Double Chocolate Sourdough Croissant Bread Loaf

Last Updated on July 5, 2025 by Jamie Saechao

This double chocolate sourdough croissant bread loaf combines flaky, buttery layers dripping with chocolate chips.

This Dutch oven sourdough bread will quench your chocolate cravings + satisfy your love for that sourdough tang. It’s a chocolate lover’s dream!

I took my popular sourdough croissant loaf and gave it a chocolatey upgrade by adding cocoa powder and chocolate chips.

If you love chocolate croissants, you will fall head over heels for this decadent loaf. This recipe was tested a half dozen times, and my husband and four kids quickly devoured it each and every time.

This bread is not a true croissant: it does not have layered blocks of butter between sheets of dough, nor is it shaped like a crescent. However, it does have the same irresistible flakiness and buttery flavor as a traditional croissant!

Why You’ll Love It

• Decadent: Delightful chunks of chocolate are hidden in buttery layers of sourdough bread.
• Easy:  This simple recipe is quick to make with minimal hands-on time.
• Flexible: I’ve created this sourdough bread as a same-day recipe, but you can easily stick the dough in the fridge for extended overnight fermentation!

For more chocolate sourdough recipes, try: double chocolate chip cookies, famous sourdough cookies, or sourdough brownies.

Ingredients For Chocolate Chip Croissant Bread

• 500 grams Bread flour
• 4 TBSP cold butter (refrigerated or frozen). Grate the butter into the dough.
• 350 grams of cold water: cooler water will help prevent the butter from melting
• 100 grams active sourdough starter (fed and bubbly)
• ​1.5 tsp salt
• 2 TBSP cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels

A kitchen scale comes in very handy when making this recipe!

Baker’s Timeline

Here is the timeline I used to make this same-day loaf:

• 11:00 pm:  Feed sourdough starter equal parts flour and water 
• 8:00 am: Mix dough.
• 9:00 am: First set of stretch and folds.
• 10:15 am:  Second set of stretch and folds.  
• 10:20 am:  Bulk Ferment
• 6:00 pm: Shape dough + second ferment
• 7:00 pm: Bake in a Dutch oven for 45 minutes.

Pro tip: After several rounds of experimentation, I found that adding the chocolate chips during the final shaping gave the best results. The fermentation time was slightly shorter without the chocolate chips, and it’s easy to add them in during shaping.

How To Make Double Chocolate Sourdough Croissant Bread

Keep the room temperature at 70 degrees to prevent the butter from melting and making the dough greasy.

Mix Ingredients: Use a kitchen scale for the most accurate and tasty bread!

Add the flour, water, salt, cocoa, and active starter to a large bowl. Mix the ingredients with slightly damp hands or a spatula until a shaggy ball of dough forms.

Cover the dough with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and let it sit for 45 minutes to one hour. 

Stretch + Folds And Add Butter: Grate half of the frozen butter on top of the dough and mix it into the dough during the stretch and folds.

To do the stretch and folds, grab one side of the dough and pull it over the top of itself. Rotate the dough a quarter turn and stretch the dough up and over itself again. Pull the dough up and over the frozen grated butter.

Repeat the stretch and fold until the dough forms a tight ball.

​Cover and let the dough sit for 30-60 minutes. Grate remaining chilled butter and perform another round of stretching and folding. 

​Stretching and folding the dough will strengthen the gluten and help create structure in the bread crumb.

Cover the dough and leave it on the counter for 6-8 hours, or until it has doubled and has a few bubbles on the surface. The ideal temperature for this butter-laden dough is 70-71 degrees F.

​Shape Dough + Second Ferment: Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips onto the dough, then turn the dough over and fold each corner into the center, adding the rest of the chocolate chips to the dough as you go.

To give the dough tension, flip it over, push it lightly with one hand, and spin it with the other hand. Repeat until you see tension forming on the top of the dough.

Place the dough in a lightly floured banneton or floured bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 60 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Chilling the dough is an essential step for this recipe: the cold, buttery layers will create flakiness as they bake.

Bake: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper. Score the bread and place it in a cold Dutch oven. 

Bake for 25 minutes, remove the lid, and bake for additional 22-25 minutes.

Wait at least one hour before slicing into this golden loaf!

Recipe Tips + Notes

• Temperature is important: Keep the room temperature around 70 degrees F to keep the butter cool during bulk fermentation.
• For best results, make sure your butter is cold before adding it to the dough; frozen butter works best!
• Use the highest quality butter you can find.
• For flaky layers, refrigerate the dough for at least one hour before baking. 
• Some of the butter may leak out from the bottom of the loaf: this can be normal with croissant loaves.

Variations

1. Substitute semi-sweet chocolate chips for milk chocolate or dark chocolate!
2. Use both mini chocolate chips and full-sized ones for a variety of textures.
3. Add one teaspoon of vanilla to add a splash of flavor.