This brownie-inspired triple chocolate focaccia is made with melted chocolate and cocoa powder in the dough plus chocolate chips folded in before baking. No mixer, no kneading, with overnight and same-day rise options. It's a rich & decadent brunch, afternoon snack, or dessert without ever tasting too sweet.
Double Chocolate Focaccia with a Chocolate Filling
Whenever I'm craving the idea of brownies but don't want something too sweet, I make this triple chocolate focaccia. All the best brownies I've ever eaten have one thing in common: melted chocolate stirred right into the batter. So this focaccia does the same thing, but takes it a step further with cocoa powder bloomed in hot coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor. However this is by no means chocolate cake in bread form, but rather a refined, chocolatey bread that works for breakfast, a midday snack, or dessert with vanilla ice cream and flaky sea salt.
What sets my version apart from other chocolate breads is the liquid in the dough. Warm water wakes up active dry yeast with just a quarter cup of sugar to jumpstart fermentation and lean the loaf slightly sweet. Then freshly brewed coffee helps bloom cocoa powder's aromatic oils and allows the melted chocolate to dissolve so it doesn't seize or clump.
For the chocolate itself, I tested 60% dark chocolate which made the loaf taste rich & bittersweet, but not as chocolatey as I was hoping. Semi-sweet chocolate makes it actually taste like chocolate throughout, without leaning into cake territory. And chocolate chips melt slower and give you gooey, melty pockets in each bite, while chopped baking chocolate melted almost completely into the bread and disappeared.
If you're craving a chocolate dessert bread that leans sweeter, my black cocoa focaccia is the answer, topped with marshmallows! And for a sweet-salty fix, my chocolate peanut butter focaccia is another chocolate-filled, no-knead loaf.
My Notes on Key Ingredients
- Flour: Bread flour produces a better crumb than all-purpose for this bread. Cocoa butter shortens gluten and makes it less chewy, so bread flour adds that chew back in.
- Olive Oil: I prefer olive oil over butter for greasing the pan and drizzling on top here. It crisps the edges like a classic focaccia, and its floral flavor makes the chocolate taste more refined. Melted butter still works if that's what you have.
- Cocoa Powder: Dutch-process cocoa is my pick. While natural cocoa works too, it's a little more acidic, which is amplified when paired with the coffee. And the dough uses about 5% cocoa, which is just enough to turn it dark and rich without turning bitter or slowing the rise.
- Coffee: I recommend using a medium roast, since dark roast turned the loaf bitter in testing.
- Chocolate: Use semi-sweet or milk chocolate, since anything higher than 60% cocoa won't add enough sweetness to make the focaccia taste super chocolatey.
Let's Bake Chocolate Focaccia!
For the full step-by-step directions, scroll down to the recipe card.
Baker's Schedule
For a same-day rise, give the dough four sets of stretch-and-folds spaced 30 minutes apart, which builds a bit more gluten and gives it a slightly more open crumb. Or for an overnight rise, skip the stretch-and-folds and pop the covered mixing bowl of dough in the fridge for 8-12 hours.
Both work great, but I prefer the overnight method because it deepens the chocolate flavor and softens the cocoa's bitterness.
My Tips for Chocolate Focaccia Dough with Chocolate Chips
- This dough is about 87% hydration, so it's sticky on purpose. That's what gives you the open, airy crumb of a classic focaccia, so use wet or oiled hands and resist adding any more flour.
- It's done proofing when it puffs up to the top of your 9x13 pan and jiggles when you gently shake the pan.
- The cocoa makes the dough too dark to judge doneness by color, so watch it in the last half of baking and tent it with foil if it's getting too dark. Only pull it once a thermometer inserted into the bottom third of the center reads at least 200°F.
- After 10 minutes of cooling, slide the focaccia out of the pan onto a wire rack. This keeps steam from getting trapped underneath and softening the bottom crust.
Triple Chocolate Focaccia
developed & tested by:
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (between 105-115°F or 40-46°C)
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup warm coffee (freshly brewed medium roast works best)
- ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 8 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups bread flour
- 1½ teaspoons salt (use fine sea salt or table salt)
Instructions
Mix the Dough & Let it Rise
- Activate the Yeast: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the warm water, active dry yeast, and sugar until it's dissolved. Set aside for 10 minutes, until it's foamy on top. (If it's not foamy, check your yeast packet, as it might be expired.)
- Melt the Chocolate: In a microwave-safe bowl, melt ¼ cup of the chocolate chips. Set aside to cool slightly until it's warm, not piping hot.
- Bloom the Cocoa: In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the warm coffee, cocoa powder, and melted chocolate until it's dissolved.
- Mix the Wet Ingredients: Add the melted chocolate mixture to the activated yeast along with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine everything.
- Add the Dry Ingredients: Add the bread flour and salt, and mix for a minute with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula until it forms a soft, wet dough.
- Let the Dough Rise: Cover the mixing bowl tightly with plastic wrap (to retain moisture so it doesn't dry out) and let it rise at room temperature for 1 hour. (The dough should begin to rise & grow in size, but it probably won't double by the time it goes into the fridge.)
- Bulk Fermentation: Transfer the bowl to the fridge for 12-16 hours (for slow, cold fermentation).
Shape, Fill, and Proof the Dough
- Spread four tablespoons of olive oil on the bottom and up the sides of a 9x13 baking dish.
- Dump the dough from your mixing bowl onto the center of the baking dish and press it down into all the edges and corners. Spread the remaining ¾ cup chocolate chips evenly over the dough.
- Fold the dough in half from a short end. Rotate the dough in the baking dish 90 degrees so the long edges of the dough are parallel with the long edges of the baking dish. Spread it out again by pressing it to all the edges with your fingers.
- Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours, until the dough has really puffed up and jiggles when you shake the baking dish.
Bake the Chocolate Focaccia
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
- Drizzle the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil evenly over the dough.
- Generously coat your fingers in olive oil (don't skip this, or else the dough will stick all over your fingers.) Use your fingers to press dimples into the dough, pressing all the way to the bottom of the baking dish. Each indentation should be about 1-inch apart, so you can hold your hands as if you were playing the piano.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the focaccia reaches an internal temperature of at least 200°F.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- Storing & Reheating: Store leftovers at room temperature for a few days. To re-melt the chocolate and keep the edges crisp, reheat on a baking sheet at 300°F for 5 to 10 minutes. The microwave works in a pinch, but makes it extra chewy if you don't eat it right away.
- Same-Day Rise: After mixing the dough, do four sets of stretch-and-folds, 30 minutes apart, then let the dough rise at room temperature until puffy and doubled after 1 hour. Then fold in the chopped chocolate, transfer to the pan, and continue with the recipe, letting the dough proof for just 1.5-2 hours.
Nutrition
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