Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Dissolve the starter into the lukewarm water until no lumps remain.
- Mix in half the flour, add the salt, then mix in the rest of the flour into a shaggy dough.
- Cover and rest 30 to 40 minutes.
- Stretch and fold, folding in the cherries and chocolate as you go. Rest 30 minutes.
- Repeat three more times, for a total of 4 rounds, resting 30 minutes between rounds.
- Bulk ferment until risen about 50% (2 to 3 hours in a warm kitchen).
- Turn out, pre-shape, then shape into a tight boule.
- Transfer to the floured banneton, seam side up, and cover.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven with the Dutch oven inside to 475°F for at least 30 minutes.
- Score and bake covered 30 minutes, then uncovered 10 minutes.
- Finish on a baking sheet, open, about 5 minutes.
- Cool completely, at least 1 hour, before slicing.
Notes
This recipe is Research-backed. It follows the same dough and timing as the plain loaf, with dried cherries and dark chocolate folded in during the stretch and folds. It has not been through a Bake-Keeper kitchen test yet.
I went with tart dried cherries here instead of a sweeter dried fruit on purpose. A loaf this size can tip into dessert territory fast once chocolate is involved, and the tartness pulls it back toward bread. If you only have sweetened cherries on hand, I would cut the chocolate back to 70 g so the loaf does not end up cloying.
Chop the chocolate yourself rather than reaching for chips. Chips are formulated to hold their shape in the oven, which means they stay as tidy little dots instead of melting into the glossy pockets that make this loaf worth coming back to.