Spiced Chocolate Breakfast Loaf

I realised when I sat down to write this that I haven't blogged a bread recipe for ages. Don't worry I've still been baking lots of bread but just haven't been trying out many new recipes lately. There are a couple more planned for the blog very soon though, so as they say, watch this space. This loaf is a variation on the cinnamon breakfast loaf from the Great British Bake Off Showstoppers book. I've been wanting to make it for a while and finally got round to it a couple of weeks ago. After reading the recipe a few times I decided that it would probably be improved by the addition of chocolate, most things are, and then decided to add in some extra spices as well just to give it a bit of a kick. I do like a good whack of chilli in my chocolate but feel free to reduce or even leave it out if you prefer. I also added in some wholemeal flour because that's how I like my bread but the original recipe just uses white flour. I didn't quite manage to get a good swirl in the loaf as it was a bit fiddly rolling up the dough without the filling spilling out all over the place. However about halfway through the loaf the swirl looked better but I forgot to take any photos so these are just after the first couple of slices were cut. I was a bit naughty and had this bread spread with crème fraîche for breakfast instead of butter.

Ingredients - makes 1 loaf
For the bread:
400g strong white bread flour
100g strong wholemeal bread flour
7g sachet fast action yeast
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
125ml milk
50g unsalted butter
1 large egg, at room temperature
125ml water

For the filling:
50g caster sugar
1 tsp plain flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp hot chilli powder
75g dark chocolate, finely grated

Milk for brushing

The filling

1. Mix the flours, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Gently warm the milk and water in a small pan with butter until lukewarm and the butter has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and beat in the egg using a fork, add to the flour mix and work into a dough. The dough should be soft but not sticky, if it seems dry add a little extra milk or water. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with lightly oiled clingfilm and leave to rise for an hour or until doubled in size.
2. Prepare a 2lb loaf tin by lining with a strip of greaseproof paper that's long enough to cover the short sides of the tin, this makes it a bit easier to remove the loaf if the filling leaks.
3. Knock back the dough and knead lightly for a minute then cover with clingfilm and let the dough rest for a few minutes, it will be easier to roll out then.While the dough is resting mix together the ingredients for the filling in a small bowl. 
4. Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough into a rectangle that is as wide as your loaf tin and 48cm long. Be sure to keep the sides straight whilst doing this. Brush the dough with milk and evenly sprinkle over the filling, it may look like a lot but trust me it's necessary for a well flavoured loaf. Leave a 1cm border at one of the short ends. Roll up the dough from the other short end, keeping the roll as tight and as neat as you can then pinch the seam to keep it sealed. Tuck the ends under as you place it into the tin. Cover with lightly oiled clingfilm and leave to rise until nearly doubled in size, around 40 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 180C then remove the clingfilm and brush the top of the loaf with milk. Bake for 35 minutes until golden brown and the bottom is hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack and then serve.

As you can see from the picture above my loaf ended up a little bit wonky and I had to fight to get it out of the tin as even with the paper it got a bit stuck. It was definitely worth the effort though as it made for a rather indulgent breakfast.

I'm entering this into Choclette & Chele's We Should Cocoa where the theme this month is bread and is being hosted by Franglais Kitchen. Also into Breakfast Club where the theme is chocolate, this month hosted by Choclette. This loaf is also going to Calendar Cakes hosted by Laura and Rachel where the theme is also bread. And I'm also adding it to Bake Your Own Bread and into Yeast Spotting.