Chocolate Cranberry Baguette

This chocolate cranberry baguette is inspired by All About Baguette by Jean-Marie Lanio and Jérémy Ballester — a beautiful example of how classic French bread can take on a bold, sweet-savory personality. Deep cocoa notes in the dough, bursts of tart cranberries, and pools of melted dark chocolate create a baguette that’s equally perfect for breakfast, dessert, or a cheese board.

Because the chocolate chips melt during baking, I highly recommend lining your pan with parchment paper to keep cleanup easy and your baguettes flawless. This recipe makes 7 full baguettes, perfect for sharing or saving for later.

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter

20 g liquid starter
70 g water
70 g bread flour

Autolyse

1000 g French flour (Tradition T65)
760 g water (A)
50 g cocoa powder

Final Dough

20 g baking salt
150 g sourdough starter
10 g fresh yeast
100 g sugar
60 g water (B)
150 g dark chocolate chips
150 g dried cranberries

Directions

The Night Before

Starter

Dissolve starter in the water, whisk together, add flour, mix well, cover and let it sit at room temp 74-78F until it increases in volume in 2 or more times.
Learn how to make sourdough starter from scratch here.

Next Morning

Combine the flour, cocoa and water A in the mixer and mix for 3 minutes at speed 1 (base temperature 62–66°C / 143–151°F).
Allow the dough to rest for 60 minutes at 23–24°C / 73–75°F. This autolyse step improves dough elasticity.

Final Dough

Add the salt, yeast, and levain to the autolysed dough.
Mix for 5 minutes at speed 1, then 2 minutes at speed 2.
Add water B using the bassinage technique and mix until fully absorbed. Incorporate thechocolate and dried cranberries and mix until well blended; the dough temperature should be around 24°C / 75°F.
Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled container and ferment for 45 minutes at 23–24°C / 73–75°F.
Perform one gentle fold (rabat), then cover and refrigerate for 15 hours at 3°C / 37°F.

Dividing & Pre-shaping

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for about 1 hour at 23–24°C / 73–75°F.
Transfer it onto a floured surface (Tradition T65), divide into 290g portions, pre-shape into ovals, and let rest for 30 minutes at 23–24°C / 73–75°F.

Gently flatten the dough to release air.
Fold the top edge two-thirds of the way down, rotate, repeat the fold, and seal the seam with the heel of your hand.
Fold in half using your thumb to guide the seam, then seal it tightly.
Roll from the center outward until each piece is 35-40cm ( 18-20inches) long.

Place seam-side up on a floured baking couche.
Proof the dough for about 60 minutes at 23–24°C / 73–75°F. The dough is ready when a light fingerprint remains visible.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 250°C / 480°F (top and bottom heat). I am using RackMaster2020 oven.
Transfer the baguettes seam-side down onto a peel or flipping board, dust lightly with flour, and score crossways at 45°
angle.