Chocolate Walnut Butter Bread

This yeast bread is closer to brioche than sandwich bread. Twelve tablespoons of softened butter and four eggs get beaten into the dough, creating a rich, tender crumb that’s barely sweetened. Then big pieces of semi-sweet chocolate and large walnut chunks fold in, turning every slice into something between bread and dessert.

The method is unusual: no kneading at all. This is a batter bread where everything gets beaten vigorously in a bowl until smooth, then left to rise to double. The butter goes in tablespoon by tablespoon so it incorporates fully without breaking the batter.

After the first rise, the batter gets stirred down (deflated), the chocolate and walnuts fold in, and it goes into two loaf pans to proof until the batter fills them halfway. That halfway mark matters. The bread rises significantly during baking, and overfilled pans produce mushroom-topped loaves that collapse.

Chef Tips

• Use room temperature eggs. Cold eggs tighten the butter and create a lumpy batter that won’t smooth out.
• Chop the chocolate into large, irregular pieces, not uniform chips. The random sizes create pockets of melted chocolate and solid chunks in the finished bread.
• Fill each pan exactly halfway. More than that and the bread spills over the edges during baking.
• Let the bread rest 5 minutes in the pan before turning out. The structure needs that time to firm up enough to hold its shape.

Variations

• Add a teaspoon of orange zest to the batter for a chocolate-orange bread.
• Use dark chocolate (70% cacao) for a more intense, less sweet chocolate hit.
• Replace walnuts with toasted hazelnuts for a Nutella-inspired flavor.