The Best Double Chocolate Sourdough Recipe

Last updated on June 15th, 2026

Your everyday sourdough loaf, but with rich cocoa running through the crumb and chunks of dark chocolate that melt and caramelize as it bakes. It’s still a real sourdough, tangy crumb and crackly crust included, just with a chocolate twist that’s great for breakfast toast or dessert.

Table of Contents

• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• What You'll Need
• Recipe Timeline at a Glance
• Making Your Bread
  • Step 1: Wake Up Your Starter
  • Step 2: Mix the Dough
  • Step 3: Stretch, Fold, and Add Chocolate
  • Step 4: Bulk Fermentation
  • Step 5: Shape the Loaf
  • Step 6: Cold Proof
  • Step 7: Bake
  • Step 8: Cool and Store
• Ways to Enjoy Your Double Chocolate Sourdough
• Recipe Tips
• Let's Get Baking
• FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It’s chocolate and sourdough in one loaf, no compromises. You get all the tang and chew of a proper sourdough, plus pockets of melty chocolate and a deep cocoa flavor running through every slice (yuuuuum).

It’s a flexible recipe. Bake it as a round Dutch oven loaf for that classic crackly crust, or go with a sandwich loaf if you want neat slices for toast (almonds optional, but recommended if you like a bit of crunch).

It works for breakfast and dessert. Toast it with butter in the morning, or serve it with ice cream at night. Either way, it doesn’t feel like you’re settling for one or the other.

It’s a great way to use up an active starter. If you’ve been feeding your starter and aren’t sure what to make with the extra, this is a fun change from your usual loaf.

Do you need more reasons? I hope not!

What You’ll Need

Ingredient	Amount
All-purpose flour	500g (or swap 50g for whole wheat)
Active sourdough starter	100g
Water	350g
Salt	10g
Cocoa powder	30g
Dark chocolate chunks or chips	150g

Recipe Timeline at a Glance

Sourdough rewards patience more than precision, so think of these as ballpark times, not a strict schedule:

Stage	Time
Feed starter	8-12 hours before mixing
Autolyse	30-60 minutes
Stretch and folds	2-3 hours (every 30 min)
Bulk fermentation	4-6 hours at 70-75°F
Bench rest	20-30 minutes
Cold proof	8-12 hours in the fridge
Bake	40-50 minutes total

Making Your Bread

Step 1: Wake Up Your Starter

Give your starter some love before you start mixing.

• Discard all but 50g of starter, then stir in 50g water and 50g flour. Let it sit at room temperature for 4-8 hours.
• You’re looking for it to roughly double in size with a domed, bubbly top.
• Try the float test: drop a spoonful into a glass of water. Floats means it’s ready. Sinks means it needs a bit more time.
• Cool kitchen? Fermentation will just take a little longer. A spot near a sunny window or on top of the fridge can help.

If you spot a layer of liquid on top (that’s hooch, totally normal), just stir it back in or pour it off before feeding.

Step 2: Mix the Dough

1. In a large bowl, combine the active starter and water. Break up the starter with your hands or a spatula until it’s evenly mixed in.
2. Add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until there are no dry patches left. The dough will look rough and shaggy at this point, and that’s exactly how it should look.
3. Cover the bowl and let it rest (this is called the autolyse) for 30-60 minutes. This gives the flour time to soak up the water, so you’ll have an easier time building gluten later.
4. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and pinch it in with wet fingers until it’s fully worked in.

Step 3: Stretch, Fold, and Add Chocolate

No kneading needed here. Instead, every 30 minutes for 2-3 hours, do a round of stretch and folds:

• Wet one hand, grab an edge of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over itself.
• Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat three more times.

Add the chocolate gradually so it spreads through evenly without knocking the air out of your dough:

• After your second round of folds, scatter in half the chocolate and fold it through.
• After your third round, add the rest.

By your last fold, the dough should feel noticeably smoother and stretchier, with bits of chocolate showing through.

Step 4: Bulk Fermentation

Cover the bowl and let the dough sit at room temperature (70-75°F) for 4-6 hours. Don’t expect it to double like a yeasted dough would. You’re looking for about 50-75% more volume.

