When it rains I always have this urge to start baking. Lazy Sundays, with nothing to do and on top of it bad weather…you will definitely find me in the kitchen, whipping up some pancakes or in this case chocolate brioche. It´s french, it sounds classy, it involves chocolate – sounds good enough to me! It´s not that I only get inspired with the typical german weather (it is supposed to be summer but it´s 16 degrees, raining and I haven´t seen the sun all day). On sunny days I invent all kind of different combinations for salads, stormy wheather is perfect for baking muffins, cupcakes, waffles and don´t even get me started on christmas season – hot chocolate, Plätzchen, Bratäpfel…I will always find a good reason to make on particular type of food. This time in Ineke´s kitchen: Chocolate Brioche!

Brioche is made with yeast dough and as anybody who ever tried to make something with yeast knows – yeast can be a bitch! For this recipe we dissolve the yeast in warm milk. Be careful with the temperature. If it´s too hot or too cold you can wait forever but nothing will happen with the dough. Instead you will get a rock hard paste that once baked only serves as dog food – for dogs with good teeth! Apart from that, the recipe is fairly easy. You need:

1 package dry yeast

250 ml whole milk, warm

100 g brown sugar

75 g margarine or butter

a little bit of salt

2 eggs

500 g flour

150 g chocolate

1 egg yolk

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size (ca. 1 hour).

I used a muffin tin to make the brioche. When the dough has risen enough, take bits of it and form a little ball. Put chocolate in the middle and roll once again so the chocolate stays in the center. The dough should make about 10 balls. There should be a little bit left, which is used for little balls that are placed on top of each portion. Lastly, use one egg yolk to paint each brioche with.

Bake ca. 20 minutes in the preheated oven at 175°.

Enjoy while still warm. For my fellow chocoholics…some nutella on top goes just fine with it!