Chocolate Strawberry Sourdough Bread

What can be better than chocolate covered strawberries? Well if you’re a sourdough baker, then the answer is this chocolate strawberry sourdough bread. This artisan sourdough bread is packed with strawberries and dark chocolate chips. It makes a great sourdough inclusion loaf for Valentine’s day or anytime you have chocolate craving.

Serving Suggestions

This sweet sourdough bread is great as a base for french toast or spread with your favorite jam or Nutella spread. If you love strawberry recipes, also check out my sourdough strawberry scone recipe and my sourdough strawberry cinnamon roll recipe.

Ingredients

You’ll need a sourdough starter plus some basic kitchen ingredients for this strawberry sourdough bread.

• Bread Flour: You can use all purpose flour if you do not have brad flour but I highly recommend bread flour if you are a beginner baker. Bread flour holds its structure better and will give you a better rise due to its higher protein content.
• Salt: The kind of salt does not matter here. The type of salt is most important if you are using volume based measurements. This is because different varieties of salt has different density. We weigh ingredients here, so this is a non-issue.
• Water: I typically recommend using filtered water or distilled water if you live in an area with highly chlorinated tap water.
• Sourdough Starter: You sourdough starter is the most important ingredient in this recipe. Make sure your starter is active and bubbly. It should reliably double after each feed. If you need help with the health of your starter, check out my guide on how to maintain a sourdough starter.
• Food Coloring (optional): If you want your dough to come out pink as pictured in this recipe, you can use a couple drops of red food coloring. Unfortunately, most “natural” or plant-based liquid food colorings don’t hold up well during baking so I would skip those. If you do prefer a natural food coloring you can try adding a few teaspoons of ube or purple sweet potato powder or dragonfruit powder. Stir these into your flour before mixing. If using liquid red food coloring, add to your water.
• Freeze-Dried Strawberries: Freeze dried strawberries are the secret ingredient here. While you can use fresh strawberries, they tend to make the bread a bit soggy. Freeze-dried strawberries absorb any excess liquid and become soft when baking without making the dough soggy.
• Dark Chocolate Chips: This recipe calls for dark chocolate chips but you can substitute white chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips if desired.

How to Store

I recommend storing your bread in a gallon size ziplock bag. If you plan to eat your bread within a couple of days, it can be stored on the counter. Otherwise, I recommend storing it in the refrigerator to prevent the growth of mold.

You can also freeze this bread. I recommend slicing it before freezing so you can easily pull out a slice when needed.

Chocolate Strawberry Sourdough Bread

The perfect sweet loaf for your sweetheart. This chocolate strawberry sourdough bread is swirled with freeze-dried strawberries and dark chocolate chips- A loaf of bread that tastes like chocolate covered strawberries.

No ratings yet

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Rest Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, brunch, lunch, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American, French

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 300 g bread flour
• 200 g water
• 50 g sourdough starter active and bubbly (see notes)
• 7 g salt
• 2-3 drops red food coloring Optional
• 10 g freeze dried strawberries chopped
• 50 g dark chocolate chips

Instructions

 

Make the Dough

• Mix the bread flour and salt in a medium bowl.
• In a glass measuring cup or small mixing bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter, water, and food coloring if using.
• Pour the water mixture over the flour. Use a bread whisk or your hands to mix the dough until no dry flour remains. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes.
• Over the next hour, perform a set of stretch and folds every 15 minutes, covering the bowl between sets.

  To perform a stretch and fold, grab one edge of the dough. Gently stretch the dough up until you feel maximal tension, then fold the dough over itself. Turn the bowl ¼ turn and repeat until you make a complete rotation around the bowl.
• When you complete your last set of stretch and folds, cover the bowl and allow to rest for 5-10 hours for bulk fermentation. The timing of the bulk fermentation greatly depends on your environment. The dough is complete when it is smooth and dome shaped with the edges separating from the bowl. The dough will have some give when pressed and appear to have small bubbles over the surface.

  Please see my guide to bulk fermentation if you need help with knowing when your dough is done.

Shape the Dough

• When bulk fermentation is complete, lightly flour a clean counter. Gently stretch the dough into an approximate square measuring about 6-8 inches long.
• Sprinkle about 2/3 of the strawberries and chocolate chips over the surface of the dough.
• Fold the dough into thirds like an envelope. Sprinkle the remaining ⅓ of the strawberries and chocolate chips over the top of the dough. Roll the short end of the dough toward you, forming a ball.
• Place the dough seam side down on the counter. Gently pull and rotate the bread towards you on the counter to build surface tension. Repeat 3-4 times. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured banneton. Cover and place in fridge for cold fermentation.

  Cold fermentation should last between 1-24 hours for this recipe. You can also skip cold fermentation altogether and bake immediately.

Bake the Dough

• When ready to bake, place a 5 or 6 quart dutch oven in the oven. Preheat oven to 450℉.
• Remove your loaf from the fridge and turn, seam side down, onto a piece of parchment paper. Score the loaf with a sharp knife or bread lame from one end of the loaf to the other.
• Use the parchment paper to carefully lift the dough and transfer it to your preheated dutch oven. Cover with the lid and bake for 15 minutes.
• After the 15 minutes is up, reduce the temperature to 425℉. Remove the lid from the dutch oven and bake for another 15 minutes uncovered. (Note: Place a trivet underneath the bread if you have one for this final bake to prevent the bottom crust from getting thick and tough.)
• Remove bread from dutch oven and transfer to cooling rack when done. Allow to cool before cutting into the loaf.

Notes

Ensure sourdough starter is active and reliably doubles when fed. 

• 8-12 hours before baking, feed 10 g of starter 20 g of water and 20 g flour. This will create the 50 g needed for the recipe. 

Keyword Breads, Chocolate, Dairy-free, Egg-free, lunch ideas, mother’s day, peanut butter, recipes for kids, Sourdough, sourdough inclusions, sourdough starter, strawberry, valentine’s day, Vegan

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!