Sharon's Original Lover's Chocolate Bread

How-To: Chocolate and Pear Bread

Adapted from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

• 4 ounces premium medium sweet chocolate

• 1 cup premium cocoa powder

• 5 ounces of Salted Caramel chocolate

• 2/3 cup of honey

• 1 ripe whole pear (peeled or unpeeled)

• 4 large eggs lightly beaten

• 5 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

• 1 3/4 cups of water (110F)

• 2 packets granulated yeast (1 1/2 tbsp)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Note: If you are using a stone, then you need to preheat it, allow 20 mins.

2. Heat the water to 110F. How: Use a thermometer. If you don't have one, the water should be luke warm. This will activate the yeast.

3. Shake the bread flour in to the mixing bowl where you combine the ingredients and knead the bread. Note: Use a level measure and scrape the flour over the top to ensure that you don't add too much.

4. Mix in the cocoa powder.

5. Make the ganache by melting the butter and medium sweet chocolate over the stove in a double boiler. What: A double boiler is a stove top, set up used to melt hard ingredients to combine them with softer ingredients. How: Place your pan on the stove :-) filled with water. Place a larger bowl on top. It works best if the water just touches the bottom of the bowl. Put the ingredients in the top bowl and melt them.

6. Activate the yeast. Mix the water, eggs and honey together.

7. Mix the ganache with the cocoa and flour.

8. Mix in chopped Salted Caramel chocolate.

9. Combine the ingredients until they look like chocolate dough. How: If you have a Kitchen Aid mixer, use the dough hook. If not, mix with a spoon.

10. Transfer the dough to a plastic container with a lid and store in a warm dry place (like the microwave) to rise for 2 hours.

11. Guestimate the amount of dough you need to fill the loaf tin 3/4 full.

12. Press the pear in to the middle of the dough. The bread will rise around it when it cooks.

13. Place the bread in the center of the oven and cook for 35 minutes. Note: You can test the bread with a chopstick to make sure it's cooked.

If you like this recipe, why not cook more of Sharon's recipes .

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Here's what you need to know about the nutrition in this recipe and chocolate bread!

• "Chocolatetown, USA!" is in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

• Cocoa beans are the source of the styles of chocolate we know today.

• "The Milky Bar's are on me!"The iconic call of the Milky Bar kid, a Cadbury's white chocolate UK invention.

• Chocolate bread is actually bread, unlike the Babka (challah) and the Pain au Chocolat (croissant) that are combination of chocolate, pastry or bread.

• "A loaf of chocolate bread, a Lambic beer and thou!" Omar Khayyam paraphrased from the quote from his famous book, The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam.

• Bread was never rationed in the UK during World War II, but because of sugar rationing, chocolate was almost non-existant. It arrived with the Americans, who were provided with it in their soldier rationing kits as "fighting food!" But many a war bride was won over by this energy-packed ration. Good luck on Valentine's Day.