The Magical Combination Of Chocolate, Cinnamon Roll & Challah

The one thing I love about developing sourdough recipe is that I can experiment with every crazy ideas I have in mind. And the best thing is, they usually turn out pretty darn good every single time. 🤩 Ever since I entered the world of rich and spongy enriched dough, I have been trying to make one every chance I get. In case you are new here (Hello and welcome 👋🏻), I have been obsessed with sourdough challah. There is something about the texture of challah that makes it so special and addictive. 😜 It is lightly sweetened, with a dark, shiny crust and a firm but light, buttery and tender texture. After my first try on sourdough challah, I created another challah inspired sourdough recipe. Check out my Matcha babkallah recipe for more challah goodness. Given my previous successful attempts on sourdough challah, it’s time to step it up a notch by combining 3 of my favorite foods – Chocolate, cinnamon rolls and challah. Hence, the birth of this amazing Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Challah recipe!

Yudane Method 💦

This Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Challah have the texture that resemble most Japanese bread – super soft and fluffy. As I learned more about sourdough baking over the past year, I came across the Yudane Method. Yudane method is the secret to make a soft and fluffy Japanese style bread. In order to bake using this method, you simply mix an equal portion of flour and boiling water. The effect of adding boiling water to flour is that it gelatinises the starch. The gelatinised starch will allow the starch to absorb more water, and thus enhancing the sweetness of the bread.

Yudane method is in fact similar to the Tangzhong method I used in my sourdough shokupan recipe. Unlike the 1:1 flour-to-water ratio in Yudane method, the Tangzhong mixture is made by heating up a mixture of flour and water in the ratio of 1:5 to 65°C.

For more sourdough recipe using Yudane method, check out my vegan sourdough shokupan and sourdough cinnamon roll recipe.

Take a look at my other recipes using yudane

Stiff Levain

In this recipe, I used a 50% hydration lievito madre as the stiff levain. Using a stiff levain is crucial in this recipe because the tanginess in sourdough starter does not go well with matcha flavor. You can of course convert your 100% hydration sourdough starter to a 50% hydration starter if you don’t have lievito madre. You can learn how to convert your starter by following the recipe below. If you are using lievito madre, remember to refresh at least 3 times (4 hours apart) before using it. You will need 180g of lievito madre for this recipe.

Filling

As for the filling, you can use your usual cinnamon roll fillings. The fillings I used here is similar to the one used in my Double Chocolate Babka Rolls recipe. The night before making this challah, soak 1/2 cup of raisins in rum. In the morning, drain the raisins and melt 1/2 cup of chopped chocolates together with 1/4 cup of tahini. Now, for the fun part. Roll your dough into a long rectangle, evenly spread the chocolate mixture, sprinkle rum soaked raisin and cinnamon on top. Then, roll the dough tightly like you do when making cinnamon rolls. And there you have it! 🙌🏻

Baking Schedule

4pm: Prepare Levain
8pm: Mix the dough
8:30pm: Retard in fridge
Next day
8:30am: Shape and braid the challah. Proceed to final proof
12:30pm: BAKE!