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Chocolate Chip Brioche Pretzels

Source of Recipe

From "The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook" by Deb Perelman


Recipe Introduction

"When it comes to ludicrously delicious, butter-laden French breakfast treats, enthusiasts generally fall into one of two categories: croissant-eaters and brioche-eaters. Me, I'm on Team Brioche; I'd choose a buttery, lightly sweet, stretchy, and deceivingly plain knob of bread over all thousand layers of a great croissant any day. It might be my inability in my mid-thirties to eat like a grown-up that has made this choice for me, evidenced by the telltale flakes I find still clinging to my coat and sweater hours after the croissant is a distant memory. Or it might be the fact that, if you're going to pick your breakfast indulgences based on the ease of making them at home, the brioche will win. It is, after all, a fairly simple bread dough, enriched with milk, eggs, and butter, and even simpler after I got to it. Though I don't doubt that the flour-lidded starter, and butter that has been bashed into soft submission on a counter and then added in delicate dabs at the end, make a phenomenal proper brioche, I am not a morning person, and thus, this became lazy brioche. I've found that you can squash the standard procedure into one rise and not miss out on as much as you'd think. And since I'd already long abandoned proper brioche etiquette, I went ahead and roped it into a stretchy, rich pretzel, brushed it shiny and a bit salty, and then studded it with coarse sugar. It was my husband who suggested adding chocolate chips—well, technically, that's his suggestion for improving every baked good, but on this I think it was especially inspired. Eat these warm from the oven and I promise there won't be a telltale crumb left behind."

List of Ingredients

Dough:
â—¦ â…“ cup whole milk
â—¦ 1 teaspoon instant yeast
â—¦ 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
â—¦ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
â—¦ ½ teaspoon table salt
â—¦ 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
â—¦ 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperture
â—¦ 1 cup (6 ounces) well-chopped chocolate (for the best chocolate flavor) or miniature chocolate chips
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest (optional, but lovely if you're into that chocolate-orange thing)

Glaze:
â—¦ 1 large egg
â—¦ ½ teaspoon table salt
â—¦ 1 teaspoon water

â—¦ Coarse or pearl sugar, for finishing


Recipe

Whisk the milk and yeast together in a small dish until the yeast has dissolved. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Add the eggs and the yeast mixture, and mix at a low speed until the dough comes together in a shaggy pile. Raise the speed to medium, and beat for 10 minutes; the long mixing time creates the soft, stretchy strands brioche is known for. Add the butter, a third at a time, mixing the dough between additions. Now switch to the dough hook, and knead at low speed until a silky-smooth dough forms, another 5 minutes. Add the chocolate and zest, if using, and run the machine until it is mixed into the dough.

Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm spot for 2 hours, until almost doubled. Alternatively, you can rest the dough in the fridge overnight (or up to 24 hours), bring back to room temperature, and let the rise complete before continuing to the next step.

Meanwhile, line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into eight pieces, about 3 ¼ ounces each. Working with one piece at a time, roll each piece into an 18-inch-long rope about ½ inch thick. Curiously, I find these ropes easier to roll and stretch on an unfloured or very lightly oiled surface, but if you find yours sticking too much, lightly flour your counter before continuing.

To form the pretzel, draw the ends of a rope together to form a circle. About 2 inches from both ends, twist the rope ends together to close the circle—a full twist, so that the rope end that started on the right side finishes there. Fold the twist down into the circle, adhering the loose ends of the rope at five and seven o'clock on the base. Repeat to make eight pretzel twists. Transfer them to prepared baking sheets, brush them with glaze, and let them rest for about 15 minutes, during which they'll puff slightly again.

Brush pretzels with glaze one more time, sprinkle with pearl or coarse sugar, then bake for 12 minutes, or until puffed and lightly bronzed. Cool slightly on a rack before serving, if you can bear it.

Makes eight 4-inch pretzels