Signs it’s ready:

• The dough looks jiggly and airy when you gently shake the bowl.
• You can see little bubbles through the side of the bowl.
• Poke it gently with a wet finger. The dent should slowly spring back about halfway. Springs back instantly? Give it more time. Stays dented? You’re slightly past the ideal point, but don’t worry, it’ll still bake up nicely.

Cocoa tends to slow fermentation down a touch, so if this stage runs long, that’s completely normal. Trust what you see and feel over the clock.

Step 5: Shape the Loaf

1. Gently turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pull the edges in toward the center to form a rough round, keeping as much air in the dough as you can.
2. Cover with a towel and let it rest for 20-30 minutes so the gluten relaxes a bit, which makes shaping much easier.
3. Flip the dough smooth-side down, fold each edge toward the center, then flip it back over so the seam sits on the bottom.
4. Using a bench scraper, drag the dough in small circles on the counter to build a bit of surface tension on top.
5. If chocolate chunks poke through, just tuck them back in gently. A few peeking out is totally fine.
6. Dust a banneton generously with rice flour and place the dough in seam-side up.

Step 6: Cold Proof

Cover the banneton and pop it in the fridge for 8-12 hours. This slow chill builds extra flavor and firms the dough up, making it much easier to score before baking.

Step 7: Bake

1. Preheat your oven to 450°F with a Dutch oven inside for at least 45 minutes.
2. Turn the cold dough out onto parchment paper and score the top with one confident slash at a 45-degree angle.
3. Carefully lower the dough (parchment and all) into the hot Dutch oven and put the lid on.
4. Bake covered for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and bake another 20-30 minutes until deep golden brown.
5. Check the internal temperature: you’re aiming for 205-210°F, and the loaf should sound hollow when you tap the bottom.

Since the cocoa makes the crust dark already, color alone won’t tell you much here, so a thermometer is your best friend. Darker patches where chocolate has caramelized are part of the charm, not a sign anything’s burnt.

Step 8: Cool and Store

Let the loaf cool completely, at least 2 hours, before slicing. We know that’s hard. But cutting in too early gives you a gummy crumb since the bread (and the chocolate) is still setting.

• Room temp: store cut-side down on a cutting board under a kitchen towel, good for 3-4 days. Skip the fridge, it dries the crust out.
• Freezer: slice and freeze in a bag for up to 3 months, then toast straight from frozen whenever you want a slice.

Ways to Enjoy Your Double Chocolate Sourdough

• Toasted with salted butter (the salt really brings out the chocolate)
• With cream cheese for a tangy contrast
• With almond butter for some nutty depth
• Alongside vanilla ice cream for dessert
• As the base for French toast

Related:

• Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies.
• Chocolate Sourdough Bread

Recipe Tips

• Weigh your ingredients. Sourdough is sensitive to hydration, so a kitchen scale will get you much more consistent results than measuring cups.
• Don’t rush the starter. A sluggish starter means a flat, dense loaf no matter how well you handle the dough afterward. If you’re not sure it’s ready, do the float test before you commit.
• Go easy on the bench flour. A little dusting goes a long way when shaping. Too much flour gets worked into the dough and can toughen the crust.
• Add chocolate in stages, not all at once. Folding it in over two rounds keeps it evenly distributed without deflating the dough.
• Read the dough, not the clock. Fermentation times shift with your kitchen’s temperature, and cocoa slows things down slightly too. The poke test and visual cues (jiggle, bubbles, volume) are more reliable than a timer.
• Cold dough is easier to score. If you’re doing the round loaf, scoring straight from the fridge gives you a cleaner cut and helps the bread hold its shape in the oven.
• Let it cool fully before slicing. It’s tempting to cut in early, but the crumb and chocolate are still setting as the loaf cools. Give it the full two hours.

Let’s Get Baking

This loaf takes a bit of time, but most of it is hands-off waiting while your starter and dough do their thing.

Once you’ve made it once, you’ll have a feel for how the dough should look and behave, and the next one will come together even easier.

You’re in for a slice that’s equal parts bread and treat!

FAQs

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