Chocolate, Chilli & Lime Bread
I’ve got my posts completely out of sync now and have rather lost the plot on what I did when. But I was so excited at having made this chocolate chilli lime bread, that I had to post about it sooner rather than later.
Sunday is usually my bread making day, as well as washing and tidying up the house day – all ready to go back to work on Monday. But this week, Monday is a bank holiday so I thought we should mark the occasion by having a leisurely breakfast for once. And what could be more appropriate than trying out Suelle’s competition winning suggestion of chocolate chilli lime bread. So, yesterday I not only baked my normal two loaves of rye sourdough, but also the aforementioned bread from Unwrapped.
Kneading is not my favourite pastime. It always seems to take a lot of time and creates a lot of mess in my rather small kitchen; this is the reason I don’t make wheat breads very often. I tried some of Andrew Whitley’s air kneading (that I learnt on his bread course); the mixture was very wet. However all of the chocolate kept flying out all over the cooker and floor, so I went back to managing as best I could on the work surface.
Instead of sticking to the method as prescribed in the book, I decided to go my own way as usual and used a basket rather than baking it in a tin. I haven’t got this method properly sussed and as I’ve already said, the dough was particularly wet, so it collapsed as soon as I turned it out prior to baking. The slices are thus a little thin – hey ho!
- Measured 450g wholemeal spelt into a bowl with 1 tsp sea salt (Cornish), 25g brown sugar and 9g organic yeast mix.
- Threw in about 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, 100g dark (70%) chocolate – roughly chopped and grated zest of 1 lime.
- Cut 1/2 of lime into thin slices and then cut the slices into bits then threw this in.
- Made a well in the centre and added about 375 ml warm water and the juice from remaining half of lime (the recipe actually stated 400 ml water, but I found even what I used made the mixture a bit too wet).
- Kneaded mixture as best I could for about 20 mins then placed into a floured dough basket. Put this inside a plastic bag and left in a warm place to rise for about an hour.
- Realised at this point that I’d forgotten to add the 50 ml of olive oil that was stated in the recipe – oh well!
- Turned out onto a lined baking tray and left to rise for a further 15 mins. Baked at the bottom of the oven at 220C for about 20 mins. When tapped bread sounded hollow which indicated it was done.
The whole house smelt wonderfully sweet and zesty as the chocolate chilli lime bread was baking. I wanted to tear into it as soon as it came out of the oven, but managed to resist – this was meant to be the morrow’s treat after all! However, as you will see from the photo I couldn’t hold out that long and CT and I just had to try a couple of slices at tea time. It was as good as I was hoping for – fragrant and soft but with a good bite to it and oh so flavoursome. Although not a sweet bread, the chocolate chunks gave a soft chewy cocoa hit every so often. There was enough heat from the chilli to know it was there without it overpowering the whole. The lime was the best of all though, permeating the whole loaf with a fresh and zesty zing.
Breakfast was all that I hoped for, although in the end we didn’t get it until nearly 12:00. Wanting to take advantage of the early morning sun, we headed off to work on our plot. The bread worked well as soldiers for boiled eggs, was delicious both with and without butter and was particularly tasty with some orange curd on it.
Lucie
3rd May 2010 at 8:18 pmWhat a wonderful combination of flavours. I am sure the smell from the kitchen was divine when this was cooking. I am very jealous of your bread making abilities! Lucie x
Kath
3rd May 2010 at 8:44 pmOoh I love the sound of this bread, lime and chocolate. I will have to give this one a go. Your breads all look absolutely delicious.
mangocheeks
3rd May 2010 at 8:50 pmKneading bread is meant to be therapeutic, but I understand what you mean when you say its not a favourite pastime. I still admire you for your wonderful culinary efforts. I can just imagine the taste of your bread, except for the lime, which has got me curious – zesty zing you say. Sounds delicious!
Annmarie Kostyk
3rd May 2010 at 9:00 pmThis bread sounds completely amazing. Chocolate has quite literally become my life. I have always been afraid to make bread. I think I have to get over my fear now that I have this recipe! Thanks!
Nicisme
3rd May 2010 at 9:25 pmOh wonderful – all my favourite ingredients! I can just imagine how fab the smell of baking was.
Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial
3rd May 2010 at 9:40 pmNow that is an interesting combination! I can believe it was absolutely delicious, but I can’t believe it worked dipped in soft boiled eggs! 😀
Astra Libris
3rd May 2010 at 9:56 pmOhhh, this looks SO delicious!! As do your gorgeous rye sourdough loaves…
cityhippyfarmgirl
3rd May 2010 at 10:20 pmThose combinations sound amazing. I can almost smell it. Chilli, chocolate, lime- 3 ingredients that I love.
I know what you mean about a small kitchen, sometimes I think, is it really worth the mess?..yep! One day I will have a great big kitchen with so much bench space I won’t know what to do with it.
