Chocolate Gems

Hi guys!


Today I'll give you another idea how you can sweeten the beginning of the weekend. In Germany or Switzerland alike for that matter, we love sweet things for breakfast. We are not as familiar with pancakes or waffles as americans are, but we definitely cherish baps, buns, bread rolls - whatever you want to call them. I have chosen to bake a classic sweet yeast dough and spice it up with dark chocolate for an extra surprise. The recipe is meant to make individual buns, but as I didn't have a tin of the right size, I made a loaf. 


Here's the recipe:


For the sweet yeast dough:
2 teaspoons dry yeast
5 tablespoons sugar
180ml (3/4 cup) luke warm milk 
340g (2 1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
40g (1 1/2 oz) butter, melted
1 egg yolk


1) Mix the dry yeast with 2 teaspoons of sugar and the milk. Let the mixture sit undisturbed for 5 minutes or until bubbles form on the surface.


2) Mix the flour, butter, egg yolk and leftover sugar, add the yeast-mixture and whisk until well combined. Knead the dough on a lightly dusted surface for 5 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour.


For the chocolate gems:
1 portion yeast dough
80g (3 oz) dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cream
fine sugar for sprinkling


3) Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Part the dough in 6 servings. Roll each portion into a small bowl, flatten it out to an oval. Put 1/6 of chopped chocolate in the center and fold the dough on top of it. Form into a bowl again.


4) Either place each bowl in separate, greased, loaf tins (9x4.5cm; 3.5x1.7inch) or place them next to each other in a big loaf tin. Cover with a cloth and let sit undisturbed for 1 hour so the bowls double in size. 


5) Whisk the egg yolk and the cream together. Brush the dough with the mixture and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes until they are golden. 


Yield: 6 pieces
© Copyright: Donna Hay, "Simple essentials- chocolate", p. 50


Here's how mine turned out:

The recipe takes about 15 minutes of active preparation time and 1 hour 40 minutes of total preparation time. 
   
Have fun trying!