White Chocolate Tea Bread
This came about because I LOVE chocolate chip brioche – so I decided to try to make some chocolate chip bread as a replacement. Unfortunately, though, the chocolate chips all melted into the dough as I added my usual boiling water and I ended up with this Chocolate Tea Bread instead – but it was still delicious! I eat mine in chunks, warm with spread and a cuppa. I’ll make true chocolate chip brioche another day, but this is no apology – I’ve stumbled on something heavenly. Bliss!
Makes 1 small loaf
275g self-raising flour (or 275g plain flour and 2 teaspoons baking powder or bicarbonate of soda), plus extra to knead the dough
a 7g sachet of fast-acting dried yeast
50g sugar
200g white chocolate
25g butter, plus extra to grease the loaf tin
150ml boiling water with a tea bag steeped in it and allowed to cool (Trust me on this one!)
Measure the flour, yeast and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
Break the chocolate into chunks. It’s up to you how you do this; I put mine into a freezer bag and bash it with the flat end of a rolling pin, or you could use a wood mallet in a similar set- up, or chop the chocolate on a work surface with a big sharp knife if you’re cheffy and adept at that sort of thing. Tip the chocolate chunks into the bowl with the flour, yeast and sugar.
Add the butter to the bowl and pour in the black tea, then stir together with a wooden spoon until well combined and the mixture has turned into a pliable, soft, sticky dough.
Tip out the dough on to a generously floured work surface and knead for a good 10 minutes. I always notice when I’ve got oil or butter in a bread dough because it has a beautiful silken texture and eminent pliability. If you’ve made bread before, you’ll notice the difference.
When kneaded, pat the dough into a rugby ball shape, cover and leave on the side for 20 minutes to rise.
Once the dough has risen, transfer it into a lightly greased 1lb loaf tin (approximately 17 x 7 x 6cm) to prove. Cover with oiled cling film or a tea towel and leave in a warm place for a further half an hour. A little before the end of the proving time, put on the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 to preheat.
When the dough has risen again, put the tin into the preheated oven for 40 minutes to bake, and wait for the smell of chocolate and bread to permeate your house. If the top of the loaf starts to brown before it’s done, remove from the oven, cover the tin with tin foil and pop it back in for the remainder of the baking time.
Remove the tin from the oven, allow the loaf to cool on a wire rack and turn out ready to slice and eat.
Tip: To make a proper buttery- type chocolate brioche bread, fold in the chocolate chunks when kneading the dough instead of earlier on.
Photography by Susan Bell
‘White Chocolate Tea Bread’ from A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe.
Twitter: @MsJackMonroe Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack
Categories: Blog
Looks lush , as do other recipes , given me lots of ideas, thanks
Love your blog and it’s great to see cheap veggie and vegan recipes. Sorry to burst your happy bubble though but Sainsbury’s Basics Chocolate isn’t vegan; it contains whey powder made from cows’ milk. Sorry again.
Oh no! Ok, I’ll retag it as vegetarian – thanks for letting me know 🙂
I have to make this tonight! You make me want to eat all the time haha! xx
Looks lovely, ot unlike my banana and golden syrup cake, that I made in the breadmaker, it turned out green!
good luck with the new job… please keep writing the recipes.
Hi,
can you put the weight of the chocolate please, for those of us that don’t have a sainsburys or live abroad, (France) would have no idea how much to put.
Merci
Samantha
Hi Samantha, I used 100g of chocolate for this one. Jack x
I have in my airing cupboard, once again, a loaf of this gorgeous chocolate bread proving. Truly delicious xx
CONGRATULATIONS on your new job by the way, you go girl !!!
This is really tasty bread! It’s like a cross between brioche and fruit malt loaf, would probably be good with addition of raisins as a twist?
Thanks for the recipe. I love your website, it’s inspiring!
Just about to attempt to make this with my boys 🙂 how long will it last if kept airtight, Sundays are lunchbox treat making days, and this would be just the new sort of thing they like to have.
Maybe about 3 days wrapped in clingfilm? It freezes well in slices, and if it starts to go stale it’s good toasted…
Thank you 🙂 it’s sat on side for now, waiting to go into tins. Not sure it’s going to last the night.
I did have to rack my brains to think how long it might last. No bread lasts more than a day in my house! Enjoy x
It’s already looking good (still in oven) only difference is I only had milk chocolate so decided it was still worth a try
I had no chocolate in the house so made this with 35g of Cadbury’s hot chocolate powder (had it in the cupboard) and it was lovely! New family fave 🙂
Also, just wanted to add that in the unlikely event of any of this bread lasting long enough to go stale, you can turn it into breadcrumbs for an awesome fruit crumble topping 🙂
You went vegan for Lent – good for you! I’m not religious, but I’ve been giving something up at Lent since I was a child, really just to prove to myself that I could. This year (as in most recent years) it was alcohol. I made it all the way through, but there were times….
