First off I have to say that when I chose this recipe for Almond Chocolate Chip Bread, I had it in my mind it would be a sweet quick bread. So when I sliced off a piece, my first reaction was “ewww!” I was so upset, thinking I had a failure on my hands. And to be completely honest, I actually spit out the first bite! :( But wait…
…after eating two pieces, one slathered with peanut butter, my opinion changed.
As I said above, the title of this recipe leads you to believe it’s a quick bread, but after reviewing the ingredients I wasn’t sure what to expect as this had all the qualities of an actual yeast bread.
There were no visible signs of the chocolate chips, they melted in the bread maker, but it colored the bread a wonderfully rich dark brown. You can really sense the chewy slivered almonds too. This is actually more of a sandwich bread as it’s not sweet at all, that’s why I had the initial reaction that I did. I was expecting a sweet bread. This will actually make really nice sandwiches or will be perfect with peanut butter or just butter. So overall, yes this is good!
However, since I really don’t need the added calories from the chocolate chips, I think next time I will throw in sunflower seeds in place of the chocolate chips. This is a good bread base, and as you can see it rose and baked up beautifully :)
I think the title definitely makes you expect something different though, this is not a dessert but rather an accompaniment.
Oh, and I didn’t bother with the glaze that’s listed on their site since this wasn’t a sweet or quick bread. I’m sure there has to be some mix up in the recipe, but it worked out anyway!
Recipe Notes: I used the bread maker, but only on the dough setting. I removed it after that and kneaded it on a floured surface. then I placed it in a greased loaf pan and let it rise for 45 minutes. I baked it in a 350 F oven for 45 minutes.
Almond Chocolate Chip Bread
1 C. plus 2 T. water
2 T. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 C. bread flour
3/4 C. semisweet chocolate chips
3 T. sugar
1 T. dry milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. bread machine yeast
1/3 C. sliced almonds
Select Basic/White cycle, medium or light crust (I use light). Do not use delay cycles. Remove when done and cool on rack.
Update: I toasted two pieces the next morning and smeared peanut butter on top, very tasty! Will be trying a turkey sandwich today :)
This recipe is being entered into the Cooking with Alicia & Annie blog event since I found the recipe on Annie’s. It’s easy to participate and you could win cool prizes too! Visit their blog to see how to play along. :)
I am glad you ended up liking it!
I’ve had many disappointments that ended up being good with a few changes. It looks really good, but I would be expecting a nice sweet chocolate flavor on the first bite. At least it is good with the p.b.
I almost completely forgot that I even had a bread maker, until I read your post–it’s been up on a shelf since we moved into our house! There’s nothing better than a good loaf of homemade bread!!! Yours looks great!
I got here from Tastespotting. You have a lovely place here and the recipes look delicious! I just wanted to tell you that I read somewhere that yeast bread recipes cannot be inherently sweet because it will kill or inactivate the yeast somehow. I had always wondered why baked goods using yeast were only made sweet by adding icing or a swirl of something. HTH.
i think it looks perfect with a slather of peanut butter!
I once made a loaf of Chocolate Bread with Vanilla Butter, thinking it would be a light, bread-like slice of brownie in a loaf foam. I was so surprised when it wasn’t. The chocolate took on a dark wheaty form and while the bread “looked” chocolate it tasted like mildly bitter dark bread, more pumpernickel than brownie. I remember being terribly disappointed at the time, but after a day or two, the toast made excellent peanut butter sandwiches, and the warm vanilla butter was awesome.
If you still hanker for a sweet taste with this one, try a slice spread with a sweet butter topping (butter with xx sugar and vanilla, or another favorite sweet butter), or, oooh, how about buttering it hot, as toast, and then sprinkling it with vanilla infused granulated sugar? I bet that would be good as well.
That looks phenomenal! I might try this with sprouted spelt flour to replace the bread flour.
the bread looks perfect as it is, but even BETTER with peanut butter
That is really interesting – I never would have guessed it from the title either! It does look like a lovely loaf though.
Beautiful loaf of bread — lovely chocolate color!