I would like to also title this recipe as “Everything That Could Go Wrong With Posting My First Ever Blog Recipe Did- Chocolate Brioche”. Seriously, creating this website has been all consuming, so much so that I think I started to forget exactly why I was doing it. Instead of day dreaming about my next adventure in the kitchen, I was dreaming about widgets, posts, plugins, and other wacky words that frightened and confused me. Well, long story short Project Pastry Love is now up and running, so let’s talk about butter.
Brioche is comfort food. It’s full of lots of eggs and butter, which sets itself apart from most other bread recipes. Regular brioche usually has 25% butter. This chocolate brioche is on the lighter side with about 10% to 15% butter. That makes it practically a health food. The recipe I used is from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking. It has an almost pastry-like crust, and a nice, chocolatey taste- not too rich and not too light. It is delicious on it’s own, but I imagine it will make for great bread pudding, or french toast. Sherry recommends you use a heavy duty standing mixer to knead the brioche dough, because the amount of butter in brioche makes the formation of gluten difficult. One must knead longer in order to create gluten. Unfortunately, this one (referring to myself) has a broken kitchenaid mixer at the moment. Therefore, I kneaded it by hand. It was lovely, really. Kneading by hand gives you a good feel for the dough. This was a sticky dough that slowly transformed into something soft and smooth. Another aspect to this brioche recipe and others that I have tried, is that you start with a sponge. A sponge in bread baking is pre-fermentation. You take fresh ingredients, mix it with the yeast and allow it to sit for 30 minutes or so. This helps activate the yeast and also enhances the overall flavor of the dough.
INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Butter
-
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/4LB (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Sponge
- 3/4ounce fresh yeast or 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 3/4 cup lukewarm brewed coffee
- 1/2 cup bread flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
Dough
- 3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 and 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Directions
Chocolate Butter
Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Fill a small saucepan three-quarters full of water and bring it to a simmer. Place the bowl of chocolate over the simmering water, creating a double boiler, and stir until melted. Set the chocolate aside at room temperature. In another bowl, cream the butter until soft and lump free. Add the cocoa powder and the cooled melted chocolate and beat until well incorporated. Set the chocolate butter aside at room temperature.
Chocolate Butter
Sponge
Combine the yeast and water in the bowl and whisk until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir in the coffee, flour, and sugar, forming a thin batter. Cover with plastic film and let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Dough
Sift together the flour and salt into the sponge, then add the egg yolks. Mix until egg yolks are absorbed. Then knead the dough for 10 minutes, or until smooth and satiny. Add the chocolate butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. The butter will make the dough feel sticky. After each tablespoon is added, knead until the dough becomes smooth and satiny once again. When all the chocolate butter has been incorporated knead in the chopped chocolate pieces. Once that is done place dough in lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
Kneading in the butter mixture
When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down by folding it two or three times. Cover with plastic film and let rise until doubled in volume, in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight, or at room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes.
Second rise
Spray two 9x5x3 inch pans with pan spray. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it in half. Cover one half loosely with plastic wrap while you shape the first loaf. Using a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle with a width equal to the length of the pan. Starting from a short side, roll up the dough like a jellyroll. Place the rolled dough seam side down onto the prepared pan. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Cover with plastic film coated with pan spray and proof until the dough fills the pans, 15 to 20 minutes fi the dough is at room temperature, 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours if it’s cold.
Toward the end of the proofing, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Egg Wash
Whisk the egg yolk and cream together in a small bowl. Gently brush the surface of the dough with the egg wash.
Baking
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the loaves have an internal temperature of 180 degrees F.
Remove the finished loaves from the pans and cool on a rack before serving. When cool, the loaves can be wrapped tightly in plastic and frozen for up to 2 weeks. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight, wrap in aluminum foil, and refresh in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Tightly wrap loaves will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Fresh out of the oven
My Thoughts
Overall, I thought this recipe was easy to make. At certain stages it was also kid-friendly. For instance, my four year old helped me punch down the dough after each rise, and he rolled out half the dough with his tiny rolling pin right before proofing.
