Chocolate Cherry Bread, Take 45

 Ok, it hasn't been 45 attempts (yet) but I am still trying to perfect Paul Hollywood's recipe for chocolate cherry bread. I did some cherry research and this is what I came up with:


Move aside, supermarket maraschino cherries! These cherries are in a thick, very sweet syrup but they are still plump and firm.


They come swimming in syrup which will not only make the dough too wet, it's overpoweringly sugary.


I poured some into a small colander, rinsed and drained them well and then I weighed them out. Aren't they pretty? Even after rinsing they are quite sweet.


Here's the cherries with the rest of the cast.


The flour, salt, yeast and oil are combined in a bowl. I didn't have fast-acting yeast so I figured it would need extra rising time later on.


I added the water and gave everything a good stir with my fingers.


The shaggy ball was dumped onto a floured  surface.


As usual, the dough came together quickly. 


I gave it a good knead for about 4 minutes then added the cherries and chips.


The dough was still quite wet and I added a fair amount of extra flour until the consistency felt right. It took about 90 minutes for the dough to double. I'm actually surprised it didn't take longer since I didn't use fast-acting yeast and the cherries and chips made a heavy dough.


The dough was spilled onto a floured surface, patted down and divided for plaiting.


The dough was still on the wet side so handling it was a bit tricky.


Apparently when I am trying to work quickly I forget how to do a simple three-strand plait. In my defense I had to scrunch it a bit in order to lift it onto the parchment-lined pan. It looks like a dog bone.


I left it to rise for an hour and forgot to take a picture of it before it went into the oven. Let's pretend...The loaf went in for 20 minutes at 400F then the temperature was lowered to 375 for 20 minutes more. I should have tented the bread when I reduced the temperature because the high sugar content meant the loaf browned quickly and quite a bit. Fortunately, it didn't taste burnt. It also looked less like a dog bone after baking. Now it just looks like someone doesn't know how to plait.


I definitely want to try fast-acting yeast the next time because I would have liked a tad more rise out of it. However, it was not too dense and it tasted fabulous! Slightly crisp exterior, soft inside with cherry tang and sweet chips. Yum! I had to give some away so I wouldn't have too much of it around. 

So, next time: fast-acting yeast and tent the bread after the initial 20 minutes!

Note: It occurred to me later that Paul made this class on The Great British Bake-Off's Masterclass series. I pulled the video up and found that he used a mixer! "Mister Get-Your-Hands-in-There Hollywood"! He didn't mention the mixer in his recipe either! Hmm. Guess I'll add that part to the next trial, too!

Here's the promised link (again!):

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