Yet another variation of the no-knead bread baked in cast iron at high heat… This version uses cocoa to add a chocolate flavor. I also added some sugar to make it a little sweet and chopped nuts and dried cherries. For my first loaf, I used two tablespoons of cocoa which yielded a mild chocolate flavor. The second version has more cocoa and sugar for a little stronger chocolate taste.  If you are a real chocoholic, you can also add chocolate chips. This is a great bread for breakfast or for a treat. More no-knead variations can be found here. Enjoy!

Chocolate Nut Cherry No-Knead Bread

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon yeast

2 tablespoons cocoa

3 tablespoons sugar

3/4  cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup dried cherries

1 1/2 cups water

Whisk the flour, salt and yeast together. Add cocoa, sugar, nuts and cherries and mix. Add water and mix into a moist dough.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18 hours

Heat oven to 450 degrees. When oven has reached 450, place cast iron pot and lid in oven for 30 minutes. While the pot and lid are heating, remove the dough from the bowl onto a well-floured surface and form into a ball and cover with plastic wrap.

(Tip: use a sheet of floured parchment paper and turn dough out on the parchment paper, form into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. When you are ready to cook, you can pick up with parchment with the dough on it and place in the hot pot. Use scissors to cut away excess paper or fold down to make sure you still have a tight fit with the pot lid.)

After heating for 30 minutes, remove the hot pot from oven and place dough in pot (Be careful!).

Cover and place the pot in oven at 450 degrees. After baking for 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven. The bread should slip out of the pot and then cool on a rack.

Mixing the dough

After setting for 12-18 hours, form into a ball

Bake, cool, slice and enjoy!

Chocolate Nut Cherry No-Knead Bread Version 2

For this version follow the directions above but increase the cocoa and sugar to:

4 tablespoons cocoa

6 tablespoons sugar

Mix and cook as directed above. Here is the finished loaf!