The White Chocolate Bread That's Become A Club Med Staple

Enter Hispaniola restaurant at Club Med Punta Cana, and you don't have to head to the buffet's dessert section for a sweet treat. Actually, enter the buffet at Club Med Michès or even Club Med Turkoise, and you'll find the same result in the bread area. Nestled in the bread baskets, the all-inclusive resort's white chocolate bread comes as slices, rolls, or baguettes — mainstays across many of the chain's locations.

To learn about the bread's inception, Tasting Table spoke with Jerry Tschudy, the director of food and beverage for Club Med North America. "In the '90s, we had a creative baker at Club Med Sandpiper Bay who created it," he said, noting that Club Med gives its culinary teams the freedom to experiment. This resulted in the beloved white chocolate bread that has withstood the test of time. "Our bread is just one example of our renowned and celebrated food offerings across our resorts," said Tschudy.

The French bread doesn't only come flavored with white chocolate. In addition, milk chocolate studs some of the resort's loaves, so Club Med goers can pick and choose their chocolate bread of choice. Both breads manifest as sweet, fluffy rolls that are just waiting to be snatched from the buffet tables. And if that pairing of chocolate and bread makes you hungry, Club Med has posted its signature recipe, which is as easy to make as it is to eat.

Over the years, many websites and blogs have posted recipes that promise to replicate Club Med's white chocolate bread. However, if you're making your own chocolatey loaf, you can head straight to the source and follow Club Med's own sequence of steps. 

To make matters all the easier, the resort's recipe calls for just a few ingredients. Namely, you'll need flour, yeast, salt, water, and, of course, white chocolate. For a high-quality product, pick white chocolate from the baking aisle rather than anything from a candy bar. Club Med specifically recommends white chocolate chips, so those will be your best bet. After all, the chocolate in the dough caramelizes, resulting in a slightly sticky and perfectly sweet bread. Heads up for anyone who's impatient in the kitchen: The recipe also calls for a few resting periods so the dough can rise. Once it's doubled in size, you can put it in the oven. 

Thanks to its white chocolate bread recipe, the resort's "gentle members" (G.M.'s) — Club Med's term of endearment for its guests — can start baking no matter where they are. Of course, bread baking is a fickle process that requires patience and precision, so if your bread isn't to your liking, it may be time to book a trip to the all-inclusive resort.