Joanne Chang’s Chocolate Brioche Recipe
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Mar 3, 2022 • 7 min read
A specialty at James Beard Award–winning chef Joanne Chang’s Flour Bakery, this chocolate brioche recipe features a versatile, eggy bread dough and a whipped pastry cream filling. Read on to learn how to make brioche au chocolat.
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About Joanne Chang
Joanne Chang is a Boston-based pastry chef and the co-owner of Flour Bakery. The award-winning pastry chef has a degree with honors in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Passionate about baking since her college days, Joanne left her consulting job to work in restaurants, eventually opening Flour Bakery in 2000. Since then, she expanded the bakery to eight more locations, opened a Taiwanese-inspired restaurant, won a reality TV cooking competition and a James Beard Award, and wrote five cookbooks.
Despite her long list of accolades, Joanne still delights in the alchemy of baking: simple ingredients that, when combined with the right techniques, transform into something magical. Learn to bake like a pro with Joanne Chang.
What Is a Brioche au Chocolat?
Brioche au chocolat, or chocolate brioche, is a chocolate, cream-filled pastry made with sugar, flour, eggs, heavy cream, and chocolate chips. Buttery, eggy brioche bread dough forms the foundation of these treats. To make chocolate brioche, bakers roll out the dough, then add a layer of pastry cream and chocolate chips to one side before folding the other side over to seal the pastry.
You can serve this classic French pastry for breakfast or brunch, or enjoy it as an afternoon snack.
6 Tips for Making Brioche au Chocolat
Follow these tips to make the best possible brioche au chocolat, which you can enjoy as a dessert or brunch treat.
- 1. Use fresh or active dry yeast. Rather than instant yeast, use either active dry yeast (which is a shelf-stable powder) or fresh yeast (which retailers sell in soft, compressed “cakes”) to make sticky buns. Fresh yeast activates more quickly than dry yeast, so if you use the former, the proofing process will be faster. However, fresh yeast is more difficult to work with; it has a shelf life of about two weeks when refrigerated, and bakers must crumble and proof it (or test its activity) in a yeast mixture with warm water before using it.
- 2. Use room-temperature butter. Using too-soft butter will result in runny dough resembling pancake batter, and it will take longer for it to absorb. However, too-cold butter is difficult for your stand-mixer to mix. Err on the side of colder butter.
- 3. Use the windowpane test. Check the readiness of your dough with the windowpane test. When you gently stretch the dough apart with your hands, the dough should almost be transparent, with web-like gluten strands.
- 4. Make the dough in advance. Make the brioche dough for your buns in bulk and freeze it for up to five days, after which the yeast will no longer be active. Place the dough in the freezer, tightly wrapped in plastic. Use dough stored in the refrigerator after one day.
- 5. Roll the dough forcefully. Instead of kneading, use some force when you initially roll out your dough. Be firm with the rolling pin to manipulate the dough and encourage gluten development, which will make for light, fluffy buns. The dough must be cold while rolling so it doesn’t absorb any additional flour.
- 6. Store properly. It’s best to enjoy these buns within a day of baking them. However, you can also store them in an airtight container at room temperature overnight. The next day, reheat the buns in a 300-degree-Fahrenheit oven for three to four minutes.
Joanne Chang’s Brioche au Chocolat Recipe
makes
16 briocheprep time
25 mintotal time
50 mincook time
25 minIngredients
For the brioche dough:
For the pastry cream:
For assembly:
Notes: The total time does not include up to 14 hours and 30 minutes of inactive time. Additionally, you can divide the basic brioche dough recipe in half to make only 8 buns, and save the other half for a number of brioche variations, including sticky buns and brioche buns.
Make the brioche dough:
- 1
In a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the water, yeast, all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, and salt, and mix the ingredients together on low speed.
- 2
Add the eggs to the mixture one at a time, and then increase the speed slightly.
- 3
Beat the mixture until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough is a pale yellow color, about 3 minutes.
- 4
Still using the hook attachment on the stand mixer, beat the ingredients together on low speed once again until the mixture comes together in one large dough ball that’s smooth and springy to the touch, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- 5
Turn the mixer to medium speed, and add the butter, piece by piece. Wait for each piece to incorporate before adding the next one.
- 6
Continue mixing on low speed for 6 to 8 minutes and up to 10 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until all of the butter is thoroughly incorporated.
- 7
Continue mixing the ingredients on medium speed for 6 to 12 minutes, pausing the mixer every few minutes to scrape the dough off the bottom of the bowl and the dough hook. The dough will eventually come together in a single stretchy mass as the butter gets absorbed and the gluten develops.
- 8
Increase the mixer speed to medium-high speed. In the last few minutes of mixing, the dough should start to gather together and slap around on the inside of the bowl. When the dough is done, it should be smooth and glossy, and hold together as one piece.
- 9
In a large bowl, let your dough rise (or proof). Cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours and up to overnight. The dough should double in size during its rising time.
Make the pastry cream:
- 1
In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the milk until it’s scalding. Tiny bubbles should start to form around the edge of the pan, but the milk shouldn’t boil.
- 2
As the milk heats, in a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Then, slowly whisk the beaten eggs into the dry ingredients until the flour becomes thick and pasty.
- 3
Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg-flour mixture a little bit at a time, whisking constantly.
- 4
Once all of the milk has been incorporated into the egg-flour mixture, return the mixture to the saucepan and place it over medium heat. Whisk the mixture vigorously and continuously until it thickens and comes to a boil, about 3 minutes.
- 5
When the mixture bubbles, whisk it vigorously for 10 seconds, then remove the pan from the heat.
- 6
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small heatproof bowl.
- 7
Stir in the vanilla extract, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the cream. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.
Assemble and bake the brioche au chocolat:
- 1
On a lightly floured work surface, turn out your proofed and chilled brioche dough. Press it down to flatten into a rough rectangle.
- 2
Flip the dough over, and flick flour across the top of the dough to ensure that nothing sticks to it.
- 3
Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 16x12-inch rectangle that is about a ¼- to a ½-inch thick. As you roll the dough, work from the center and push out with the rolling pin. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat.
- 4
Spread the pastry cream across the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the left half of the dough. Fold the right half over the top of the chips and press down gently to seal.
- 5
Assemble the chocolate brioche. Cut the dough lengthwise into 16 rectangular pieces, each about 2 inches wide. Place each piece on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet, spaced about 2 inches apart.
- 6
Proof the assembled chocolate brioche. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap, and place it in a warm spot to proof for about 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size and is light and fluffy.
- 7
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 8
When you’re ready to bake the pastries, brush the top of the dough with the egg wash. Bake the brioche until it’s golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- 9
Allow the pastries to cool on the baking sheet, then set them on a wire rack to continue cooling for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.
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