How decadent is this, and so Christmasy. Speaking of Christmas, I was at my annual Christmas writer’s lunch and returned to my parked car to find a parking ticket flapping on the windscreen. I figured maybe it’d be for $12, as I had been 5 minutes late, but on closer inspection saw that it was for a whopping $200!! – expensive five minutes! After driving around the neighbourhood to try and find the parking meter attendant to contest it, I realized the offense was for “no evidence of inspection” which I discovered later meant, No Warrant of Fitness, of which funnily enough I do have, a current one, that is!! Go figure!
Good way to release stress! 
Clearly the parking meter attendant was a bit trigger happy with their infringement notices. I contested it of course. It’s pending.
The moral of the story is it’s Christmas time, we are all a bit frazzled, so let’s be nice to each other, please! This of course has nothing to do with my Cherry and Chocolate Loaf except it is comfort food and a hot slice of this at least cheered me up.
Cherries galore 
Mixing in ALL that chocolate
I made the dough by adding flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and cold water to a bowl and mixing the ingredients together with my hands. That was satisfying and as Mary Berry once said to Paul Hollywood while he was kneading bread, a good way to get out your frustration if you’re feeling a bit angry. 🙂
So I kneaded it for 4-7 minutes, then added the cherries, that was challenging, and the chopped chocolate and put the dough in a bowl to rise for an hour until doubled in size.
Afterwards I shaped the dough into a 2-stranded plait and placed it on a baking sheet inside a plastic bag to rise for another hour. It was huge. I baked it for 20 minutes at 230 degrees C, then another 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Decadent and delicious. 🙂 A must try and a classic combination.
