Mindy Carlson

Ah, the glorious Schoggiweggli. How we have loved you.

Schoggiweggli are a perfect snack. Little buns the size of an American dinner roll that are studded throughout with just the right amount of chocolate.  They are not too sweet, just a hint salty, and the dark chocolate they contain add a quality you just can’t get from a much sweeter milk chocolate.

Every bakery here in Basel sells them. Heaps and piles of Schoggi lay on trays inside of front windows and coffee shops bring you a mixed bread basket that include at least 2 Schoggis to tempt you while you drink your coffee and chat.

Basel is known for the Schoggiweggli. In Basler Swiss German, Schoggi = Chocolate and Weggli = Bread roll. So a Schoggiweggli is a chocolate bread roll.

For the last 18 months I’ve been religiously buying them for the boys to have as after school snacks or as breakfasts during our train trips. With only 6 months left here I made it a mission to find a recipe to take home with me.

Only I couldn’t find one that worked.

The internet led me to two recipes. One that produced Schoggi so dense you could have built a wall with them and the other with ingredient amounts that made no sense and absolutely zero instruction. (Pro Tip: It is insane to use 2 packets of yeast for a mere 2 cups of flour.)

So I had to develop my own recipe.

It took me *5* attempts.  5!

Every other day I was pulling Schoggiweggli out of the oven and forcing them upon my family. By the last attempt I wasn’t sure if the boys would even want to eat them anymore. I could barely stand to look at flour.

Thankfully, I have children who are professional Schoggi eaters who never tired of critiquing my work.

1. Batch #1 – Too dense and used way to much chocolate.
2. Batch #2 – Too crusty and not fluffy enough. “Not like the bakery.”
3. Batch #3 – “Okay.” But needed more chocolate and it was too much like foccacia. “Still not like the bakery.”
4. Batch #4 – Flat. Flat as pancakes. However, the taste was “close.” Maybe I needed more flour?
5. Batch #5 – EUREKA!!

They were perfect! They looked right and they tasted right. My biggest critic has gone back for seconds and thirds and declared them “Good.” That is some very high praise indeed.

So, here they are for you.

Mindy’s Basel Schoggiwegglis

• 3/4 cup milk, lukewarm (177ml)
• 1 packet (2 & 1/4 tsp) of yeast (7g)
• 5 T sugar (62.5g) (if you use a packet of vanilla sugar you don’t need the vanilla below)
• 4 T butter, melted (56.7g)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla (5ml)
• 1 tsp salt (5g)
• 2 & 3/4 cups bread flour (330g) (if you are in Switzerland or Germany Zopf is great to use)
• 3 oz dark chocolate (85g) (I used 70% dark)

Pour the warm milk into a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast and 1 T of sugar into the milk. Stir and let sit for 15 minutes until foamy.

As the yeast grows, melt the butter in a pan on the stove. You want it to be a lukewarm temperature. Once the yeast is frothy add the rest of the sugar, the egg, the vanilla (if you didn’t use a vanilla sugar), and the salt. Mix well.

Stir in 1 & 1/4 cups of flour along with the melted butter until smooth. Then mix in the rest of the flour and beat vigorously with a rubber spatula until it comes together in a loose ball in the bowl.

Knead the bread in the bowl for 5 minutes. You don’t want to add more flour at this point. Cover with clingfilm and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

(Note: You can use a mixer for this. Use your paddle attachment and then switch to the dough hook when you add the second batch of flour. Use the dough hook for the same 5 minutes of kneading.)

Once the dough is nicely risen, fold in the chopped chocolate by sprinkling a third over the dough. Space out the chocolate so you get a little chocolate in every bite. Fold the dough in half and sprinkle another third of the chocolate over the top. Fold in half again and sprinkle the rest over the top. Fold a final time.

Spread the dough out on a floured surface and shape into a rectangle about 1 inch high.

Cut into 12-14 equal pieces.

Shape the squares into mini canoes – pointed at the ends and wide in the middle. You don’t have to be gentle. The dough will be very elastic and it will rise right back up.

Cover loosely with clingfilm and let rise for 50 – 60 minutes, until doubled in size.

With about 10 minutes left in the rise time, preheat the oven to 375F (190C).

When the little Schoggis have risen, use a pair of scissors to make 4 snips on the top, just off center. They look like little teeth or claws.

Brush the rolls with an egg wash made from 1 egg, 1 T of water, and a pinch of salt. The egg wash keeps the Schoggis from getting a hard crust on the outside and it gives them their incredible color.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. If you have two racks switch them halfway through the baking process.

And here they are! My little Schoggiwegglis! Don’t they look delicious?

You can see below the crumb has some wide air pockets in there. They are tender and “fluffy” and soooo delicious.  My kids like to eat them with a hot chocolate, which is especially nice after ice skating in the winter. I made these on Saturday and the whole batch is nearly gone. Everyone has loved them. Little H, who is very particular about his Schoggis, has declared these “really good” and said “you can make them again.”

And I will be. Soon.