This chocolate brioche bread recipe makes soft, tender crumbed, chocolate-flavored brioche bread loaf. It's easy to make, rich and absolutely delicious.
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❤️Why you will love this recipe
- This is an easy recipe for a chocolate flavored, buttery brioche bread loaf.
- The buttery bread is deliciously soft with fluffy crumb.
- The recipe makes a versatile rich bread that can be enjoyed on its own like regular bread or to make French toast. It can also be used to make chocolate brioche rolls and braids as well as be turned into chocolate chip brioche bread by simply adding some chocolate chips.
- It is also great to make decadent dessert like bread pudding for any special occasion.
Like this easy chocolate brioche loaf recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:
- Brioche Donuts (Doughnuts) (Perfectly Soft and Fluffy)
- Homemade White Bread Loaf (Basic Bread Recipe)
- Easy Moist Banana Bread with Oil (No Butter)
- Dark Chocolate Banana Cake with Buttermilk (Super Moist)
- Blueberry Cake Loaf with Lemon Glaze Icing
📋Ingredients
- Bread flour (or all purpose flour) - bread flour is preferred, but all purpose flour can also be used.
- Instant dry yeast (or active dry yeast) - make sure the yeast is still active. If unsure, test some by adding some into a small amount of water. Sprinkle some sugar into the water. Leave the solution for 10 minutes, and if you see the yeast frothy, it is active and can be used. If not, get a new batch of yeast.
- Brown sugar - gives the brioche bread a light sweet taste.
- Milk - use full fat milk for best results. Milk should be warm.
- Eggs - use large egg.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder - use high quality cocoa powder for best results. Make sure to sift the cocoa powder before using to break any lumps.
- Butter - I use salted butter. If using unsalted butter, add an extra pinch of salt to the recipe.
- Salt - enhances the flavor of the brioche loaf.
*Refer to the recipe card below for exact quantities of the ingredients above. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*
🧾Substitution and variations
- To make vanilla flavored chocolate brioche bread, add one teaspoon of vanilla extract into the milk when mixing the dough.
- For a shiny top, brush the top of the proofed bread loaf with beaten egg (egg wash) before baking.
- I choose the bake my chocolate brioche into a loaf bread, but you can also make it into chocolate brioche buns (simple rolls like these easy yeast rolls) or braids.
- You can even add some raisins to the dough like in this pandan bread recipe.
- To make double chocolate brioche bread or chocolate chip brioche loaf, you can add some chocolate chips (can be regular or mini chocolate chips) or chocolate chunks (make sure to chop the chunks into small pieces). Add these to the dough after the first proofing, i.e., when shaping the dough to be put into the loaf tin. You can roll each section of the proofed dough (there will be 4 sections as explained in the step by step images below) into a small rectangle, sprinkle the chocolate pieces and roll the dough into a thick sausage. Arrange all 4 rolls into the tin as indicated below.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you do try, please let me know in the comments section below!
👩🏻🍳How to make
Mixing the dough
- Start by measuring flour into a large bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attachment (paddle attachment is not suitable to knead this bread). Add cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the instant yeast.
- Pour in the warm milk, followed by brown sugar and the eggs. Turn on the mixer to a medium low speed. Mix for 2 minutes.
- Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt and add these dry ingredients into the yeast mixture.
- Knead on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes. The dough will be very sticky at this stage.
- Cut or break the softened butter into small cubes. Butter should not be too solid or it will take a longer time to be incorporated into the dough. Add the cubes in 3 batches. This should take approximately 2 minutes. The dough will still appear very sticky at this stage and that is fine.
- Once the butter is all added in and well incorporated, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Knead again at medium speed for 20 minutes. Do not cut down on the kneading time as this is an important step for brioches.
- Turn the chocolate brioche dough out onto your work surface. It will be very soft and tacky and that is normal. If your room temperate is too warm, the butter will make it very greasy. If this happens, place dough in the fridge for about 10 minutes to allow the butter to cool down.
The first proof
- Bring the dough together with a spatula. You wont really be able to form it into a nice ball as it will be very soft and not able to hold its shape well. Suffice if you can bring it together as much as possible. You don't need any lightly floured surface to knead the dough.
- Transfer dough into a large, greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap (cling film).
- Refrigerate (proof) the covered dough for at least 8 hours (or overnight).
- Before removing it from the fridge, prepare the bread tin. Grease it well and set aside. Remove the dough from the fridge and press out to remove air bubbles. Transfer it onto your workspace and knead it lightly. Divide into 4 sections.
- Knead each section until smooth and place them in the tin, in a row.
- Flatten the balls slightly to allow all four to fit into the loaf tin.
The second proof and baking
- Cover the tin with a kitchen towel and let the chocolate brioche loaf proof again until slightly more than double in size, this time at room temperate (warm place).
- Bake the chocolate brioche loaf at 165 degrees Celsius (in a preheated oven) on the lowest rack in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Once baked, remove the chocolate brioche loaf from the oven and use a pastry brush to brush the top with melted butter.
- Remove the bread from the tin and place it on a wire cooling rack to cool completely. The chocolate brioche is best sliced when it has cooled down completely.
🍽️Serving & storage
- This bread can last at room temperature for a good 4 to 5 days (in an airtight container). If you wish to keep it longer, you can refrigerate for up to one week.
