500g(3.2cups)bread flour or all-purpose flour+ 2 to 3 tbsp for kneading
100g(½cups)sugar
7g(1.5tsp)instant dry yeastor 20g fresh yeast
Wet Ingredients
150g(0.6cups)plant-milklukewarm
150g(0.6cups)water
60g(5tbsp)sunflower oil
2tspvanilla extract
1orangezest
60g(⅓cups)dark chocolate chips
In a bowl add flour, sugar and instantdryyeast. Stir, then add the zest of one orange, lukewarm plant-milk, water, sunfloweroil, and vanillaaroma. Mix with a spatula till all the ingredients come together.NB: if you don't have instant dry yeast, you can use either 7g (1.5 tsp) of active dry yeast or 20g of fresh yeast. In both cases, you need to first dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water and sugar before adding it to the flour.
Add 2 tbsp of flour to a worktop, then knead the dough for 5 minutes. By the end, your dough should be elastic, soft and moist. It should almost stick to the worktop.You can use a kitchen-aid if you prefer.
Brush the inside of a large bowl with a thin layer of oil, then put the dough in it, brush it with oil, and cover with a damp kitchen cloth, leaving enough space for the dough to double in volume. Let proof for about 2 hours in a warm place.TIP: turn the oven on for 30 seconds then turn it off and put the dough in it to proof.
With your hands, spread out the dough on the worktop, then sprinkle with the dark chocolate chips. Knead the dough for just a minute, until the chocolate chips are incorporated.
With a rolling pin, flatten the dough till you have a rectangle shape that is about 1 cm thick (0.4 inches).To make sure the dough doesn't stick to the worktop sprinkle with flour.
With a pizza cutter, cut the dough in strips, about 2 cm wide (0.8 inches). You should be able to get around 13 strips. Then cut the strips in half, horizontally. At the end you should have about 24 neat strips of dough.
Braid 3 strips at a time. You should get 8 brioches. Have a look at the video below, or on youtube to learn the technique.
Place the brioches on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and let proof for about 1 hour in a warm place. Leave some space in between them as they'll grow in size.I recommend turning the oven on for 30 seconds, then turning it it off and putting the brioches in it to proof.
Preheat the oven to 180C or 360F. Brush the top of the chocolate chip brioches with plant-milk, and bake on the central rack for about 14 minutes. Time really depends on the size of the brioches. So keep an eye on them. They are ready when they are golden on top.
When out of the oven, you can brush them with tap water to help them stay moist. Let cool before eating them. You can serve them as is, or sprinkled with powdered sugar. In Italy we dip them in a warm plant-based latte.