If I imagine breakfast, I think of these gluten free chocolate brioche buns. Buttery, decadent but still quite healthy, these pastries have the same taste of a pain au chocolat. Like the ones you find in the French bakeries, the ones you can smell the aromas even from the street outside.
The taste reminds very closely the French pastries full of butter. But the taste here is especially rich thanks to the almond flour and almond butter. Other ingredients include rice flour, potato starch and soy milk. No gums and no mix.
This recipe is an easy method to obtain a brioche-like kind of buns. Most importantly, the process to obtain this flaky dough can be quite tricky. So please go through this gallery of images to see the step by step.
Step 1: Create a butter block
Place slices of butter side by side 
Flatten out with a rolling pin 
Obtain a single stripe of butter
Step 2: Mix the dough and the butter.
Gently take the rested and risen dough. 
Flatten it out between two parchment papers. 
Obtain a rectangle
Place the stripe of butter in the middle. 
Cover with the bottom side of the dough 
Fold over the top side of the dough 
Then fold the right side to the middle 
Fold the left side to the middle 
Flatten it out between parchment papers
Step 3: Divide and roll
Divide in 6 parts 
Place the chocolate chips on one side and then roll 
Cover with sliced almonds and sugar
Gluten free chocolate brioche buns
6
servings4
hours10
minutes30
minutes3
minutesAn easier version of the French pain au chocolat.
Ingredients
100 g / ½ cup + 1 tbsp rice flour
50 g / 6 tbsp potato starch or corn starch
50 g almond flour
150 g / 10 tbsp soy milk
5 g / 1 tsp salt
6 g / 1 tsp of dry yeast
180 g / ¾ cup of water
15 g / 1 tbsp almond butter or cashew butter
50 g / 3½ tbsp butter
20 g / 2 tbsp psyllium husk
50 g / 4 tbsp of sugar
optional: sliced almond
100 g / 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips
How to
- In a bowl (or if you have a stand mixer, in its bowl) mix all the dry ingredients: rice flour, potato starch, almond flour, salt, psyllium and sugar.
- Warm up the milk (until lukewarm, NOT hot) and use a few tablespoons to dissolve the yeast.
- Fold the almond butter in the milk with yeast, then add the mix to the dough and start mixing.
- Gradually add all the milk and then the water, little by little.
- At first the dough will look too runny, but don’t worry. Continue to knead until you see all the liquids are absorbed. The final dough should be compact and elastic (see process photos).
- Let the dough rest for 3h in a sealed bowl, at warm temperature.
- In the meantime, slice the butter in thin slices, then place the slices side by side on a piece of parchment paper. Cover with other parchment paper and flatten with a rolling pin, to obtain a single long slice of butter, very thin. (See process photos for details)
- Place the butter slice back in the fridge to harden.
- When resting time is over, place the dough between two parchment papers and flatten it with a rollin pin.
- Place the butter slice in the middle and then fold the two parts of dough onto the butter.
- Roll the dough a bit with the rolling pin, then fold it again from the two sides towards the center.
- Now flatten the dough completely to obtain a rectangle.
- Divide in 8 rectangles and place a handful of chocolate chips on the side of every rectangle.
- Roll every rectangle keeping the chocolate on the inside.
- Optionally, cover every roll with sliced almonds and sprinkle some sugar.
- Heat the oven to 200°C / 395°F for at least half an hour. Meanwhile, the rolls will rise again a bit.
- Bake the rolls for 30 minutes. Remove and let it cool.
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So, too scared to try these gluten free chocolate brioche buns?
In the same vein, you could appreciate these Italian custard cream pastries, with a scent of lemon: CLICK HERE for the recipe.
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This recipe sounds amazing! Can’t wait to try it.
Side note: this dough is croissant or puff pastry dough, not Brioche, so you might want to consider renaming the recipe.
Thanks for your feedback! I was not convinced by puff pastry because even if the process is very similar, the result is not as flaky as one could expect. But it’s true they are difficult to categorize!
Happy New Year! These look like the perfect New Years treat.
Are you using white or brown rice flour?
Happy New Year to you too! Here I am using white rice flour 😉
These look amazing, I cant wait to try this recipe! Can they be frozen before and or after baking?
Thanks! You can froze them after baking and reheat quickly when you need.
Thank you! Is it possible to use a Gluten free flour blend instead of all the separate flours?
I never tested this. But if you try, let me know how it goes!
What can I substitute almond flour with as my son has a nut allergy?
Hi Anisa! You can use sunflower seeds flour or flaxseeds meal. Let me know if you try! 🙂
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Will real butter work in this recipe, if you don’t have to be dairy free?
Yes sure, real butter will work very well.