240g Bread Flour 30g Whole Spelt Flour 20g dark rye 250g Chai concentrate*(3 parts of milk, 1 part water, 1.5 packets splenda**) ***
60g honey 6g Salt 60g Starter @ 100% Hydration (20 ww starter, fed w 20g Bread Flour, 20g Water) total hydration 80% given that the majority of the liquid came form milk
50g chocolate chips(I used a mix of dark chocolate chunks and white chocolate chips)
1 extra earl grey tea bag
*to get the flavor to pop, you want it to be 3x as strong as you would normally drink
**the splenda packets were included in my usual concentrate recipe, of which I add in 2 parts of water to drink. I found the sweetness of the finished product to be just right, so I've been sticking with it since. 1.5 packets of splenda has the equivalent sweetness of 15g sugar, or 16g of extra honey
***I'll post the recipe of my chai concentrate below, feel free to use your favorite chai recipe instead:)
1.Get starter/levein ready, mine took about 4hrs @ 85f
2. Bring chai concentrate to a simmer, turn off heat and let steep for 1 hour, let cool off stove for another hour, strain out the 250g of warm tea in the bowl, along with the honey
3. Mix in all the flour, autolyse for 2 hrs
4.Bulk ferment @ about 85-95f
Mix in all the starter/levein > rest 30min hand mix in salt > rest 30min Stretch and fold with dough scraper 3-5 mins till the dough show signs of increased strength and smoothness for the next step> rest 30 min
5. Mist counter and tip dough out, flatten dough out by stretching gently with wet hand, sprinkle tea bag/tea leaf &chocolate chips evenly, fold it into quarters lengthwise and roll it up from bottom to top to form a tight ball> rest 1 hour Light S/F > rest 1 hour Light S/F > leave to bulk ferment for 1hr 45 mins
6.Shape shape and proof in banneton for 20mins, cover and pop in fridge for 12-18 hours
7.Bake
Preheat oven to 425f with Dutch oven, I sprinkled coarse cornmeal at the bottom of the Dutch oven before I place the parchment in to prevent a burn bottom as it's an enriched dough with sugar and milk.
Tip dough onto the parchment, score, cover
Bake@ 425f 30min lid on Drop temp to 400, take the lid off, slide a baking sheet underneath the do, continue baking for 15 more mins
Keep an eye on it the last 10 mins as the bread can easily over brown, cover the top loosely with foil that happens
My Chai concentrate recipe 600g milk 200g water 3 cinnamon sticks 3 Tbsp ground ginger 3 slices fresh ginger 12 cloves 8 cardamom pods (Cracked open) 1 Tbsp + 1tsp vanilla 5 earl grey tea bags 6 splenda, 1/8 tsp of salt, pinch of black pepper
Put everything except the tea bags in the pot and bring it to a light simmer, turn off heat, throw tea bags in, cover, let steep for 1 hour
So blooming delicious. One of the tastiest breads I've made so far. Too warm to cut into for breakfast this morning, but having waited all day, I've just scoffed three slices in a row. Every bake still feels like a learning experience with sourdough, but this came together really nicely and was great fun to bake. And some lovely cups of Chai into the bargain!
(I reduced hydration by 10ml, did some slap + fold instead of 3-5mins stretching, and timings were v. different in my much colder London kitchen, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. Oh and realised after forming into a ball in step five that I had forgotten the salt (!!!) so added at S/F and hoped for the best!)
Would you mind sharing the recipe? I'd like to attempt this.
240g Bread Flour
30g Whole Spelt Flour
20g dark rye
250g Chai concentrate*(3 parts of milk, 1 part water, 1.5 packets splenda**) ***
60g honey
6g Salt
60g Starter @ 100% Hydration (20 ww starter, fed w 20g Bread Flour, 20g Water)
total hydration 80% given that the majority of the liquid came form milk
50g chocolate chips(I used a mix of dark chocolate chunks and white chocolate chips)
1 extra earl grey tea bag
*to get the flavor to pop, you want it to be 3x as strong as you would normally drink
**the splenda packets were included in my usual concentrate recipe, of which I add in 2 parts of water to drink. I found the sweetness of the finished product to be just right, so I've been sticking with it since. 1.5 packets of splenda has the equivalent sweetness of 15g sugar, or 16g of extra honey
***I'll post the recipe of my chai concentrate below, feel free to use your favorite chai recipe instead:)
1.Get starter/levein ready, mine took about 4hrs @ 85f
2. Bring chai concentrate to a simmer, turn off heat and let steep for 1 hour, let cool off stove for another hour, strain out the 250g of warm tea in the bowl, along with the honey
3. Mix in all the flour, autolyse for 2 hrs
4.Bulk ferment @ about 85-95f
Mix in all the starter/levein > rest 30min
hand mix in salt > rest 30min
Stretch and fold with dough scraper 3-5 mins till the dough show signs of increased strength and smoothness for the next step> rest 30 min
5. Mist counter and tip dough out, flatten dough out by stretching gently with wet hand, sprinkle tea bag/tea leaf &chocolate chips evenly, fold it into quarters lengthwise and roll it up from bottom to top to form a tight ball> rest 1 hour
Light S/F > rest 1 hour
Light S/F > leave to bulk ferment for 1hr 45 mins
6.Shape
shape and proof in banneton for 20mins, cover and pop in fridge for 12-18 hours
7.Bake
Preheat oven to 425f with Dutch oven, I sprinkled coarse cornmeal at the bottom of the Dutch oven before I place the parchment in to prevent a burn bottom as it's an enriched dough with sugar and milk.
Tip dough onto the parchment, score, cover
Bake@ 425f 30min lid on
Drop temp to 400, take the lid off, slide a baking sheet underneath the do, continue baking for 15 more mins
Keep an eye on it the last 10 mins as the bread can easily over brown, cover the top loosely with foil that happens
My Chai concentrate recipe
600g milk
200g water
3 cinnamon sticks
3 Tbsp ground ginger
3 slices fresh ginger
12 cloves
8 cardamom pods (Cracked open)
1 Tbsp + 1tsp vanilla
5 earl grey tea bags
6 splenda, 1/8 tsp of salt, pinch of black pepper
Put everything except the tea bags in the pot and bring it to a light simmer, turn off heat, throw tea bags in, cover, let steep for 1 hour
Thank you so much for such a detailed response! I can't wait to try this. I'm a newbie and it will be fun to try my first sweet loaf.
Thanks for picking this one to try! I hope you like it as much as I do? Please share pics when you do!!
I think my loaf came out a little small, but I can't wait to cut into it. Thanks for the recipe!
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/60671/chai-and-chocolate-chip-sourdough-hotbake
So blooming delicious. One of the tastiest breads I've made so far. Too warm to cut into for breakfast this morning, but having waited all day, I've just scoffed three slices in a row. Every bake still feels like a learning experience with sourdough, but this came together really nicely and was great fun to bake. And some lovely cups of Chai into the bargain!
(I reduced hydration by 10ml, did some slap + fold instead of 3-5mins stretching, and timings were v. different in my much colder London kitchen, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. Oh and realised after forming into a ball in step five that I had forgotten the salt (!!!) so added at S/F and hoped for the best!)