Growing up my best friends dad use to volunteer at a local bakery. He would rent a truck and take all of their left over bread to homeless shelters. Eventually he even bought a truck to do this with. The company was so great full that every now an again they would take time out of their busy day to make him chocolate bread. Now chocolate bread wasn’t an item they sold in their store and they would make him pounds of chocolate bread.

He was a hero to us kids when he would walk into the room carry three large Santa sacks of bread, because we knew one and half of them were full of chocolate bread. It was a sad day when he had to stop volunteering at the local bread shop. He gave the company a few months notice and the truck. I remember it because he would leave the truck with them and one day he came to get the bread delivery and they painted their logo on it. He was so excited he drove over to show us kids and he even let us ride in the truck that day.

What is chocolate bread? Chocolate bread is basically a giant bread roll (almost loaf size) flavoured with coco powder and mixed with chocolate chips. You generally eat it warm but it taste good at room temperature as well. I don’t know where they came from or how they came to be I can’t even find a recipe online. None the less I have worked for years to make a recipe that reminds me the most of my beloved childhood favourite chocolate bread. I make smaller rolls though about a little bigger than dinner roll size.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (more of the bread is to sticky)
• 5 tablespoons Hershey’s cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 stick softened salted butter
• ¼ cup room temperature whole milk
• 3/4 cup Hershey’s chocolate chips

I am not sponsored by Hershey’s it was literally the only brand that made the bread taste like the one I had growing up. I am pretty sure the baker who made it used Hershey’s, it’s a very distinct tasting chocolate.

Instructions

1. Mix flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and yeast in a mixer or bread machine combined. A bread machine can help you mix and need the dough even if you aren’t going to physically cook the bread in it.
2. Add butter and mix until the bread has little crumbles in it.
3. Add warm water and room temperature milk and mix medium speed until dough comes together. Then mix for five minutes. When dough is soft and elastic like add the chocolate chips and mix until combined.
4. Roll dough into ball and place in a large bowl cover with warm damp towel or plastic wrap sit it in a warm place or 1 hour or until doubled in size.
5. When the dough has risen, gently punch it to remove air. Divide the dough into 10 balls and gently smooth into dinner rolls.
6. Place on parchment paper making sure each one has space to raise without roughing the other. Cover and let raise for another 60 minutes or until again doubled in size.
7. Bake in over for 15-20 minutes.
8. Let rest until the are no longer hot but still warm enough for the bread soft and chocolate to be rich and runny.
9. Enjoy!!