Marble Pull Apart Bread with Orange Sugar Filling

In a big bowl, mix two cups (nine ounces) of flour, the sugar, the yeast, and the salt. In the meantime, in a small bowl combine the milk and the butter and heat in the microwave until the butter is melted. Add the water to the milk mixture and let it rest a minute until just warm. Finally, stir in the vanilla extract.

Pour the milk mixture into the flour and mix until the flour is evenly moistened.

Beat in the eggs one at a time and continue stirring until well incorporated.

Start adding the remaining 1 cup flour one tablespoon at a time and continue mixing until the dough is smooth, soft, and slightly sticky.

Separate the dough into two balls. Lightly flour a work surface and knead one the two until smooth and no longer sticky. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining dough and again knead it until smooth. Place the two balls of dough into two separate bowls, cover them with plastic wrap, and let them rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, make the orange sugar filling. Mix the sugar and the orange zest and let it rest so that the sugar will absorb the citrus oils.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Grease a 9″x5″ loaf pan.

Gently deflate the dough with your hand. Flour a work surface and roll the dough into two rectangles. Use a pastry brush to spread the melted butter evenly over the dough.

Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough crosswise in five strips and sprinkle the orange sugar over the first buttered rectangle. Top it with a second rectangle, sprinkling that one with orange sugar as well. Continue to top with rectangles and sprinkle with the orange sugar, alternating one plain dough rectangle with one chocolate dough rectangle until you have a stack of ten rectangles, all buttered and topped with orange sugar.

Now slice this stack of rectangles crosswise, through all ten layers, into 3 or 4 equal rectangles. Carefully transfer these strips of dough into the previously greased the loaf pan, cut edges up, side by side. There might be a lot of room left in the pan but the bread will rise and expand again.

Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for another 30 to 50 minutes.

Bake the loaf for about 30-35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.