A Sourdough Chocolate Quick Bread that is packed with rich chocolate flavor, balanced with sourdough tanginess, and bakes in just an hour.
This indulgent quick bread is a special treat that needs no special occasion. It’s similar to chocolate cake, but it’s considered bread, so you can justify eating it pretty much anytime you like.
It’s a straightforward recipe made with everyday ingredients, easily mixed up by hand or in the bowl of a stand mixer, and incorporating active starter or discard.
Our family enjoys it warm from the oven topped with a scoop of homemade raw milk ice cream, but you can also pop this sweet chocolate bread in the fridge until it’s cold. Either way, it’s simply delightful.
With the option for long-fermentation, you could easily assemble the ingredients in the evening for a fresh bake the next day, but it’s also ready very quickly if that’s what you need.
If you are totally new to sourdough, learn how to make a sourdough starter.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
It’s ready quickly – You don’t always have time for a long ferment or a doubled rise. For the days that you need something right away, quick breads are the answer. Like this Irish Soda Bread.
Deep flavor and soft texture – When the ingredients include butter, chocolate, and sourdough, you know you’ll be immersed in great flavor. The sourdough adds moisture and tenderness to the crumb, and the chocolate chips add little pockets of gooey sweetness.
A great way to use discard – We love these discard recipes! Sourdough bakers inevitably have lots of discard to put to use, and this is a delicious way to do so. Interested in other ways to use up your sourdough discard? Here are 35+ Sourdough Discard Recipes of all kinds!
Ingredients
Flour: Unbleached, all-purpose flour is my go-to for this recipe, as it provides the most consistent results.
Cocoa powder: Look for a quality cocoa powder where the only ingredient is cocoa.
Sourdough discard: You can use discard or active starter. Discard will provide a stronger sourdough flavor.
Chocolate chips: Milk chocolate, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate chips. A higher-quality chocolate will have a richer flavor and smoother texture.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Quick Bread
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×5 loaf pan by lightly brushing it with butter or lining with a piece of parchment paper.Mix flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, add melted and cooled butter, white and brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, discard, and milk. Stir well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Step 3: Mix the batter until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Step 4: Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a sharp knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
To long-ferment this recipe:
Withhold baking powder, baking soda, and chocolate chips, and combine all other ingredients. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 12-24 hours. After fermenting, mix in the baking powder, baking soda, and chocolate chips, then follow the baking directions below.
Expert Tips
- Add dried cherries, toasted pecans, chocolate chunks, or white chocolate chips to the batter for a different twist to this delicious bread.
- For a stronger sourdough flavor, use discard. For a milder tang, use active sourdough starter.
- Overbaking the bread will result in a dry loaf. Check it often for doneness near the end of the bake time.
- For best results, cool for an hour in the pan before slicing. This allows the loaf time to set up and slice cleanly. Can’t wait that long? Understandable. Let the loaf cool until it’s warm but not hot, then slice gently.
Recipe FAQs
Sourdough bread generally refers to a long-fermented dough that rises with naturally occurring wild yeast. A quick bread has added leavening agents, like baking powder and baking soda, giving the bread a quick rise and turnaround time.
Avoid overmixing the dough, as this can significantly impact the rise. Mixing too much can cause a loaf to collapse and have a less tender and denser crumb.
Yes, they can be exchanged. Cacao powder is the unprocessed version of cocoa powder, and it is generally less sweet and more bitter.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for several days, or freeze in an airtight container for longer-term storage.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Sourdough Banana Bread
- Sourdough Lemon Bread
- Quick Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- Sourdough Blueberry Bread
- Sourdough Zucchini Bread
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Bread
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Discard Chocolate Bread
Equipment
- 1 Loaf Pan
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 245 g
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 64 g
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3 g
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Wet Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons butter, melted 113 g
- 1/2 cup sugar, 100 g
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, 100 g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sourdough discard, active starter will also work – 189 g
- 1/2 cup milk, or water. Whole milk preferred. 122 g
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare a 9×5 loaf pan by lightly brushing it with butter or lining with a piece of parchment paper.
- Mix flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add melted and cooled butter, white and brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, discard, and milk. Stir well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a sharp knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So good! I’m waiting for my starter to get stronger and I liked being able to use the discard.
Delicious!! Made 4 mini loaves which are great to share for the holidays! 😊
I am wondering how I could go about baking this recipe as muffins instead of a loaf?
At 350 degrees, it will take around 15-18 minutes to cook.
Love this recipe! Flavor was phenomenal. Texture was not so great. When i sliced it … it fell apart. Was i too impatient and needed to cool longer? Over mixed ? I’m new to baking. Please advise
It could be due to over mixing. It usually becomes more dense if it is over mixed.
Hola! Que linda receta, muchas gracias ☺️ queria resolver unas dudas, podria dejarlo fermentar en la nevera toda la noche? Y la otra cosa es si es necesario derretir la mantequilla o podria cremarla con el azucar sin derretirla?
soft and yummy! I made into muffins and they are better than store bought 🙂