Sugar Free Chocolate Bread

Sugar free chocolate bread is a soft, slightly sweet and very chocolate-y loaf that is perfect for a breakfast treat. Best served warm or toasted with butter dripping down the sides!

Bread and chocolate. This would be the first line of my own version of “My Favourite Things” from The Sound of Music.

Who doesn’t love bread and chocolate?

To quote another of my children’s favourite films: “Put ’em together it just makes sense.” (Parents of young ones, I know you know where that one’s from!)

Trust me, it really does make sense.

This bread is not an overly sweet, tummy-ache inducing mass-produced brioche from the shops. Nope. It is super chocolate-y, slightly sweet, soft and fluffy, and delicious.

It’s a sugar free chocolate bread that doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It’s part of what I love most about it.

And it makes for a lovely weekend breakfast. Best served warm or toasted, it is melt-in-your-mouth delicious spread with lashings of butter that drips down the sides. A teaspoon of jam or marmalde ups the sugar content of the breakfast, but not by a lot, and is perfect for a sweeter toothed family member. Opt for a low sugar/high fruit one, or make up one of my quick sugar free jams like this strawberry one, or my low sugar plum and rosemary jam.

This is chocolate that is healthy enough to serve for breakfast! It is not your average chocolate bread, and you certainly won’t feel guilty for indulging in it for breakfast at the weekend (or for a mid-week boost)!

Little hands can:

• mix the ingredients (older kids can measure them out first, too)
• bring the dough together with clean hands and ‘knead’ it (they can just bash and fold it for a bit – it’ll get the job done!)
• knead in the chopped chocolate
• brush the warm loaf with melted butter

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Sugar Free Chocolate Bread

Prep Time

1 hr 45 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

Total Time

2 hrs 10 mins

 

Servings: 1 loaf (10-12 slices)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (115g) plain flour (or use wholemeal or, my favourite, a half-half mix)
• 1 cup (100g) ground almonds
• 2 tbsp cacao or cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tbsp xylitol or 1 tbsp Natvia (or a few drops liquid stevia to taste)
• 1 tbsp rice syrup or raw organic honey, optional but recommended for texture and added sweetness)
• 1 tbsp dried fast-action yeast
• 3/4 cup (160ml) coconut milk (or full-fat milk or even single/pouring cream)
• 3 cardamom pods
• 1/2 - 1 tsp ground cardamom, depending on whether you want the flavour to be subtle or strong (optional)
• 1/4 cup (50g) chopped 85-90% dark chocolate or cacao nibs

Instructions

1. Mix the flour, ground almonds, cacao powder and salt. Add butter, xylitol, rice syrup and yeast.

2. Heat the coconut milk with 3 crushed cardamom pods in a saucepan over a gentle heat until it is just boiling, then turn the heat off and allow to infuse for 10 mins or so, until it is warm to the touch. Remove the cardamom pods or strain through a sieve to catch them, pouring the coconut milk into the dry ingredients. Bring the dough together and knead for about 10 mins. It should be smooth by this point.

3. Briefly knead the chopped chocolate or cacao nibs into the dough until they are evenly dispersed, then form a loaf and place it on a lined baking tray. Place in a plastic bag or cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 1 and 1/2 hours, until doubled in size.

4. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas 7. Bake for 10 mins, then reduce temperature to 190C/375F/gas 5 for another 20 mins.

5. Allow to cool slightly, then brush with melted butter (or go full on treat with a glaze made with sugar free icing sugar* and coconut milk).

6. Serve warm or cold with butter or nut butter or jam (sugar free or regular).

Recipe Notes

*I make my own sugar free icing sugar by blitzing xylitol with a pinch of cornflour (cornstarch) in a coffee grinder until powdered

Want more weekend baking ideas? Check out our slightly longer but super delicious treat bakes for when you have a little more time to enjoy the process.