Categories: BakingBread

Chocolate Brioche

I love brioche. Its a buttery, rich, croissant-like bread. What’s not to love? There’s no doubt the classic version tastes great but if you add chocolate, well, things just get out of control good.

My dad makes a pretty good brioche loaf, even though he uses his bread machine to do most of the work. While I love the convenience of a bread machine, I feel by using it, one missed out on all the fun that is involved in bread making. And that’s why I never invested in one and probably won’t. That said, I do like the brioche my dad makes.

On the other hand, the first time I made a brioche loaf it was disastrous. I don’t know what I did wrong but the brioche did not rise. It was not feathery light, but dense. After that I put brioche making on hold for a while. Then I got the Bouchon Bakery cookbook. I had a go at brioche again using Thomas Keller’s recipe and this time I was successful.

I have made a mention about the three issue old Bake From Scratch magazine before on the blog when I tried and shared their recipe for homemade rye bread. Their new issue is out and its all about French bakes.

The cover photo (which is absolutely gorgeous) is of this chocolate brioche, and one look at it and I knew I had to bake the brioche au chocolat. Equipped with the success from my previous brioche trials, and seeing how a chocolate brioche would be a perfect brunch/breakfast addition, I decided to bake the loaf before mom leaves for Canada.

I adapted the recipe slightly by subbing a little of the all purpose flour for whole wheat. I didn’t have too much whole wheat flour on hand to substitute though. Next time I will experiment with a higher ratio of whole wheat flour and will update this space with the results.

My mom and I both leave for Vancouver tomorrow and from there she will leave for India and I return back to Dallas. With V keeping real busy with work, it was nice to have my mom’s company at home. I will miss her. I still have a week with her in Canada and hope to make the most of it.

I have never been to Vancouver, but I have heard its beautiful. If you have any suggestions of things to do while I am there, please feel free to comment. Meanwhile, I hope you get a chance to try this loaf. We haven’t been able to stop eating it since the time it came out of the oven and I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

For more brunch recipe ideas you can check out this pinterest page set up by the people at Casper mattresses. There are a “brunch” of great ideas on it to serve along with this chocolate brioche loaf 😉

Chocolate Brioche

Recipe Type: Bread

Cuisine: French

Prep time: 13 hours

Cook time: 1 hour 10 mins

Total time: 14 hours 10 mins

Serves: 1 (9 by 5inch) loaf

Classic brioche recipe with dark chocolate added. A great breakfast/brunch recipe that can also be served as dessert.

Ingredients

1/3 cup warm milk
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
400 gms (3 cups) all purpose flour, divided
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup (227 gms) unsalted butter, softened
140 gms dark chocolate (64%), chopped

Instructions

Combine the milk, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let stand for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.
Once the yeast froths, add 200 gms flour and the eggs. Beat with a paddle attachment at medium-low speed for 2-3 minutes.
Cover and set aside for 30-45 minutes. Small bubbles should have formed around the edge.
With the dough hook attached, add the remaining 200 gms flour and salt. Knead for 8-10 minutes on medium speed, till the dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away from the sides..
With the mixer still running, add the butter, one tablespoon at a time. After each addition make sure the butter is well incorporated before adding the next. Transfer dough to a greased bowl. Cover and let rise to double the size. This might take an 1 hr 30 minutes to 2 hrs 30 minutes.
Once double in size, turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface, and fold a few times to punch the air out. Return to greased bowl, cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight (up to 16 hours).
Grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
On a lightly floured surface, turn the dough out. Punch the dough down and flatten to form a rough rectangle. Sprinkle the chocolate pieces. Knead the dough briefly to incorporate chocolate. the best way is to fold the dough onto itself covering the chocolate and repeating. Shape dough into a loaf and place seam side down in prepared pan.
Cover and let rise till puffed for about 30-40 minutes.
Preheat overn to 400 F.
Brush risen loaf with egg wash, and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 F and bake for another 35-40 minutes intil golden brown or a thermometer inserted in the centre reads 190 F.