The thing that annoys me is that the story goes that Jesus’ experience that started the whole thing off was for 40 days and 40 night. Lent is *lot* longer than that! Swizz.
I have had a few drinks since Lent ended, but nothing like as many as I was having before. Lost the taste for it rather. Saved a few pennies as a result.
Cheers!
For some reason it doesn’t include weekends…never can understand that! Like Jesus went on holiday Saturdays and Sundays from temptation in the desert…
was the bar of chocolate 100g
Between my 3 girls and I we have lots of food allergies but we can eat near enough all your receipes , made the apricot curry ,leek cabbage and cheese pasta , in process of chocolate bread and attempted the herb loaf but I couldnt get it to rise I dont have an airing cupboard so left it covered in kitchen …do you have any tips ?
Many thanks
Leave it overnight covered in clingfilm, and make with boiling water to activate the yeast- that should do it!
Thank you
I made a double batch of this yesterday & it’s gorgeous! My 17 year old daughter is like a locus & needs a packed lunch for college every day. I’m trying to reduce our food bill due to a change in circumstances (and my salary has been cut in half) but the amount she eats & the snacks she asks for, is making it very difficult. Thanks so much for sharing all your recipes. I really admire what you’re doing to provide a healthy diet for you & your son, so much better than processed crap!
whoops that should have been locust!
Just made this with Choc chips I had in cupboard. Its so easy and so yummy. Myself my partner and twins 4yr old boys have all just had a generous slice each. I will deep be making this again, thanks for the recipes 🙂
I didn’t have any chocolate either, so used 20g of cocoa. The resulting loaf was gorgeous, but could have done with a bit more chocolate flavour, so 30g next time. Had a thick slice for breakfast this morning, toasted and covered with mashed banana, scrummy
Mmm, sounds delicious. I may have to give that a try when mine’s cooked.
Could i make this in a breadmaker?
I’ve made it twice so far & used the dough function on my bread maker. I put it in the oven in a loaf tin as I didn’t want a square loaf but can’t see why you couldn’t use the bread maker with the cake function.
However the second time I made it, I used plain bread flour, as I found that the loaf was really fragile with standard plain flour and it’s much easier to cut & butter with bread flour but not as cheap.
Thanks Blue 🙂 I am going to make this with some cheapy value choc in the bread maker later.
This isn’t a cheap option but if you ever have some spare cash and fancy vegan choc brioche, the red puff pastry brand you get in the chiller at supermarkets (jus-roll) do a (coincidentally) vegan pain au chocolat, I reckon you’d LOVE it… it’s £2.10 to make six so obviously costs a lot more than this but thought anyone reading it who is vegan and fancies tasty chocolate pastry treats might appreciate…
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=273798639
Hi all, love the blog but…. Mines not rising! Could the freshly boiled kettle hot water have killed the yeast?
Just made for the first time. Had warm slice with leftover custard for a delicious pudding.
I bought your book and you say to use a 1lb tin but I only have a 2lb tin. Should I just double up the recipie? Thank you in advance 🙂
I’m a huge fan of yours and this bread looks delicious. I’m from South Africa and have never heard of Free From Spread. What can you use in place of that – butter, margarine?
Yes! Butter or margarine would work just fine in this recipe – enjoy!
Thanks so much. Big fan of yours. I’m hoping to get your cookbook asap. Keep up the great recipes!
I love the still life above.
What exactly does the addition of tea do? I’m intrigued by the idea of using black tea in cooking.
Oh my word this was frustrating 🙁 I boiled the kettle, made myself a brew and a black one for this. Let it cool down (was warm, not hot!) made the dough but it was so so sticky! I had to add a lot more flour just to be able to knead it. Its currently on its first prove, so i’m really hoping it rises but its not looking like its going to 🙁 i think if it fails i’ll throw it into the breadmaker! So annoyed at myself as i’ve been making bread all weekend no problems! Lol
Hi – It looks from the comments like you’ve already updated this once, but you currently have it as 200g of chocolate in the ingredients but mention using 100g or a Sainsbury’s Basics bar in the comments. More chocolate is normally good so I guess I’ll err that way if I try it.
Dunno if it helps but i used a 100g bar of Aldi essentials white choccy and it came out beautifully 😊
I’m back Jack!! Left this to prove for awhile in the airing cupboard then just bunged it in the oven. Had a slice just now and…. OH MY WORD! Trying not to eat my third slice but that might prove impossible lol So good!!
Reblogged this on Carmel Chameleon and commented:
Alot of the recipe i use are from this lovely lady. This white chocolate tea bread was to die for!
Hi Jack, I love your recipes and decided to try this, only as I was kneading the white chocolate melted so I no longer have any yummy chocolate lumps 🙁 any way I can avoid this in future?
Hi has anyone made this with less yeast? I would rather use bread flour and a lesser amount of yeast, as the high yeast content gave my son bad wind 😛
Thank you xx