Valentine’s Weekend….Chocolate Sourdough Bread, Keep Spreading Love

Here we go….let’s talk LOVE shall we. I get there are many individuals out there who don’t like Valentine’s Day. I totally get that! After all, it is not recognized as an official holiday.

My husband likes to refer to it as a Hallmark holiday. I, on the other hand, love Valentine’s Day. Yes, I am crazy lucky to be married to someone who loves me with all his heart and soul. In fact if there was one word I had to pick that would describe my husband, it would be LOYAL.

But the truth is, for most of my adult life, I have been single. And guess what, I still loved Valentine’s Day. Why not? Tell me what’s wrong with spreading more Love? So Kuddos to Hallmark for setting aside a day, and therefore a very good excuse, or reason to spread more love.

So it probably does not surprise you we kind of celebrated all weekend. We rarely dine out on Valentine’s Day mostly because many restaurants offer set menus which honestly are not our favorite. And my husband, family, & friends thankfully love my cooking. Plus I love spending time in my kitchen, and I find so much JOY and VALIDATION in loving on my family?.

I made a very nice healthy pasta carbonara, salad, and this beautiful sourdough bread. I can’t wait to share my version of carbonara…I know the suspense is killing you…?. But I have to admit, I was super proud of my sourdough bread!

Saturday I met up with my husband at his mom’s house. We had a really nice visit and then he took me out to one of our favorite Sushis places. I adore Sushi…..and since it’s not one of his faves, it was extra special. Although he’s always pleasantly surprised and ends up enjoying everything to the last bite!

Our celebration continued into Sunday…why not right! Doesn’t this new sourdough bread sound appropriate for Valentines weekend….”Chocolate Cherry Sourdough“?

This bread tastes as good as it sounds and looks! If you haven’t tried making sourdough bread, I promise it is not that hard!

This bread is easy to make…just make sure you have an active starter. Measure all your ingredients. Have fun!

I personally love the extra tang the bread gets when the dough gets a bit longer time to proof so I left my dough on the counter to proof over night. On Saturday I baked my bread before I took off for Minneapolis later Saturday afternoon. My house smelled sooooo GOOD and it’s so tempting to cut into my fresh bread before it’s ready.

It’s important to let it cool completely before slicing. SO SO SO HARD. Do NOT ruin your loaf by cutting into it when it’s still warm…..yes it’s hard but you can do it, and so can I! So worth the wait.

When we returned from dinner, my was ready to slice and I was so eager to see how it tasted! SO SO GOOD! It was the perfect ending to a perfect day and I am espeically excited to share some with my family at Sunday Dinner.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY SOURDOUGH BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups dried sour cherries (unsweetened)
• 1 1/2 cups Sourdough Starter ~ make your own purchase one here
• 1 1/4 cup Filtered Water
• 1/4 cup Raw Local Honey
• 3 3/4 – 4 cups White Whole Wheat Flour or this one – (do not use sprouted flour)
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons Celtic Sea Salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the starter and water in a bowl along with honey in a heavy – duty electric mixer or a large bowl.
2. Add the dry ingredients.
3. Mix with dough hook (or knead by hand) for 10 to 12 minutes. I used my hands.
4. Add dried cherries and mix again about 2 minutes.
5. Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or damp dish cloth.
6. Let rise in a warm place for about 5 hours or until double in size or over night on your kitchen counter.
7. Punch dough down and shape into a round loaf or 2 small loaves in the shape of your choice.
8. Place in loaf pans or baking dish. (I used my Dutch oven)
9. Cover with a cloth and let rise 1½ to 2 more hours.
10. Bake at 425 degrees F for about 40 to 45 minutes or until crust is a dark brown. I baked for 20 minutes with lid on and finished with lid off the remainder of the 35 minutes.
11. Turn oven off and leave door ajar. Leave bread in your oven for another 10 minutes to temper.
12. Remove from pan and transfer to a rack to cool. Let cool before slicing.

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Are you a fan of Valentines Day? How do you celebrate if so?

What if your favorite way to spread love?

Are you running these days?

Have you ever tried making sourdough?

Chocolate or flowers or dinner or your preference on Valentine’s Day?