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.
I made this recipe a few weeks ago to share with my Bible study. It was an absolute home run! Moist with a lovely texture. Chocolatey without feeling like you have been hit with a chocolate bomb. Both groups loved it.
This is super yummers. Threw in a little black cocoa because I love chocolate so much. Delicious recipe that I will definitely make again! Thank you, Lisa!
Wonderful to hear!
Wow is this recipe good! I followed the recipe except I had some chocolate milk that I used for the milk. This is moist, chocolaty, delicious. Thank you, Lisa, for this great sourdough recipe.
I bet it was really good with chocolate milk!
I was curious if this recipe could be turned into muffins? Thank You! I love all your recipes. They always turn out delicious 🙂
I would use a quick bread recipe instead if you are going to make muffins. The texture is different. Here’s two recipes I have that you could use: Chocolate Einkorn Protein Muffins
Sourdough Chocolate Cake
Excellent, everyone loved this!
Very easy recipe and quick also. Hour and a half is all it took. DELICIOUS
Could I replace the milk with butter milk? I have some left I don’t wanna waste but I’ve made way too many biscuits already lol!
Sure! That sounds tasty.
I just took my loaf out of the oven and it’s beautiful. Originally the plan was to take it to work tomorrow but it smells and looks so good it might not survive the night. Maybe I should have gone with the long fermentation. 😆
Haha! Hopefully it tastes just as good.
On the long ferment, should one worry about eggs at room temp for 8+ hour?
It’s totally up to your comfort zone. If you are worried about it, this recipe also works with adding the eggs after the ferment!
I am thinking of ordering the book but would like to know if the measurements in the recipe’s are standard measurements or weight? I have never gotten into the weighing thing.
Thank you so much! It will have both weights and standard measurements (volume).