Pull-apart Brioche Bread with Apricot Jam and Chocolate chips

Pull-apart Brioche Bread with Apricot Jam and Chocolate chips. My trusted brioche dough is the base for this impressive pull-apart bread, filled with apricot jam and chocolate chips. It is baked in a bundt pan to give a beautiful swirled round shape making it easier to pull apart each bun. 

Song of the day: Ready by Alessia Cara

I love making brioche, it is just so satisfying! Therefore, I am always trying to come up with different ways to enjoy a good brioche, mostly for breakfast. Pairing the buttery soft brioche dough with apricot jam and semi-sweet chocolate chips was a wonderful idea. It turned this pull-apart bread into a delectable treat!

Brioche dough

To explain, brioche is an enriched dough, which means that it contains eggs, butter, milk, and sugar. An enriched dough is also able to be manipulated in many ways. Hence, I use it to make babka, wreath, savory breakfast brioche.

It is quite easy to make in the stand mixer, just remember to mix on medium speed for 20-30 minutes, or until the dough has wrapped itself around the hook and completely pulled away from the sides of the bowl. 

Overnight dough

Letting the dough rest in the fridge overnight is my preferred method, the one I learned at a brioche making class a few years ago. 

1. After you've shaped the dough into a ball, place it in an oiled bowl and let it rise, covered, at room temperature, for about 1 hour.
2. After that time, the dough will be doubled in size. At this point, punch down the dough, cover again, and refrigerate overnight.

Apricot jam and chocolate chips

Brioche is a wonderfully soft and aromatic dough, to begin with, so if you add a spread of some sort, jam, custard, or chocolate, you get a delightful "ensemble", one that you will find craving often, just like me. For instance, apricot and chocolate is a great combination. If you have never tried, please do, you are going to love it! If you've had the famous Austrian "Sacher Torte", you know what I mean.

Steps of the preparation

• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and transfer it to a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to about a 10x12 inches.
• Next, spread the apricot jam on the surface leaving a ½ inch border all around. Sprinkle the dark chocolate chips on top. Brush the border around with water.
• Then, roll the dough up with the filling into a long, tight log.
• Lastly, with a sharp knife, gently cut it in 8 slices. 

• Now, place the slices in the buttered bundt pan, arranging them all around.
• Let rest, covered with a towel, in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
• Finally, bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until nice and golden brown. Cover with foil if the top starts to brown too much.

Do I have to use a bundt pan?

Arranging the brioche slices in the bundt pan, all around, allows you to have a beautiful round shape. Just be mindful to butter the bundt pan extremely well in all the nooks and crannies. Anyway, you could also bake it free-form in a regular baking sheet forming it into a wreath. 

It's beautiful right-side-up or upside-down

In the end, when it comes out of the oven, this pull-apart brioche bread looks stunning, with its spiral forms, the apricot jam and chocolate chips oozing from the folds.

I was unsure if I preferred it right side up or upside down, so I took different pictures to show you both ways.

Heat in the microwave 1 tablespoon of apricot jam with 1 tablespoon of water and brush the bread after it comes out of the oven. It gives a nice shine and a lovely additional jam flavor.

Weekend Breakfast, anyone?

Make your brioche dough on Saturday, bake it on Sunday. In a word, I cannot imagine a more lovely way to start your Sunday than pulling apart a bun from this brioche bread and enjoying it with a warm tea or coffee. Its soft, rich, and buttery texture is enhanced by the apricot jam and the occasional chocolate chip you find when biting into it. 

The flavors are heavenly and Loreto describes it as a joyful mouth hug in one bite. He also enjoyed pulling apart the folds. Truly, I could see his child-like nature as his eyes widened as he found delights in each fold!

Enjoy!

Pull-apart Brioche Bread with Apricot Jam and Chocolate chips

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• Author: Nicoletta
• Prep Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
• Yield: 8 brioche "buns" 1x
• Category: Breakfast, brunch
• Method: Baking

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the Brioche dough (recipe from the Duchess cookbook):

• 13 g (1 Tbsp) fresh yeast, crumbled (or 6.5 g dried yeast)
• 30 g (2 Tbsp) whole milk, warmed (or half & half cream)
• 250 g ( 1 ½  cups + 1 Tbsp) all-purpose flour
• 30 g (2 Tbsp) sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs (we prefer organic)
• 145 g (⅔ cup) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature (but not too warm)

For the Filling:

• apricot jam
• chocolate chips

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Instructions

Brioche dough:

1. Heat up the milk in a small bowl, in the microwave for a few seconds (10-15). The right temperature of the milk should be between 26°C and 32°C to activate the yeast. Stir the crumbled yeast into the warm milk until dissolved.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, sugar, salt, and mix on low speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, the dissolved yeast and keep mixing on low until all the ingredients are well combined. Stop the mixer once to scrape down the sides.
3. Still on low speed, gradually add the butter, a few cubes at a time. Once all the butter has been added, turn the mixer up to medium speed and continue mixing until the dough is smooth and shiny and has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. This should take 15-25 minutes, no less.
4. Gently, shape the dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
5. Punch down the dough, cover again, and refrigerate overnight.
6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and transfer it to a lightly floured surface. Butter the bundt pan extremely well in all the nooks and crannies.
7. Roll out the dough to about a 10-inch width to 12 inches.
8. Spread the apricot jam on the surface leaving a ½ inch border all around. Sprinkle the dark chocolate chips as much or as many as you like.
9. Brush the border around with water. Roll the dough up with the filling into a long, tight log. Seal the dampened end onto the log.
10. With a sharp knife, gently cut it in 8 slices. Place the slices in the buttered bundt pan, arranging them all around. Let rest, covered with a towel, in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
11. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
12. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until nice and golden brown. Cover with foil if the top starts to brown too much.
13. Take out of the oven, place on a rack, and wait 5 minutes before unmolding. Brush the top with 1 tablespoon of apricot jam heated with a tablespoon of water to give some shine.

Enjoy!

Notes

Brioche is best the day it's made, however, you can reheat in a toaster or regular oven. It also freezes well, wrapped in plastic and placed in a ziplock bag.

Instead of apricot jam, a custard would work well, too.

The prep time does not include the resting of the dough overnight in the fridge.

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Nicoletta

I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.