Nutella chocolate chip pull-apart brioche

Is there anything better than a pillowy soft Nutella chocolate chip pull-apart brioche? It’s so fluffy and insanely good. The dough is covered in chocolate chips and filled with a generous amount of Nutella. This makes the best sweet treat for everyone.

I still remember growing up and seeing everyone in my school eating this round chocolate chip brioche, so that always inspired my Nutella bombs, Nutella breads, and many other Nutella treats.

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For this recipe and most of the recipes we post here, we are using very normal ingredients that you probably already have, or can easily find at the store. You can substitute the Nutella for any other spread you like or chocolate, and you can choose from dark chocolate to milk chocolate chips. Anything you like most.

• Granulated sugar: It will sweeten the dough and also help feed the yeast. Adding sugar to your dough gives it a beautiful golden brown color.
• Active dry yeast: always make sure it’s fresh and not old. We don’t want to use expired or old yeast, as it will affect the texture and final result.
• Flour: We are using all-purpose flour for this recipe
• Milk: we need it warm but not hot, as it can kill the yeast, check the temperature cart below.
• Eggs: use room temperature eggs.
• Salt: it enhances the flavor of the dough. If you use too much salt, the dough will not rise properly and will also be salty.
• Butter: This is the last ingredient we add to the dough. In the last 10 minutes, we add it and continue kneading. This helps the bread to keep its structure.
• Nutella: the main ingredient for this dessert, it is rich, delicious, and loved by everyone.
• Chocolate chips: you can choose from milk or dark chocolate, depending on what you like most.

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Granulated sugar

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Active Dry Yeast

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All purpose flour

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Milk

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Eggs

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salt

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Butter

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Nutella

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Chocolate chips 63%

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How to prepare the dough for this pull-apart Nutella brioche

We start by preparing the sponge mixture, which is a foamy mixture you will create by combining warm milk, sugar, and active dry yeast.

You will see that the top of the milk has a layer of foam; under it, you should be able to see milk.

If the yeast doesn’t activate, there might be an issue with your yeast, or it could be sleeping/dead. Some things, like expiry, not being stored properly, temperatures, or adding too much sugar, affect the yeast. Sugar helps the yeast with activation but when there is too much, it makes the process wayyy slower.

The temperature of the milk is very important; if you touch it and it hurts, it burns, it will kill the yeast.

• Ideal milk temperature to activate the yeast: 110F-115F (43C-46C). At this temperature, the yeast will be activated. It will feel warm to the touch, but it doesn’t burn.
• Too cold: under 100F (38 °C), the yeast won’t be activated; it’s sleeping. If this is the case, I recommend scooping some of the milk that has no yeast and warming it up until it’s hot, then mixing it carefully with the colder milk. Try not to touch the yeast with the hot milk, or it will die.  
• Too hot: at 120F (49 °C) the yeast will be killed. You will need to start from zero as the yeast is not going to be active.

We knead the dough for 15 minutes; it’s ideal to use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment (speed: medium-low). The dough is sticky.

After 15 minutes, you can add the soft butter and knead for 10 more minutes; the dough will become less sticky and easier to handle.

Key points in this recipe

• Proper kneading. To prepare this dough, knead it for 15 minutes without the butter. After 15 minutes, you can add butter and knead for 10 more minutes. This will help with the structure; instead of a flat brioche that flops when it bakes, this one will rise beautifully in the oven.

• Proofing. It’s one of the most important things when preparing a brioche recipe, respecting the proofing times and temperature. We are doing two proofings. The first one is the dough after kneading, and the second one is the shaped dough.
• Shaping. Make sure you keep the Nutella inside the brioche.
• Baking. Don’t over-bake them! You don’t want dry brioche. But also, don’t under-bake them; you don’t want raw dough. Biting into a piece of raw dough is so horrible.

Kneading and proofing

Two of the most important steps in this recipe. Without a good kneading, the dough will be hard and dense, and the same will happen if there’s not enough proofing.

To knead the dough, we start by kneading all the ingredients minus the butter, which is added in the last 10 minutes. This will help with the structure of the brioche.

If the temperature is too cold, the dough will not proof or will take longer than expected, that’s because it needs to be in a warm environment to work.

