crumb structure develop. In my experience, dough with a high percentage of rye flour doesn’t benefit from stretching and folding or a lot of mixing. At half rye and half bread flour, this dough could go either way. I cut the stretching and folding to two rounds as a compromise, but skipping it altogether is fine also. Between the heavy additions to the dough, and the high percentage of whole grain rye flour, this bread does not yield an open crumb, but it is tender and delicious.
The recipe below includes two variations, one that is leavened only with sourdough starter, and one that uses yeast water and cold sourdough starter. Check out this thread in the forums for more about yeast water. I believe that the additional sugar and yeast from the yeast water open the crumb in that version a tiny bit more.
Note on the Cherries and Chocolate
I have a strong preference for sour cherries like Montmorency as they are tart and taste less like prunes, but you can use sweet cherries such as Bing, or even a different berry altogether. As for the chocolate, I had store brand semi-sweet chocolate chips and chunks, but I plan to use Valrhona or similar dark chocolate in the future. You can, of course, experiment with whatever brand of chocolate and cocoa percentage you prefer.
Rye Chocolate Cherry Sourdough
In this sourdough bread, the deep flavor of whole grain rye has equal footing with the intensely tart Montmorency cherries and melty chocolate chunks. Just shy of a dessert, this bread is perfect for breakfast or as a midday energy boost with a steaming cup of tea.
Ingredients
Sourdough Version
Yeast Water Version
The volume conversions are approximate, and sourdough starters can vary in hydration. Please use more or less water/flour as needed to ensure all ingredients are incorporated. Moreover, if your dough feels or looks dry after some time has passed, you can add a small amount of water to the dough while doing a stretch and fold. The photo gallery below will give some indication of dough hydration.
Instructions
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Rye Chocolate Cherry Sourdough