Chocolate Coffee Cardamom Bread! (CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED)
Thanksgiving has come and gone too quickly yet again. We have finished eating our Thanksgiving Leftovers Torta, but we’ll continue to hold on to our reasons to stop and give thanks, especially as the holiday madness begins in earnest. We’ve come up with a great way to celebrate the season with you–and they don’t involve turkey or long lines of shoppers–a decadent chocolate bread, laced with coffee, cardamom, and more chocolate!
Let’s start with the bread. The recipe is our Chocolate Espresso Whole Wheat Bread recipe, which comes from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day, but tweaked just a bit, with a swirl of cardamom sugar and chocolate chunks. The combination of chocolate, cardamom, and coffee is quite a treat; the flavors compliment each other beautifully. This bread is rich and dreamy, but the dough is still made with whole wheat flour and honey, adding lots of flavor with less fat than our regular brioche, for example. There is, of course, the coffee icing that covers the top, an added little indulgence for the Holidays.
Chocolate Coffee Cardamom Bread
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (or two packets)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1 cup strong brewed coffee, lukewarm
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
4 large eggs
1/2 cup neutral-flavored oil
3/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
Whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a 5 quart bowl, or other lidded food container. Combine the liquid ingredients and mix with the dry ingredients without kneading.
The dough will be loose, but will firm up when chilled. Don’t try to use it without chilling at least 2 hours.
Cover the dough, and allow to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses, about 2 hours. Refrigerate and use over the next 5 days.
On baking day, grease a 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch nonstick loaf pan. Cut off a 2-pound piece of dough and shape into a ball. Generously flour your work surface, and roll the dough into a 1/4 inch rectangle, dusting with flour as needed. Brush the surface of the dough with 2 tablespoons melted butter, and sprinkle the cardamom sugar mixture evenly over the butter. Then sprinkle the chopped chocolate over the sugar mixture. Roll the dough into a cylinder, and pinch the seams shut. Place in the prepared loaf pan, and allow to rest for about an hour and 45 minutes, covered loosely with plastic wrap. (For detailed instructions on rolling out, sprinkling, and rolling up, see Zoe’s post here).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread for 45-50 minutes, until firm. Remove the bread from the pan and drizzle with the coffee icing (recipe follows). Allow to cool before slicing and eating.
Coffee Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons strong coffee
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt together. Add coffee one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
I’m just getting into bread making and that just looks too good not to make. Can’t wait to try it!
your first book is my bread bible now. it’s changed my view of bread-baking, and the way our house eats bread. i adore it. also, this coffee chocolate cardamom bread recipe is making me swoon. i can’t wait to make it!
I use your HBi5 frequently, especially around the holidays. I try one new recipe to share with family during large family dinners. I have been wanting to try the espresso bread and this gives me yet another reason to stretch my bread skills. I have found that baking in my cast iron dutch oven gets the best results rather than on a baking stone. Is there a reason for that?
Looks yummy! How many loaves does this recipe make? Also, are the amounts in the icing recipe for one loaf or to be divided among all loaves? I was planning to make ABI5 semolina bread for gift exchanging but may use this recipe instead. Or both:-)
I will be making that bread for our Christmas Holiday dinner!
This chocolate bread looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it.
Just picked up your Healthy Breads book at the library…and don’t want to take it back! Who needs dessert when you can have breads like these? Am looking forward to using my elementary classes as taste-testers, as I am a school librarian. Now if I only had an oven in my library!!
Love your books!! I have made naan bread from your basic recipe. So easy and great to taste. I encourage others to try!!!
This bread looks wonderful. I’ll have to try it soon. Thank you for taking the fear out of baking bread.
Love your books. I have made naan bread from your basic recipe. Easy and tasty. I encourage others to try it!!!
Coffee and chocolate are great combination, even better when there are some healthy ingredients mixed in.
I will be making White Whole Wheat Christmas Stollen. I would love to win the cookbooks.
Looks delish! Can’t wait to try it and share with friends and family!
I LOVE chocolate and can’t wait to try this chocolate bread. I would love to win a copy of these books as I’m just starting to get into making bread.
I don’t remember how i came across your site, but i’m very interested in learning how to back homemade breads. i’ve tried a few recipes here and there, but i’ve not been very successful. so, i’d love your cookbooks!
So glad to have stumbled onto this recipe! Definitely gonna try this one (and been browsing for others ;). I think I will make this for my brother and send it along. He just lost his business due to an injury 🙁 But this will help keep those spirits high!
