Chocolate Chip Sourdough Bread Mini Loaf

_{Easy to make overnight chocolate chip sourdough bread in a mini size! This is a wonderful breakfast loaf, perfect paired with coffee.}

So you’ve made your sourdough starter and you’re a semi-pro at making bread. But, you might be ready to branch out beyond the basic loaf…..(I mean there’s only so many sandwiches we can eat, right?) Let’s try something fun!

This is a traditional artisan style loaf with an unexpected addition: chocolate chips! Sounds weird, but it’s amazing. Imagine the crusty exterior and the chewy interior with the traditional tang of sourdough and bursts of deep chocolate flavor. Sourdough, but make it dessert.

Let’s bake!

Here’s what you’ll need to make this chocolate chip sourdough bread

Ingredients: Fed & active sourdough starter, bread flour, water, salt, sugar, and chocolate chips

Tools: Digital kitchen scale, medium size bowl for mixing & the dough to rise in, smaller bowl or proofing basket with a flour lined towel, sharp blade or bread lame for scoring the dough, Dutch oven with lid, and parchment paper.

Baker’s Timeline

*Note* Your beginning time depends on how long your starter takes to become fully active. My starter takes around 4 hours, so this is a general timeline to follow.

Evening

Feed starter & prepare dough

3 pm: Feed starter. How much I feed my starter depends on what I’m making. This recipe only needs 1/4 cup of active starter, so I will take 2 oz starter, feed it 2 oz water, and 2 oz all purpose flour. This makes about 2/3 cups of starter. This is enough for my bread, plus plenty left to keep my starter going.

7 pm: Once the starter is doubled in size and ready to use, pour starter and water in a mixing bowl & stir. Add salt, sugar, and flour. Form a shaggy ball with the dough (this dough will be very soft and sticky). Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Bulk Rise (Bulk fermentation)

7:30 pm: Add the chocolate chips to the dough, and stretch and fold until a smooth ball forms. To stretch and fold, pull one side of the dough up and over and gently press to the middle, rotate the bowl, and continue all the way around. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let rise overnight. 8-12 hours. I let mine rise for at least 12 hours most of the time. The longer the dough ferments, the more tangy the final bread will taste. A shorter, 8 hour bulk rise will not have a lot of sourdough flavor in it. Experiment with these time frames in your baking to find the flavor of the dough that you like best!

The next morning

7-9 am: Check to see if the dough is doubled. If it has and you are ready to bake, flour the counter and gently pull the dough from the bowl onto the counter. Form the dough into a ball, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Final Rise

Get the proofing bowl or basket ready. I use a small pyrex bowl for a miniature loaf, lined with a linen towel that has been coated with flour. Again, gently here, shape the dough into a ball and place in the proofing bowl, seam side up. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Bake

During the last rise, preheat the oven to 450. Once the dough has risen slightly (we aren’t doubling in size here), place the parchment paper over the bowl, and flip the dough onto the parchment paper. Add extra flour to the top, and score the dough. Place the dough into the dutch oven, and bake for 20 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and continue baking for another 25 minutes.

I don’t like deep brown color to my loaves, so I tend to bake for less time. If you prefer a dark color, you can bake longer, and then remove the loaf from the dutch oven and place back into the oven to bake on the rack directly for an additional 5-10 minutes. I don’t do this step-as I think it makes loaves much too tough on the outside.

Cooling your loaf

Remove the loaf from the dutch oven and let rest on a wire cooling rack for an hour or so (if you can wait that long!) before slicing. The longer you wait, the easier the loaf will be to cut. Allowing the loaf to rest lets moisture escape through the crust- and softens it just enough for easier cutting. It also means that the interior of the bread won’t be gummy. If you’re interested in the science here-this is a great read about cooling sourdough.

Chocolate Chip Sourdough Q & A

Do I really need a kitchen scale to bake this bread?

I highly recommend it! Using a scale adds so much precision to your baking. Because everyone measures a bit differently when using cups & spoons but grams are grams! It’s also easier-just put your bowl on the scale and weigh everything, no getting extra dishes dirty. When baking sourdough bread like this, I always rely on a scale.

Can this recipe be doubled for a larger size loaf?

Sure! Double the ingredients except for the starter. You’ll only need 50 grams for both the large or mini loaf. This miniature loaf is perfect for a small family or 2-4 people.

Can I make this with all purpose flour instead of bread flour?

All purpose flour can be substituted for bread flour in this recipe, just make sure to use less water than the recipe calls for. Try using 30 grams less to begin with. It’s an experiment-if the dough is too dry, add a bit more water until the dough is the right consistency.

What kind of chocolate chips should I use?

Any kind works here-I used semi sweet for a rich chocolate flavor, but I’ve also used espresso chips and milk chocolate. White chocolate chips work too. Try a combo of flavors! If you don’t have chocolate chips, you can also chop up a chocolate bar and try that!

A tip for burnt bread bottoms:

I was struggling with burnt crust on the bottom of all of my loaves until I found this tip. Fold up a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil and put in the bottom of your dutch oven before you add your parchment paper & bread. Bake as usual. The aluminum foil will prevent the bread from scorching on the bottom!

How long will this bread stay fresh?

This chocolate chip sourdough bread is best on the day that it is baked. This loaf is small and usually gets eaten so quickly that we rarely have leftovers, but I have found that it is still good up to 2 days after baking. The crust softens and won’t have that traditional crispness of the fresh out of the oven taste, but you can re-heat it in a toaster oven to add a nice crunch.

Rich and tangy sourdough bread studded with semi sweet chocolate chips. What could be better?

Looking for more sourdough recipes?

Try my sourdough cinnamon rolls recipe!

My favorite book on sourdough is Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa. You can find it here on Amazon. Today’s recipe was adapted from this book.