Orange Chocolate Bread

Hello! This recipe today is inspired by the best bakery on the planet: a little tiny shop called Vidal, in Hikone, Japan.

On my first full day of studying abroad, we were all taken on a bike tour of Hikone - the important places like City Hall, the post office, the train station, and the grocery store. And my tour guides made it a point to show us Vidal, home to fantastically good bread. Vidal is a tiny little shop on the coast of Lake Biwa that is run out of a woman's home - she uses her back room to sell all her pastries. And there are so many options! You can get baguettes and loaves of white or cheese bread and Japanese specialties like melon pan and anpan (little rolls with red bean paste baked inside). But my favorites were her dessert breads, like her cheesecake bread and caramel apple bread. One of the best was her chocolate orange bread!

That cute little loaf was just perfect! It's full of mini chocolate chips and candied orange peel, topped with a delicious sugary glaze. 

The recipe I decided to use is a little different. For one thing, it doesn't make those cute artisanal loaves. It's a quick bread recipe, baked in a regular loaf pan. But the taste is pretty darn good! It's light and citrus-y, and the spices add a nice balance to the chocolate chips.

Orange Chocolate Chip Bread

Modified from:

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 2 medium navel oranges
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• a pinch of cloves
• 1 T. cinnamon sugar
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 egg
• 2 T butter
• 2 t. orange extract (vanilla is fine to substitute)
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Before you start:Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and melt the butter

Recipe

Wash and grate your oranges. Put the peel in a glass measuring cup, and juice the oranges into the cup. 


Boil water, and add enough boiling water to the zest and juice to measure 1 cup. Let stand for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cloves and cinnamon sugar.


Beat the egg with the orange mixture, orange extract, and butter. Mix well, then add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour into a 9"x5" loaf pan, and bake for 50-60 minutes. The bread will be "cracked" and an inserted toothpick will come out clean.

Best served warmed, with butter (in my opinion, anyway!). :D

Thanks for reading and happy cooking!