💡Expert tips
- Brioche dough requires time to make and involves an overnight rest in the refrigerator. Plan your time accordingly to allow the dough sufficient resting and proofing time for best results.
- Use good quality butter as brioche relies heavily on the flavor of butter. Also make sure the yeast you use is fresh and not expired. You can test the yeast by mixing it with some sugar and warm water. If it does not froth in about 10 minutes, the yeast is not active. Repeat with a fresh batch of yeast to test again.
- Proper kneading is crucial for developing the gluten structure in brioche. Knead the dough until it becomes elastic, smooth, and slightly sticky. This can take some time and always keep to the time indicated in the recipe.
💭FAQs
Brioche is a rich French bread that contains a lot more butter and more eggs than a normal loaf of bread. It still looks and tastes like bread but the taste is a lot richer than a loaf of normal white bread.
This brioche recipe is a brioche bread flavored with cocoa powder. The steps taken to make this chocolate bread are the same as a normal brioche bread except that this recipe has cocoa powder in it and is made using brown sugar instead of white sugar.
Yes, you can. This recipe works fine with all-purpose flour just like it does with bread flour.
Technically, you can. It will give you a stronger chocolate-flavored brioche loaf. But do note that adding too much cocoa powder will not only make your chocolate brioche loaf darker, there is also a tendency for it to taste slightly bitterish.
In my recipe, I have indicated for the cocoa powder to be mixed with flour and then sifted into the liquid ingredients. This is simply because cocoa powder tends to be lumpy and sifting it will help break all those lumps. Adding lumpy cocoa powder into your dough will result in your dough having specs of cocoa powder lumps in it.
Yes, you can. For the recipe below, replace the 100g brown sugar with 50g granulated sugar.
This bread requires 2 stages of proofing. The first stage is after mixing the dough and the second stage is before baking.
Overnight proofing in the refrigerator is only required for the first stage. It actually helps the brioche develop its flavor and also helps dough to firm up which then makes it easier to shape before baking.
You can, however, choose not to do the first proof overnight. Instead, you can let it proof at room temperature. Do take note that depending on your room temperature, the dough will definitely be proofing faster than in the fridge, hence you definitely cannot leave it to proof at room temperature overnight.
Having said that, given that the brioche dough is very very soft, for easy handling, you would still need to refrigerate it after the first proof (if you choose not to proof overnight in the fridge). Give it a light knead after the first proof and place it in the refrigerator (cover the bowl with plastic wrap) until it is firm enough to handle.
Remove from the fridge, shape dough as you wish and let it proof for the second time as usual.
Yes, it will be very soft and droopy. In fact, it will be so soft and you can hardly knead it by hand (it is best to use a scraper to help in shaping it).
It is, however, not meant to be greasy. Greasy dough normally happens when the room temperature is warm (butter melts to warm temperature). To solve this, simply place the dough in the refrigerator until the butter cools down.
This lovely chocolate brioche loaf is so delicious, you can simply eat it on its own. You can also make it is a simple toast with butter and your favorite jam or chocolate-based spreads.
The chocolate brioche can also be used for making French toasts and brioche bread puddings!
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📖Recipe
Chocolate Brioche Bread Loaf
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
- 5 g instant dry yeast
- 60 ml milk (lukewarm)
- 340 g bread flour
- 100 g brown sugar
- 140 g butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 5 g cocoa powder
Instructions
- Measure the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the yeast. Next, add the milk, eggs, and sugar.
- Mix on medium-low speed for 2 minutes.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt into the mixing bowl.
- Mix all the ingredients on medium-low speed for 5 minutes, until they come together.
- Cut butter into small pieces and add it slowly into the dough (while the mixer continues to knead) over 2 minutes. The dough will appear very sticky at this stage.
- Once the butter is all incorporated, stop the mixer. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Knead again at medium-low speed for 15 minutes. At this stage, the dough will be very soft and tacky.
- Turn the dough out onto your workspace and bring it together with a spatula or a scraper.
- Place the chocolate brioche dough into a greased bowl. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Prepare a loaf tin. Grease it well and set aside.
- Remove the dough from the fridge. Press out the air bubbles.
- Divide it into 4 sections. Knead each section until smooth and form them into balls.
- Arrange the balls into the loaf tin in a line. Flatten them on the sides so that they fit into the bread tin.
- Let the brioche loaf proof again until slightly more than double in size.
- Bake the chocolate brioche bread at 165°Celcius (in a preheated oven) on the lowest rack in the oven.
- Once baked, remove the loaf from the oven and brush the top with melted butter.
- Let the bread loaf rest in the tin for about 1 minute. Turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Slice the bread after it has completely cooled down for neater slices.
Notes
- Brioche dough requires time to make and involves an overnight rest in the refrigerator. Plan your time accordingly to allow the dough sufficient resting and proofing time for best results.
- Use good quality butter as brioche relies heavily on the flavor of butter. Also make sure the yeast you use is fresh and not expired. You can test the yeast by mixing it with some sugar and warm water. If it does not froth in about 10 minutes, the yeast is not active. Repeat with a fresh batch of yeast to test again.
- Proper kneading is crucial for developing the gluten structure in brioche. Knead the dough until it becomes elastic, smooth, and slightly sticky. This can take some time and always keep to the time indicated in the recipe.
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