Received your book a month ago and have made several recipes. Baguette’s, pizza, naan and pita breads are great. Semolina bread is one of my favorites.
My grand daughter loves making the dough with me and especially loves pizza.
Thanks
You saved me with this recipe. I was looking for a nice snack for the winter evenings. I just love your books and if I win will pass on my love to someone else. Thanks for sharing!!!!
This is my first time seeing your yummy recipes. Would love to have a few
I made your skillet apple pie last night! Everyone loved it 🙂 I always have a batch of bread dough in my fridge. the satisfaction I get from baking a fresh loaf everyday never gets old. thank you!
The chocolate cardamom bread looks good, but I’m not a fan of coffee, so if I try it, I’d make some substitutions for the coffee in it!
I plan on using your brioche recipe to make Stollen. I have a very old recipe for Stollen that basically calls for brioche. Your recipe is so good and so easy, I just use it for the base and then follow the old recipe’s instructions for mix-ins, icing and presentation.
Just made my first artisan bread yesterday and it turned out beautifully. I might be hooked. 🙂
What a wonderful giveaway!
Stefanie
I just learned about your site and your books. I am anxious to make some of your recipes:).
I recently discovered the wonderful world of baking and am totally hooked! I’ve bookmarked many of your recipes and look forward to trying all of them. There just doesn’t seem to be enough days to make them all.
Could I use White Whole Wheat Flour in this recipe?
Hi Lynn,
Yes, you can substitute white whole wheat.
Enjoy, Zoë
I’ve been using ABin5 for a long time now, and also have HBin5. I’ve even shared them with my boss, who likes to bake bread but has less time that I do. This variation, like others I’ve tried already, looks wonderful (except for the coffee part) and I do love cardamom. I’m looking forward to trying this soon, since it will be cold enough in Texas to turn the oven in again in a few days.
I’ve been baking bread for a few years now in the traditional manner. I am excited to try out some of your recipes!
sounds so yummy (only will have to substitute something else for the coffee… any suggestions?). ordered a dough bucket (the bowl I used to use is just too big), so as soon as it arrives I’m going to make some of your standard dough. mouth is watering for some home-made bread!
I have been looking for a gift for a family that appreciates all things “home-made” and this looks like it’s going to fit the bill perfectly!! Thanks so much!
This is JUST the bread I’ve been hankering for! Thank you so much for the beautiful images and detailed recipe. Can’t wait to try it — right away 😉
This bread looks amazing! I love chocolate, coffee AND cardamom, and I can imagine the combination would be heavenly.
Just purchased my first book of yours. It’s being shipped so getting antsy! Can’t wait!!!
Never made a yeast chocolate bread.But adore chocolate zucchini bread so I am going to try this.The coffee glaze shall be doubled…thanks for the recipe and the chance at those books.
I’ve been using the Master Dough from HBin5 for baking baguettes, pizza, pita and little sandwich buns, it’s such a versatile dough!
Can the vital wheat gluten be replaced with something else?
So excited that I found your site. My family is trying very hard to stay away from prepared foods. But, bread has always been difficult as we work full time and dont want to wait three hours after we get home to eat. Can’t wait to win your book collection and try out all the recipes!
That bread looks fantastic!
Thanks for the giveaway!
My copy of ABI5 is a well-thumbed and page-stained treasure, and I have checked out (and renewed!) HBI5 from the library so many times I’ve lost count. Thank you both for bringing so much joy to my kitchen. Now to bake this bread …
Well, this bread looks like a great addition to the Holiday baking extravaganza!
Thanks for offering the books! And, the bread recipe sounds delicious.
I will be making sticky buns with your fabulous challah dough!
That looks amazing. I can hardly wait to try it!
I have made many tasty loaves from your first book, and love the method! My brother has been using your bread recipes for years…he loves it! Thanks for sharing your creativity and passion!!
This bread looks great. I love chocolate and cardamom. I’ll try it today.
This recipe looks heavenly.
Crossing my fingers!!!! I have a teenager who is really into baking bread. Your books have been on his wishlist for a while.
I just found your website through Pintrest. I have two boys with disabilities and am very interested in trying your gluten-free recipes. Thanks for the chance to win the books.
Now that my kids are grown and having children, they tell me that no one else had homemade bread in their lunch bags. At the time that was weird, now they think it is cool. I wish I’d had your recipes back then, as now my husband absolutely loves the basic recipe for his everyday morning toast. I can mix it up before leaving for work, and bake it up when I get home. I am happy to say that my 3 children have grown up to be bread bakers, and they all work, and thus are very happy I turned them on to your books.