Brioche bread with apples and chocolate is a super soft and aromatic dessert, perfect for everyday breakfast. Yeast-leavened doughs are somewhat my passion, both in terms of preparation and obviously tasting them. They are so versatile; in fact, they can be prepared plain or with various fillings, as in this case, with apples and dark chocolate. But if you want, you could also replace all or part of the chocolate with walnuts or hazelnuts, for example.
If you like yeast-leavened doughs as much as I do, try these recipes of mine as well:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Rest time: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 1 brioche bread (approximately 12 slices)
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1.4 tsp instant dry yeast (about 1.5 teaspoons)
- 1 cup milk (warm)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 3.5 tbsp butter (soft)
- 1 apple
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 2/3 cup dark chocolate
- as needed melted butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
Steps
To prepare the brioche bread with apples and dark chocolate, mix the flour with the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer, then add the warm milk and start the mixer. Add the sugar, then the salt and the egg. Continue kneading until the dough forms. Gradually add the soft butter and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic, meaning it has pulled away from the sides and bottom of the bowl and is wrapped around the hook.
Remove the dough from the bowl, fold it a few times, form a ball, and place it back in the bowl. Let it rise, covered, in a warm place for 2 – 2.5 hours, until doubled in size.
In the meantime, prepare the filling. Wash and peel the apple and cut it into cubes. Melt the butter in a pan, add the apple cubes, and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the apples from the pan and let them cool. Coarsely chop the dark chocolate and set aside.
When the dough has doubled in size, divide it into 3 equal pieces. Roll out the first piece on a lightly floured surface until you get a rectangle of about 12 x 4 inches. Sprinkle the dough with one third of the apple cubes and one third of the chopped chocolate, leaving 3/4 inch along the edges. Fold one long edge towards the center to cover part of the filling. Then fold the opposite side towards the center, slightly overlapping the first, to enclose the filling inside the dough. Roll the rolling pin gently over the entire length to obtain a rectangle of about 12 x 3 inches. Roll the strip of dough onto itself and place it in the previously greased loaf pan. Proceed in the same manner with the remaining dough and filling.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
After the second rise, preheat the oven to 375°F (static). Brush the surface of the brioche bread with melted butter and bake at 375°F for about 45 minutes. If the surface browns too much, cover the brioche bread with a sheet of aluminum foil.
Remove your brioche bread with apples and chocolate from the oven, let it rest for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove and immediately brush with honey. To ease this step, you can also briefly heat the honey to make it more fluid. Let it cool completely on a wire rack or enjoy it while still warm.
