Peanut Butter Chocolate Loaf

When I was trying to decide what loaf would be perfect representation for the month of February, I knew it had to be chocolate. I decided that this rich and decadent chocolate sourdough stuffed with peanut butter chips would be a delicious Valentines Day treat. It’s naturally fermented, a little sour, a little sweet, a little bitter from the chocolate, and a perfectly balanced loaf.

❤️ Why You’ll Love Peanut Butter Chocolate Loaf

This loaf is the perfect balance of flavors, a little sweet from the peanut butter chips, a little sourdough from the natural fermentation, a little bitter from the cocoa, and a lot delicious. It’s also the perfect chocolate sourdough loaf base, so if you want to add more chocolate chips and leave the peanut butter chips out entirely, you can do that.

🍲 Ingredients

Sourdough Starter – Behind every great loaf of sourdough bread, is a great sourdough starter. This is the leavening agent of bread. Feed your starter a 1:3:3 ratio in the morning (ex. 1/3 cup starter + 1 cup flour + 1 cup water), and in the afternoon when you’re ready to assemble your dough, your starter will be peaked, active, bubbly, and ready to make great bread.

Water – Room temperature, filtered water is best.

All-purpose flour – No matter how much, or how little you bake, usually everyone has a bag of all-purpose flour in their pantry. Just make sure it’s unbleached.

Cocoa Powder – unsweetened cocoa powder

Honey – A way to naturally add sweetness to the loaf without using processed sugar.

Salt – I use pink Himalayan salt for all of my recipes. But use what you have.

Peanut Butter Chips – Organic peanut butter chips, or reeces is great too 🙂

👩‍🍳 How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Loaf

• In the morning, feed your sourdough starter.
• In the afternoon, assemble your dough.
• In a large mixing dowl, mix together your bubbly, active sourdough starter with water until it has fully dissolved and turns into a milky liquid.
• Add in the flour, cocoa powder, honey, and salt. Mix with a dough whisk until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let rest for one hour.
• After one hour, add 1 – 1/2 cups of peanut butter chocolate chips directly into the bowl.
• Pull the sides of the dough up and towards the middle, rotating the bowl each time until a semi – smooth ball forms. Cover and let rest for one hour.
• Perform 2-4 more stretch and folds every 30 minutes to 1 hour apart. This will help develop and strengthen the gluten in the dough resulting in a beautiful inside crumb.
• Cover with a damp bowl cover or tea towel and let it rest on the counter over night for the bulk fermentation.
• In the morning, turn your dough over onto a lightly floured surface. Stretch the dough into a large rectangle. Fold the sides of the dough towards the middle. Roll the dough together into a ball shape. Let rest for 20 minutes.
• Push the dough up and pull down creating tension on the surface. Transfer to a floured banneton, cover, and place into the fridge for at least two hours.
• When you are ready to bake, preheat a Dutch oven at 450 degrees for at least 20 minutes. Turn your dough over onto a bread mat for piece of parchment paper. Score the surface of the dough with a sharp blade and carefully place into your HOT Dutch oven.
• Bake with the lid on for 23 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 23 – 25 minutes (depending on how crispy you like the crust of your bread)
• Let cool completely on a wire rack, slice and enjoy with butter and honey. A smear of cream cheese, or extra peanut butter 🙂

🪄 Tips and Tricks

• Wet your hands before you do stretch and folds, so the dough doesn’t to them.
• Feeding your starter a larger amount means it will take longer to peak, so if you need to put dough together later in the afternoon, feed it at least a 1:3:3 ratio.

🗒 Variations

This is a wonderful chocolate sourdough loaf base recipe, so you can add whatever you like during stretch and folds. White chocolate chips. Milk chocolate chips. Dehydrated strawberries. Even wild blueberries.

• Double Chocolate Sourdough Loaf
• Chocolate Strawberry Loaf

🗒 Bakers Schedule

In the morning, feed your starter.
In the evening, when your starter has peaked, assemble your dough and perform your stretch and folds.
Overnight, let your dough rest on the counter.
In the morning, divide your dough into two equal pieces, shape your dough, place it in your bannetons and either let it rest + bake it, or leave it in the fridge for up to 2 days.

🗒 Best served with

• Dessert
• Smear of cream cheese for breakfast
• A side of chili

👝 How to Store Leftovers

Store your leftover sourdough bread in a brown paper bag either on the counter or in a bread box. Fresh sourdough bread will stay fresh for only 2 or 3 days.

🤔 Common Questions

5 from 8 votes

Peanut Butter Chocolate Loaf

Print recipe

A rich and decadent chocolate sourdough loaf stuffed with peanut butter chocolate chips.

Prep Time:4 hours hrs

Cook Time:50 minutes mins

Fermenting Time:10 hours hrs

Total Time:14 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Equipment

• 1 dough whisk
• 1 food scale
• 1 mixing bowl
• 1 dutch oven
• Measuring cups

Ingredients

• 100 grams bubbly, active starter
• 380 grams filtered water
• 450 grams all purpose flour
• 50 grams cocoa powder
• 50 grams honey
• 8 grams salt
• 1 cup peanut butter chocolate chips

Instructions

• In the morning, feed your sourdough starter.
• In the afternoon, assemble your dough.
• In a large mixing dowl, mix together your bubbly, active sourdough starter with water until it has fully dissolved and turns into a milky liquid.
• Add in the flour, cocoa powder, honey, and salt. Mix with a dough whisk until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let rest for one hour.
• After one hour, add 1 – 1/2 cups of peanut butter chocolate chips directly into the bowl.
• Pull the sides of the dough up and towards the middle, rotating the bowl each time until a semi – smooth ball forms. Cover and let rest for one hour.
• Perform 2-4 more stretch and folds every 30 minutes to 1 hour apart. This will help develop and strengthen the gluten in the dough resulting in a beautiful inside crumb.
• Cover with a damp bowl cover or tea towel and let it rest on the counter over night for the bulk fermentation.
• In the morning, turn your dough over onto a lightly floured surface. Stretch the dough into a large rectangle. Fold the sides of the dough towards the middle. Roll the dough together into a ball shape. Let rest for 20 minutes.
• Push the dough up and pull down creating tension on the surface. Transfer to a floured banneton, cover, and place into the fridge for at least two hours.
• When you are ready to bake, preheat a Dutch oven at 450 degrees for at least 20 minutes. Turn your dough over onto a bread mat for piece of parchment paper. Score the surface of the dough with a sharp blade and carefully place into your HOT Dutch oven.
• Bake with the lid on for 23 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 23 – 25 minutes (depending on how crispy you like the crust of your bread)
• Let cool completely on a wire rack, slice and enjoy with butter and honey. A smear of cream cheese, or extra peanut butter 🙂

Notes

This recipe can be made without the peanut butter chocolate chips, and instead milk chocolate or white chocolate chips. This is a great chocolate loaf base that can be made into whatever you like! 

Nutrition

Calories: 317kcal | Carbohydrates: 69g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Sodium: 524mg | Potassium: 211mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin C: 0.04mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 5mg

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Bread, Chocolate, Sourdough

Servings: 6

Calories: 317kcal