I’m obsessed with this pink, shaggy mess! Ever since seeing Paul Hollywood make his chocolate cherry bread with Mary Berry on Great British Bake-Off Masterclass, I knew I needed it in my life.
I *have* thrown in the towel on trying to make my loaf look beautiful and neat, though. That shaggy mess becomes this golden, messy monster, and despite making it like 10 times at this point, nothing I do changes that.
But it is DELICIOUS and so its “informal” nature (to use a Mary Berry term) can be forgiven.
What elevates this from a basic loaf of bread is the incorporation of dark sweet cherries and a lot of dark and white chocolate.
The dark chocolate and cherries pair wonderfully, and the white chocolate ends up kind of melting away into gooey sweet pockets of sweet that burst in your mouth. I’M OBSESSED.
I have always started this in my stand mixer, but have tried mixing in the chocolate and cherries both in the mixer and kneading in by hand. Personally the mixer is way better and less messy, so I recommend going that way.
Put 450 grams of the flour into the bowl of your mixer (or a large bowl, if you’re doing it by hand) along with the salt, olive oil and yeast.
Paul always recommends putting the yeast and salt on opposite sides of the bowl to start.
Slowly add the water and mix until the dough is pliable. You may not need all the water, so start small.
Start with the mixer on low but up it to medium as everything gets incorporated. Decide whether you need the other 50 grams of flour to get the dough to the right consistency…you want it sticky and wet.
Either continue to knead (gently) in the mixer for 2-4 minutes or tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 4-7 minutes.
Okay, now this actually becomes chocolate cherry bread…add the drained cherries and chocolate chips to the dough and mix slowly to incorporate. You will likely need to add a little more flour if the dough becomes too wet and sloppy, and to help it all come together.
You DO want a wetter, stickier dough, though. I’ve made this at least 5 times and 3 of the times it acted totally normal, and two I had to add quite a bit more flour to make it workable…use your best judgment.
Assuming you’ve done all this in the mixer, tip everything out onto a lightly floured surface, give it a sprinkle of flour, and give it a knead by hand for just a minute, to make sure everything’s mixed in evenly.
Put the dough back in the bowl (or a fresh bowl), cover with plastic wrap, and leave to rest for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size.
Once it’s risen, flour your surface and scoop the dough back onto the counter.
Punch it a bit with your knuckles to knock the air out of it, then give it a knead for a minute just to work that little bit of flour in.
Cut into either two or three even pieces and form it into a two- or three-strand plait (you’ll need a bit of flour, it’s a little hard to handle).
Dredge a baking tray with flour (or parchment paper), place the loaf on it, and then place in a large plastic bag and leave to rise for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Once it’s finished rising, bake for 20 minutes at this temperature, then reduce the oven temperature to 375 F and bake for a further 20-25 minutes, or until it reaches at least 200 F inside.
I use a thermometer to check, and always check a few places in case I’ve hit a cherry or chocolate piece.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool, and make sure not to cut into it until it’s cooled down to at least 85 F (or you’ll have a doughy dense mess). I love this chocolate cherry bread so much, that I now buy two or three jars of those cherries at TJ’s each time I go!
A couple of kitchen items that you might find helpful are a thermometer (I literally use this for everything, including anytime I’m cooking meat) and a kitchen scale (it really does make all the difference in a lot of baking).
Other amazing sweet & twisty breads you’ll love:
- Heavenly Dark Chocolate Orange Babka
- Orange Cinnamon-Sugar Twist Bread
- Cinnamon-Walnut Stuffed Challah
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Babka
- Spiced Chocolate Tahini Swirl Bread
Original recipe from PBS Food
Paul Hollywood's Chocolate Cherry Bread
You'll fall in love with Paul Hollywood's chocolate cherry bread recipe, which is packed full of dark sweet cherries and both white and dark chocolate. Lightly sweet, indulgent, and definitely not difficult!
Ingredients
- 450-500g of strong plain flour (bread flour), plus extra for dusting; READ NOTES
- 10g of salt
- 10g of fast-action yeast
- 30ml of olive oil
- 320ml of cold water (you may need a bit more, but start with this)
- 390g jar of dark sweet cherries, drained (I used a jar of morello from Trader Joe's; it's ~390g drained)
- 100g of dark chocolate chips
- 100g of white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Put 450 grams of the flour into the bowl of your mixer (or a large bowl, if you're doing it by hand) along with the salt, olive oil and yeast. Paul always recommends putting the yeast and salt on opposite sides of the bowl to start.
- Slowly add the water and mix until the dough is pliable. You may not need all the water, so start small. Start with the mixer on low but up it to medium as everything gets incorporated. Decide whether you need the other 50 grams of flour to get the dough to the right consistency...you want it sticky and wet.
- Either continue to knead (gently) in the mixer for 2-4 minutes or tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 4-7 minutes.
- Add the drained cherries and chocolate chips to the dough and mix slowly to incorporate. You may need to add a little more flour if the dough becomes too wet and sloppy. You DO want a wetter, stickier dough, though. I've made this at least 5 times and 3 of the times it acted totally normal, and two I had to add quite a bit more flour to make it workable...use your judgment
- Assuming you've done all this in the mixer, tip everything out onto a lightly floured surface, give it a sprinkle of flour, and give it a knead by hand for just a minute, to make sure everything's mixed in evenly. Put the dough back in the bowl (or a fresh bowl), cover with plastic wrap, and leave to rest for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size.
- Once it's risen, re-flour your surface and scoop the dough back onto the counter. Punch it a bit with your knuckles to knock the air out of it, then give it a knead for a minute just to work that little bit of flour in. Cut into either two or three even pieces and form it into a two- or three-strand plait.
- Dredge a baking tray with flour (or parchment paper), place the plait on it, and then place in a large plastic bag and leave to rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Once it's finished rising, bake for 20 minutes at this temperature, then reduce the oven temperature to 375 F and bake for a further 20-25 mins, or until it reaches at least 200 F inside (I use a thermometer to check, and always check a few places in case I've hit a cherry or chocolate piece).
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool, and make sure not to cut into it until it's cooled down to at least 85 F (or you'll have a doughy dense mess). Minimum 30 minutes to cool down, but probably more.
Notes
- Yes, I strongly recommend weighing the ingredients for the best results! A kitchen scale is not expensive and makes all the difference.
- The amount of flour you need will depend both on humidity and how wet your cherries are. I always start with 450g of flour and then once the cherries and chips are mixed in I add more as needed to get to 500. Don't assume you'll need it all though.
- Per the last note, don't be scared by a wet, sticky dough...one of the most common mistakes people make with bread is adding too much flour and making a dry, dense dough.
- The recipe calls for bread flour, but I've used all purpose flour to make this before and it was fine.
- I have always done this in my stand mixer, but have tried mixing the chocolate and cherries in both in the mixer and kneading by hand. Personally the mixer is way better, so I recommend going that way if possible.
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I don’t have a lot of experience with bread. Do you have to braid it? Is it just for looks? Does it affect the rise? Curious.
The braiding is really easy, and as you can see–mine is messy and that’s okay! It can be a kind of braid blob. So you don’t *have* to, it does help the rise by giving the loaf some structure to rise against. But you can certainly try without braiding and see how it goes…it won’t affect the taste regardless.
I use dried cherries for this recipe because frozen cherries are just sloppy mush and fresh are a pain to pit. Sometimes I will also add in freshly ground almonds for extra flavor and adjust the amount of liquid accordingly.