Chocolate Chip Bread

Here is another variation on the Cinnamon Raisin Bread from the last post. Pretty similar in terms of preparation and recipe, but just a few simple variations make a great, unique sweet bread. This just goes to show you how flexible a simple bread recipe can be. You could make this recipe plain, with no Chocolate Chips and it would probably make a great loaf, or you could come up with some other creative variations of your own.
Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups of milk
• 3 1/2 cups of flour
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of instant yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt (I used Kosher salt here)
• 1/3ish cups of chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Warm your milk to about 95 degrees and then whisk or slowly sprinkle in your yeast until dissolved.
2. Combine the rest of your dry ingredients in your mixing bowl. You can just eyeball the amount of chocolate chips you want, but I used about 1/3 of a cup on this loaf.
3. If you are using a stand mixer, mix for one minute with your paddle attachment while you add your yeast and milk mixture to your dry ingredients. You should obtain a ball of dough.
4. Switch over to your dough hook and mix for another two minutes. If you are not using a stand mixer, just combine steps 3 and 4 mixing by hand until you have a nice soft, slightly sticky ball of dough that looks like it could use some kneading.
5. Knead for 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface and then form the dough back into a ball and put in a covered, oiled, large mixing bowl for about an hour.
6. After the dough rises (1.5 to 2 times it's size), roll it out - now this time I tried a little bit of a different shaping method. I rolled the dough out until it was between a 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thick. Then I folded in the sides until I had the width I was looking for and then I rolled it up as usual. I thought this would be easier than trying to roll out to a rectangle.
7. After rolling up your dough, place in your lightly oiled, covered loaf pan let it rise for one more hour.
   
8. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes until nice and golden brown. I was running late for work so I took mine out a little early. Fortunately for me, the same coworker who I made this for because she likes chocolate chip anything also happens to like breads that are a little under-baked and doughy. So all in all, it was a success.