Bridgett
3rd May 2010 at 11:59 pmWow, the flavors here are so interesting and unique. I can’t wait to try this some day soon.
hopeeternal
4th May 2010 at 12:32 amThis sounds wonderful. Another recipe to put on my ‘to do’ list, I think! I can imagine it was delicious with curd, but not sure about soldiers – egg, lime and chocolate?! …but I’m willing to be won over!
h/e
http://www.hopeeternalcookbook.wordpress.com
Sushma Mallya
4th May 2010 at 3:41 amwow what a lovely combo, full of flavours, am sure must be really delicious..perfectly done too..
Suelle
4th May 2010 at 5:59 amWell done for trying this. I’ve looked at the recipe several times since suggesting it, but the time never seems right for baking bread. I have so many failures with bread too, which makes me more reluctant. I was thinking of making a cake with the same flavours instead, so I’m pleased to hear the combination was successful.
zebbakes
4th May 2010 at 5:09 pmYou are a brave bread maker indeed! That must have smelled wonderful and tasted great! I think that wholemeal anything doesn’t lend itself to prolonged kneading, the bran tears the gluten so why bother? And spelt proves so fast too. I saw some panibois containers which might do the trick for this sort of bread though I don’t know where you would get hold of them here. If you email Patrick at Baker Bits he might get some in to see if they would work. Example http://www.panibois.com/recettes-cake-amandes.htm So you can have a different shape but still let the bread prove in it and bake in it too, sounds like a good idea in theory doesn’t it?
Jacqueline
4th May 2010 at 6:32 pmI am in awe of that chocolate loaf and must see if you have posted your sourdough loaf too. How long does the sourdough loaf keep for?
Jacqueline
4th May 2010 at 6:35 pmnope, cannot find a post. May I have the recipe?
Choclette
4th May 2010 at 8:52 pmLucie – thank you for your lovely comments. It’s not so difficult to make bread, but it is useful to start off with someone who knows what they are doing. I was ten when I had my first lesson. I made bread for a few years when I was a student, but hadn’t made any for years until I went on the bread making course in December.
Kath – thank you and look forward to hearing how yours turns out!
Mangocheeks – you’re right, I used to enjoy kneading – I think it was when I wasn’t so pressured for time. The lime was the making of this bread, although the chocolate was of course an integral part.
Annmarie – you do wonderful things with chocolate, don’t be afraid of bread.
Nicisme – it was indeed a great combination.
Celia – I defy you to try this with eggs and then say you don’t like it – not a serious challenge, I can see it wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste!
Astra Libris – thank you for saying such nice things
Cityhippy – you are right of course and dreaming of a large, warm, happy, comfortable kitchen is what keeps me going.
Bridgett – look forward to hearing how you got on if you do get around to making this – it’s well worth it.
Hopeeternal – oh go on, be won over.
Sushma – thank you for your nice comments.
Suelle – I’m sure a cake with these flavours would be great and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Would still suggest you gave the bread a try though – it was your idea!
Joanna – thank you for this. I didn’t know that wholemeal shouldn’t be kneaded for too long, so that makes me feel heaps better. I shall look at the panibois – never heard of them before.
Jacqueline – the sourdough seems to keep for ever. It keeps me in sandwiches all week and then (if there is any left) days 7, 8, 9 and 10 happily do toast. I’ll post the recipe on my blog if you like, but it could take some time as I’m rather behind with my posts.
Chele
6th May 2010 at 6:34 amGreat flavours and the loaves look fantastic. Think I may need to make some bread soon!
realfoodlover
6th May 2010 at 9:39 amHmnnn – you have given me a few ideas for today’s spelt loaf!
Thank you
Elisabeth
Fimère
6th May 2010 at 12:06 pmune excellente recette de pain, j’aime beaucoup
bonne journée
Choclette
7th May 2010 at 8:54 pmChele – bread is such a comfort, but then so is cake – argh!
Elisabeth – if I’d read your posts about spelt before I made this, I might have tried it without kneading.
Merci Fimere
oxslip
8th May 2010 at 5:11 pmIs this the compo winner? Looks ace
Choclette
8th May 2010 at 6:05 pmThanks Oxslip, it was the winning suggestion.
The Omnivorous Bear
18th May 2010 at 2:14 pmWOW! That is a must do recipe, Choclette!
Choclette
18th May 2010 at 6:19 pmWendy, it was pretty good?
Xinmei @ Pudding Pie Lane
5th May 2011 at 11:06 pmJust thought I should let you know – I baked this just now! (well, just put the blog post up now :p) It’s so nice, I totally agree, made the house smell delicious and you really did want to tear into it. The texture is amazing 🙂
Choclette
6th May 2011 at 10:44 amXinmei – so glad you liked it. I remember it being rather special. Just popping over to your blog to have a look.