If the temperature is too hot, be careful, the dough will grow too fast and have a funny, sour smell/taste.

To have better control over the temperature, I use a dough proofer machine, which is an investment worth making if you love making dough. I set the temperature to about 80F (27C) and let it proof without having to worry about wind or cold weather.

This recipe needs the dough to be proofed twice, once after kneading and then another one after it’s been shaped and filled with Nutella.

Remember, we are not adding the chocolate chips until the first proof. We don’t want the chocolate to melt on the dough when proofing and handling it.

Tips to make a Nutella pull-apart chocolate chips brioche

• Add the butter at the right time, don’t rush it it helps with the structure of the dough when proofing and baking.
• Egg wash is ideal to help the dough have a nice golden brown color.
• Make sure you keep the Nutella inside; we don’t want it to escape the dough, as it will burn.
• After a brioche is baked, ideally, you would brush butter so it has a shiny look.
• Don’t rush the proofing times. This dough needs to be proofed twice, once after we knead the dough, which is the longest time, it takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes, and another time after we shape it, which takes about 30 minutes. When we proof the dough, we want to see the dough growing in size; it will become soft to the touch and airy.
• Proofing temperature matters. I proof my doughs always from 26° C (78.8F) to 30 °C (86F), depending on what I am making. The dough grows beautifully every time.

Shape the dough

I like to make all of the pieces about the same size. To do that, I weigh the dough and divide it by 8.

Weigh 8 pieces and shape them round, that’s just to have a smooth surface, and we shape them the same way.

Flour the surface lightly and then roll out a piece of dough, don’t do it too thin or the Nutella will go through the dough. Using a piping bag, pipe Nutella in the center. Then pinch the edges to seal.

Repeat the same process with all of the remaining dough.

Grab the right tools!

This recipe calls for a stand mixer; it is not necessary, but it is highly recommended as the dough is very sticky and it takes about 25 minutes of kneading.

• Mixing bowl or the stand mixer bowl: this is where you will prepare the dough and the yeast mixture. You can use the same stand mixer bowl to avoid washing more dishes.
• Rolling pin: we will need it to roll out each one of the dough pieces.
• Piping bag: very useful to pipe the Nutella in the middle of the dough, you can use a spoon instead.
• A baking tray: any baking dish you have for the oven. If you don’t want them touching each other, you can use a bigger tray so they’re all separated. For this recipe, I wanted them all to grow in the oven and touch each other for the pull-apart effect.
• Parchment paper: makes cleaning much easier and faster, and it prevents the dough from sticking to the pan. You can use a Silpat instead.
• Brush: for the egg wash.
• Dough proofer machine: super important if you love making dough recipes, this will be super helpful to proof the dough easily.

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Stand mixer

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Rolling pin

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Porcelain Baking Dish

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Piping Bags

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Parchment paper

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Brod & Taylor Proofer

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How to store a Nutella chocolate chip pull-apart brioche

Most homemade brioche, breads, and donuts are delicious the first day, but lose so much quality in flavor and texture after the first day. That’s why proper storage will make them taste LIKE FRESH every day.

I have tried so many methods, as we always freeze so many of our recipes to enjoy a little every day.

My number 1 recommendation is freezing. Freeze the fresh brioche and then just reheat whenever you want to enjoy it. It will taste exactly like freshly baked and will not lose much quality. The texture will still be pillowy soft and taste amazing. If you can’t freeze it, keep it in the fridge and reheat before eating.

How to freeze a brioche

Separate each one of the brioche into individual portions; it will be very easy to do so, as all you have to do is pull them apart from each other. Place them in a tray lined with parchment paper and freeze for about 2-5 hours. All you want if the brioche to be slightly frozen.

Transfer from the tray to a freezer-safe bag. They will not get stuck together and will be very easy to remove, just one whenever needed. Make sure you add the date of the day you made it and the name of the food; this way, you can easily identify it.

It will be safe in the freezer for up to 4 months. After that, it can start to get freezer-burnt and catch weird flavors from the freezer. Make sure you store them properly to enjoy them for longer!

And that’s it!  If you try this recipe, make sure to leave us a review below, select as many stars as you think this recipe deserves, and leave a small comment. We appreciate every review you can give. And don’t forget to follow our brand-new Facebook page!

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