Buttery-Soft Chocolate Chip Brioche Rolls
Brioche is a French bread that is enriched with sugar, eggs, and milk. This makes it softer, richer, and sweeter than your average bread recipe. It also makes it a little tiny bit harder to work with. It rises a little slower and can be very sticky. But don’t let that scare you! This is simple to make if you have a bread machine or a stand mixer because you don’t have to deal with the sticky dough on your hands. .
I once spent about a year trying to master croissants so that I could make pan au chocolate, or chocolate filled pastries. Let me tell you, those are hard to make and mine were never that great. Lucky for me, I discovered how much easier it is to make brioche, which tastes totally different but still feels fancy. Adding chocolate chips just made good sense.
I make these and freeze them for breakfasts for my girls, which is… um.. questionable. But they love them and so do I.
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
This is a great thing to make in late winter when you have lots of eggs and not much else.
For the Dough
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup milk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3¾ cups all-purpose flour (up to 4 cups if needed, depending on dough texture)
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast (no need to proof)
- 1½ cups chocolate chips (any kind—semisweet, dark, or mini work well; avoid large chunks)
For Topping the Rolls
- 1 egg, beaten
- Sparkling or pearl sugar (optional, but very pretty!)
How to Make Chocolate Chip Brioche
It’s just like any yeast bread, but stickier and slower.
Step One: Prep Liquids
You’ll want to begin with slightly warm or room temperature ingredients. Cold milk, eggs, or butter will fight against the yeast and make it harder for the dough to rise.
To warm up the cold ingredients, I simply microwave the water, milk, and butter for 45 seconds on low in a glass measuring cup. The eggs can be left out on the counter or dunked in a cup of warm water for a few minutes.
Step Two: Knead
When you are using instant yeast, you don’t need to worry about adding the ingredients in any particular order. Just dump everything (except the chocolate chips!) into your bread machine or the bowl of your stand mixer.
Press the dough cycle if using a bread machine, or knead on low with your mixer using the dough hook. (Read this if you need more help using your stand mixer to knead dough.) You’ll want to make sure all the flour gets incorporated, so use a spatula to scape down the sides as needed.
At first the dough will seem very wet and sticky, but it will tighten up a bit as it kneads. If it still seems very wet, almost like a batter rather than dough, add more flour a few teaspoons at a time. It should seem sticky but not wet.
Once the dough has come together, add the chocolate chips and let them knead in for just a minute or two. If you are using a bread machine, this means you have to be aware of when the kneading portion of the cycle is about to end.
Step Three: Rise
Once you are satisfied with the dough, allow it to rise 1 hour at warm room temperature.
It should look very puffy and have doubled in size when it is done.
Step Four: Shape
Now it’s time to divide them into rolls. One tip: make them small! Since chocolate chip brioche is so rich, big rolls are overwhelming to eat and look disturbingly like hamburger rolls. Divide this recipe into 16 pieces or more. If the dough sticks too much to your hands, lightly oil them with cooking spray.
Shape them gently and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. They will touch as they rise and bake. Brush them with an egg wash, which gives the brioche a beautiful golden color. You can sprinkle them with sparkling sugar.
Step Five: Second Rise
When you cover the rolls for the final rise, make sure you use something that won’t stick. My preference is plastic wrap that’s been heavily sprayed with cooking spray. If you use a tea towel, it’s likely to stick, which will ruin the rolls.
Let them rise in a slightly warm place for about 45 minutes, or until very puffy.
Step Six: Bake
Bake for 15-18 minutes at 400. The buns will be very golden brown. You can let them cool slightly right on the baking sheet and have people pull them apart.
Or you can remove them to a cooling rack and serve individually.
Printable Recipe
Chocolate Chip Brioche
Equipment
- simple bread machine or stand mixer
Ingredients
For the dough
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup milk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 ¾ cups all purpose flour (up to 4 cups if needed)
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips
To top the buns
- 1 egg beaten
- Sparking or pearl sugar
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Instructions
- Prepare the Wet Ingredients. In a microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup, combine the water, milk, and butter. Microwave on low power for 45-60 seconds, just until the butter begins to melt and the mixture is warm. Stir to fully dissolve the butter.
