Ok..I made a pretty darn good Cardamom and Orange Pull-Apart Bread the other day. In my usual fashion, I've become obsessed. What other flavors can I pull apart? Peaches and Cream? Bacon and Egg? Let me see...this is a Christmas post...how about a Hot Chocolate Pull-Apart Bread?!! Methinks Santa will approve.
Don't let the fact that this is a yeast bread scare you away...truly, it's not that hard, especially if you use a stand mixer. Come on. Give it a try. Your family will love you....
Hot Chocolate Pull-Apart Bread
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
3-3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup dark cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (2.5 oz) package instant yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 egg, room temperature, slightly beaten
Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and
divided
Glaze:
1 cup marshmallow crème
4-6 tablespoons half/half, divided
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Heat the milk 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup sugar in a small
saucepan until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Let
cool until temperature is about 110 degrees F (like bathwater warm).
In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 cups of the flour, salt,
and cocoa.
In a large mixing bowl, combine milk mixture with yeast,
egg, and 2 cups of the flour mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2
cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just
pulled together, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth,
about 5 minutes. (Alternately, just use the dough hook on your mixer and let
the mixer knead the dough for about five minutes)
Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a clean
damp towel. Allow dough to rise until double, about 1 hour. In the mean time,
process the brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon, and chocolate chips in a food
processor until the mixture is well blended , the nuts are ground, and the
chocolate is coarsely chopped; set aside.
Use a pastry brush to butter two 8-inch loaf pans; preheat
the oven to 375 degrees F.
Roll out one of the dough halves into a large (about 12X9
inch) rectangle. Brush the dough with
half of the melted butter. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture evenly over the
dough, leaving a 1/2 inch edge. Use a
sharp knife or a pizza cutter to cut the dough vertically into 4 strips, then
horizontally into 6 strips. Carefully,
stack the strips 4 high. Place each stack of strips, cut side up, in a loaf
pan. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with stray filling. Repeat with the other
half of dough.
Cover the loaf pans loosely with plastic wrap and allow the
dough to rise for about 30 minutes, and then bake in preheated oven for 25 to
30 minutes or until browned. Cool for 10 minutes before carefully removing from
pan. Glaze while warm.
For the glaze, warm 3-4 tablespoons of half/half
and whisk into 1 cup marshmallow crème.
Drizzle over the warm loaves. If desired, whisk 1-2 tablespoons warm
half/half into ½ cup chocolate chips and blend until smooth. Drizzle the
chocolate over the marshmallow glaze.
I used foil pans...after glazing the bread, you can place it back in the pan to transport.
Don't have marshmallow creme? Go ahead and melt some mini-marshmallows with the half/half over low heat, whisking until smooth.
I can't stop thinking about more pull-apart flavors...what sounds good to you? Eggnog? Sweet Potato? Bratwurst with Sauerkraut?
Visit all the other Christmas Week Peeps for more Holiday
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This bread looks amazing Cathy! I love this twist on the traditional. What a great Christmas morning treat.
ReplyDeleteI love anything chocolate and you bread looks wonderful and chocolaty. Is it bad that I would love to eat this for breakfast?
ReplyDeleteI must make this! My husband loves chocolate, I would probably make hot tamale pie first in this beautiful roaster.or maybe scalloped potatoes or lasagna or .........oh my so many things! Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI would love to make your hot chocolate bread in it!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love these loaves!! What a great idea for gift for the holidays too!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a marvelous version of pull apart bread! I must make my next loaf a chocolate one :)
ReplyDeleteI request eggnog next. But this is so fabulous, I don't know if I need anything else. ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy day #4!
Oh!!! My family loves pull apart bread, but I've never done a version like this! Hot chocolate... brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI could totally have this for breakfast on Christmas morning...YUM!
ReplyDeleteI love anything chocolate! So I really want to try the Chocolate pull apart bread. Yummy!
ReplyDeletethis bread looks & sounds wonderful! cant wait to try this recipe! TY!
ReplyDeleteI want to run into my kitchen immediately and make this. This looks seriously gorgeous. I am speechless, and you know that never happens. Lol!
ReplyDeleteThanks again for joining us this week. xx
I miss this until now, it sounds fabulous! I think I will make it soon, but for now I'm pinning it and posting it on Facebook!
ReplyDeleteI would make roast veggies in this pan. This bread looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI also fell in love with this pull apart bread method...I made a good one with a little chocolate and espresso powder in between the layers :)
ReplyDelete