Vegan Chocolate Chip Brioches

These vegan chocolate chip brioches are soft, fluffy, aromatic, chocolatey and a little sweet. They are based on the Italian recipe for “treccine al cioccolato”, and we made them simpler, lighter and without dairy and without eggs.

You can eat them for a cozy breakfast, dipped in a plant-based latte. Or as a mid morning snack if you are craving something chocolatey. The recipe is easy to make, with simple ingredients you already have at home.

For other delicious vegan Italian brioche recipes have a look at our:

• Italian croissants with vegan custard (cornetti)
• Vegan brioche bread (pan brioche)
• Sweet cream buns (maritozzi)
• Italian donuts (ciambelle)
• Jam stuffed donuts (bomboloni)
• Breakfast brioche with jam (buondì)

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Flour: I use first-clear flour but, if you can’t find it, just go for bread flour or all-purpose flour. First-clear is basically a flour that is less refined than all-purpose, but not as heavy as whole-grain flour.
• Sugar: plain sugar works best. No syrups.
• Instant dry yeast: I love instant dry yeast because you don’t have to mix it with water to activate it. You can replace it with fresh yeast, but if you do so you need 3 times more fresh yeast compared to our instant dry yeast dose. When you use yeast, always read the expiration date on the package, and also read the instructions on how to use it. Some yeasts need to be dissolved in lukewarm water and sugar before they can be used.
• Soy-milk and water: this is our go-to milk for cooking. You can replace it with any other plant milk of your choice. We mix it with water in this recipe to make the vegan chocolate chip brioches extra light and soft.
• Sunflower oil: this is our go-to fat because it has little flavour, it’s affordable and widely available. You can replace it with any other vegetable oil that has a mild flavour.
• Vanilla extract and orange zest: both necessary for the aroma. In this recipe try not to skip the orange zest, it’s really amazing with the chocolate chips.
• Dark chocolate chips: dark chocolate chips are best. You can also use finely chopped dark chocolate, but the brioches won’t be as pretty.

Equipment

• Clean worktop: a surface where you can knead the dough. You can of course do this recipe in a kitchen aid instead.
• Rolling pin: to roll the dough. Any rolling pin will work.
• Pizza cutter: we find that a pizza cutter is the easiest tool to use to cut the dough for this vegan chocolate chip brioches. If you don’t have one, you can also use a sharp knife, or a pasta cutter.

Tips

• Read yeast instructions: there are so many of you that message me on instagram and youtube asking for help when their dough doesn’t proof. The reason, 99% of the time, is that you use yeast the wrong way.
  
  There are generally 3 types of yeast: fresh, active dry, and instant dry. Fresh yeast and active dry yeast, need to be dissolved in lukewarm water and sugar before use. Instant dry doesn’t. I use instant dry, so you won’t see me dissolve the yeast in water.
  
  But since instant dry and active dry look almost identical, you need to read the instructions on the package to make sure you know what to do.
  
• Proof in a warm place: temperature is so important for a good and speedy proofing. My advice is to let the dough proof in a slightly warm oven. Turn on the oven for 30 to 45 seconds. Then turn it off. Then put the dough inside, covered with a wet cloth, to proof.
  
• Proof the dough twice: you should allow a minimum of 2 hours for the first proofing, and another 1 hour for the second proofing. This way you will have light, airy, and beautiful vegan chocolate chip brioches.

Frequently asked questions

Storage

How do I keep them soft?

The best way to keep these vegan chocolate chip brioches soft and fluffy is to brush them with water as soon as they come out of the oven. Then, let them cool down for 15 minutes, and store them in a food grade reusable plastic bag or a reusable silicon bag. They’ll stay soft for about 3 to 4 days.

Can I prepare them in advance?

Yes. You can prepare the dough in advance the night before, then you can put it in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, and let it proof in the refrigerator overnight. The morning after, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before working it as described in the recipe box.

Another method to prepare these chocolate chip brioches in advance is to cook them, but not completely. The trick is, cook the brioches for about 10 minute, or until they start browning. Then take them out of the oven, let them cool down completely, and freeze them.

When you are ready to eat them, you can simply finish baking them for another 5 to 10 minutes, from frozen, in a preheated oven, straight out of the freezer.

Can I freeze them?

Yes. You can freeze them raw or pre-cooked. See paragraph above for the pre-cooked method.

If you freeze them raw, I recommend freezing them before the second proofing.

To do that, first shape and arrange the vegan chocolate chip brioches on the baking tray (or on a plate if your freezer cannot fit your baking tray). You can leave very little space in between them as they will not grow.

Then put them in the freezer for 30 minutes until they are hard. Now you can transfer them into a plastic bag suitable for freezing, and put back in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To thaw them, take out of the freezer, arrange them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and let thaw in a turned off oven. Once they are thawed, you should also give them some time to proof.

To help the yeast proof, slightly warm up the oven by turning it on for 45 seconds, then off again. The warmth will help the yeast proof. They should proof for about 1 hour.

After the second proofing, you can cook them as described in the recipe box below.

Variations

You can use the same dough for many different recipes. For other delicious vegan Italian brioche recipes have a look at our:

• Italian croissants with vegan custard (cornetti)
• Vegan brioche rolls with custard
• Vegan brioche bread (pan brioche)
• Sweet cream buns (maritozzi)
• Vegan donuts
• Vegan bomboloni
• Breakfast brioche with jam (buondì)