- Mix the Dough. Put the warm milk mixture, eggs, sugar, flour (starting with 3 ¾ cups), salt, and instant yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer. Then attach the dough hook to the mixer and start it on a low setting to mix all the ingredients together. After that, increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky but still form a ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too sticky (more like a batter), add flour one tablespoon at a time, allowing it to fully mix in before adding more.
- Add Chocolate Chips. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, reduce the mixer speed to low and add the chocolate chips. Knead just until the chips are evenly distributed throughout the dough, about 1-2 minutes. Avoid over-kneading as it can break the chips and affect the dough structure.
- First Rise. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning it once to coat all sides with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel.Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free area for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Shape the Rolls. Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 18 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball by pulling the dough from the sides and tucking the ends underneath. If the dough is sticky, lightly oil your hands or use a bit of flour to prevent sticking.
- Second Rise. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the dough balls on it, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Gently brush each roll with beaten egg and sprinkle with sparkling or pearl sugar. Cover the rolls loosely with greased plastic wrap. Let them rise again in a warm, draft-free area for about 45 minutes or until puffy and nearly doubled.
- Preheat the Oven. During the last 10 minutes of the second rise, preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C) with the rack positioned in the center.
- Bake the Brioche. Once the rolls have risen, place the baking sheet in the preheated oven. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. If they brown too quickly, tent loosely with aluminum foil.
- Cooling. Remove the rolls from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool slightly. They are best served warm but can be cooled completely and stored in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
By Katie Shaw
Katie shares simple, reliable recipes from her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband, three daughters, a chocolate lab, and over thirty chickens.
im not understanding why the pictures are of a bread machine but there is no mention of doing this in a bread machine
because I kneaded it in a bread machine. you can also knead by mixer or hand.
These brioche buns are amazing I made them according to instructions the first time around and they were perfection. The second time I made them I decided to mix it up a little. I used brown sugar in place of regular and used cinnamon chips instead of chocolate chips. I also topped them with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar.
hi trista! so happy they were a success. lovely idea with the cinnamon sugar that’s one of my favorite flavors 🙂
This is it. This is the recipe. I’ve tried several other chocolate chip brioche recipes, all more complicated than this one, and the results weren’t half as good. Not only was this easy, but I was enjoying a hot roll with my coffee 3 hours after starting the recipe. Will be making this again and again!
The best !!
Does the type of milk matter for this recipe?
whole milk is technically “Best” but i always use 2%. I’ve never tried skim.
I’ve never made any kind of Brioche bread before, nervous to say the least.
I followed instructions exactly and used my bread machine.
The only change was mini chocolate chips (1c) and baked at 350 deg for 20 minutes. Absolutely perfect I’ll keep this recipe in my wheel house.
Thank you for a wonderful recipe with easy to follow instructions.
I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Made these yesterday and they came out perfect – super delicious, and they reheat well! I used a stand mixer and this was my first time with a sticky dough like this, but your instructions and video made it easy to navigate through the steps of the recipe. Thank you for sharing this, I will certainly be making it again!
i’m so happy the brioche turned out well for you! thank you for letting me know 🙂
Going to try these next, I make buttery breakfast bread rolls for my grandchildren and they love them, it’s a sticky dough just like yours and like you I use my bread machine to make to make the dough.
yes aren’t they so much easier in the machine!?
Could you bake this as a loaf instead of rolls? How should I adjust the baking time accordingly?
I’ve never tried it that way but it should work! try being at 375 for 35 minutes
Thanks for sharing your recipe! I made this at the last minute tonight and my family loves them! Definitely will make over and over again! How do you think it would taste if I added cocoa powder to the dough? Would all the amounts of other ingredients remain the same?
hi Lisa! so glad you liked it! I’ve never tried cocoa powder but I think it would be fine. yes keep everything else the same and I’d try to mix it with the liquids first!
A wonderful bread. My kitchen was hot so the chocolate melted making the bread look like it had brown swirls but it tasted fantastic.
mine does that sometimes too! but we don’t mind either! 🙂
Best bread I’ve made – fluffy and soft, just how we love it.