Vienna baguettes with chocolate chips

Vienna bread turned into a baguette and filled to the brim with chocolate chips, can anyone resist this delight?

Vienna bread is a loaf reminiscent of brioche: tender and rather sweet. In its preparation it includes milk, butter, and eggs, and it’s a dough that can easily remind you of brioche.

Originating in Vienna, it quickly spread to France and from there throughout Europe, and it is one of the most popular breads today.

Because of its tenderness and subtle aroma, it’s an ideal bread for all kinds of preparations: you can pair it with sweet (chocolate, jams, butter and sugar...), it’s perfect for making savory sandwiches, or even small open-faced appetizers depending on the occasion.

Although its most popular shape is the roll, ideal for eating individually, Vienna bread has taken different forms. Today we shape it into baguettes and fill them with chocolate chips. They’ll be the star of breakfasts or afternoon snacks!

Note: if you prefer to make the baguettes without chocolate chips, you can. Just skip that step: make the baguettes unfilled and then enjoy them with whatever you like.

Ingredients

• 485 g bread flour
• 230 ml milk
• 65 g butter
• 60 g sugar
• 20 g fresh yeast (or 5 g active dry baker’s yeast)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 100 g chocolate chips or drops (or chopped chocolate)
• For the glaze: 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon milk

Preparation

1. Warm the milk for a few seconds in a saucepan or in the microwave so it’s slightly warm (but not hot, about 35-40 ºC). Dissolve the yeast in it and set aside for a few minutes. (Note: if you want to make the bread with a preferment, see notes at the end).
2. In the bowl of the KitchenAid mixer, add the salt, flour, and sugar. Start mixing on low speed.
3. Add the milk with the yeast.
4. Add the egg and knead with the dough hook for about 6 minutes at medium speed.
5. Meanwhile, cut the butter into cubes. After the first minutes of kneading, when you already have a compact dough, add the butter to the bowl and continue kneading without stopping. You’ll see that as the butter incorporates into the dough, it becomes softer and takes on a smoother texture.
6. Now begins the working stage of the dough, providing kneading intervals (3-5 minutes kneading with the hook at medium/high speed) and a few minutes of resting (stop the machine and let the dough relax, covering the bowl with a cotton cloth). Repeat this knead-and-rest process 2 to 3 times; you’ll notice the dough becomes increasingly elastic and smooth when you stretch it with your fingers.
7. Once kneading is done, transfer the dough to a bowl greased with oil and let it rest in a warm, draft-free place (an oven turned off is ideal). Above all, keep the bowl covered with a cloth so the dough doesn’t dry out. Let it proof for 60-90 minutes.
8. Once the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and place it on a floured surface.
9. Degas by punching with your fist, and divide it into three equal parts. Shape each piece into a slightly elongated, flat piece, add the chocolate chips in the center and at the edges, and roll them into baguette shapes (as shown in the video).
10. Place the baguettes on a perforated baking tray (there are individual trays, or a bread pack) and make a few slashes on each with a lame (scoring blade).
11. Mix the milk with the egg yolk to make a glaze and brush the baguettes with it.
12. Let rise again in a warm but inactive oven for about one more hour.
13. Bake at 180 ºC for 17 minutes, top and bottom heat (since these are narrow pieces and you’re using a perforated tray, heat penetrates quickly and that’s why they bake so fast).

Notes: making Vienna bread with a preferment

You can make exactly the same recipe, with the same total amount of ingredients, but using a preferment. The preferment, used in any type of bread, helps improve flavor, extends shelf life, and helps the yeast work more vigorously (it more intensely acts on the dough’s ingredients so it rises more and faster), especially in breads with a lot of fat (as is the case with Vienna bread, which contains butter, or other breads with a lot of oil).

How to make the preferment?

Replace step number 1 of the recipe with this step:

In a bowl, mix 100 g of the bread flour with 100 ml of milk and 5 g of active dry yeast. Cover and let rest until the dough is bubbly. Then add the remaining ingredients (continue with step 2 of the recipe).

If you make the recipe with a preferment, the quantity of ingredients does not change. That is, you will have already incorporated 100 g of flour and 100 ml of milk, and therefore you only need to add the remaining amount to the recipe (in our case, 385 g of flour and 130 ml of milk).