Chocolate Cherry Rye Twists (v)
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I wanted to make an utterly luxurious chocolatey bread-like treat, that you could eat fresh in the morning with coffee or in the late afternoon when you want some comfort. I wanted a recipe that didn’t rely on butter or eggs or mimic the baked goods that usually do. I thought of focaccia, which has enough olive oil worked into the dough to make it soft and rich, and then decided to turn it into little individual twists that feel more like treats. I was shocked by how well this turned out on the first try, which happened to be the day of the big snow in New York, so I brought warm, sweet twists out to my friends as we headed out to look at the igloos and dogs in the park.
If you don’t have rye flour, you could use plain AP flour, or try something exciting like buckwheat flour. I love the nutty taste of rye with chocolate, and this offers just a hint of it along with the bread flour that helps it be chewy and soft. If you wanted to have these twists fresh in the morning, do everything up to step 12, and then let them sit, well-wrapped, in the fridge overnight. Bring them back up to room temperature before you bake them in the morning, if you can make yourself wait that long.
The twisting process is a little hard to explain, but scroll down for some pictures that should make it clearer.
Makes 9 twists
Ingredients
250 grams bread flour
100 grams rye flour
50 grams brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
100 grams dried cherries
several spoonfuls hazelnut-chocolate spread*
turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
*Note: Nutella is an easy option, but is not vegan due to the inclusion of skim milk powder. Some vegan alternatives are Nocciolata, Fine & Raw chocolate hazelnut butter, or Gustiamo Cacao e Nocciole — which we sell at Archestratus, so it’s what I used.
Method
In a large bowl, combine the bread flour, rye flour, brown sugar, yeast, salt, warm water, and olive oil. Knead the dough in the bowl for a minute and give it a couple folds, by picking up one side of the dough and pulling across to the other side.
Cover the dough with a clean damp kitchen towel for 15 minutes, and then give it another few folds.
Cover again and let it rise in a warm, humid spot (I often put it in a turned-off oven alongside a bowl of the hottest tap water). Give it about an hour, or until it’s roughly doubled.
While the dough is rising, put the dried cherries into a bowl and cover with hot water. They need at least 10 minutes to soak, but a couple hours is fine too.
Remove the dough from its bowl and roll it out on a clean surface to a wide, thin rectangle — something like 20”x15” or a little bigger than a half-sheet pan.
Using an offset spatula, cover the left or right half of the rectangle with hazelnut-chocolate spread. It shouldn’t go all the way to the edges and it’s okay if there are some empty spots, but try not to leave any big clumps, which will make things messy.
Squeeze the cherries dry and sprinkle them evenly over the chocolate.
Fold the plain side of the dough neatly over the chocolate and cherries.
Use a pastry cutter or sharp knife to cut the dough into 9 rectangles.
For each rectangle, cut a slit down the center that stops an inch from the top and bottom. Pick up one short end of the rectangle and twist it inside the center hold. If your piece of dough is big enough, you can make another twist from the other end.
Lay the twists out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.
Cover the all the twists with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise for about another hour.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Before putting the twists in the oven, sprinkle each one with turbinado sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes, until the edges are looking golden brown.
Let twists cool on the tray for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Eat immediately or within the next couple days, or freeze for longer storage.
Step 7, covering half the rectangle with hazelnut spread and cherries
Step 8, folding the dough over
Step 9, cutting the dough into thirds from the short end and then the long end
Step 10, cutting a slit down the center of each rectangle
Step 10, the twist!
Step 11. This one has two twists, but some of mine just had one
