Today I’m sharing one of my absolute favorites, Pain au Chocolate is what I get for myself at any bakery I go to. It’s basically a croissant filled with dark chocolate, Mmmmmm it doesn’t get much better! These are a seriously not as hard as you think, it all comes down to taking your time and making the dough right.
I have to assume if your reading my blog that you love chocolate as much as I do… and breakfasts, and desserts, and pastries, etc.. So this treat is RIGHT up your alley, right? I know most people are scared of making layered pastry doughs, and honestly when I first started I had a few fails too, seriously bad ones. But all it really takes it patience, don’t skip a step, take your time and it will be so worth it, I promise!
I’ve been doing a video series on my youtube channel all about layered pastry dough’s. I’ve already done a video on the dough itself, one and croissants and today’s is a tutorial on putting together your Pain Au Chocolate! I hope you enjoy each video (don’t forget to subscribe, next week we finish the series with Kouign Amann’s, YUM
The Dough (in the video I mention rolling out and folding and rolling out and folding – turns 1 and 2 – without refrigerating between, I highly suggest you not cut corners and refrigerate after every turn)
Pain Au Chocolat tutorial – If you want to cut your own sticks you can pour melted dark chocolate into the bottom of a loaf pan, about 1/3 of an inch high, and let it set, before it get’s too hard cut it into 1/3 x 3 inch strips to create the sticks you’ll need
- 1 C whole milk warmed
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp butter softened and cut into small chunks
- 1 1/2 C butter cold
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 24 Dark Chocolate sticks 3 inches long (or enough chocolate to make the stick shape)
- 1 lrg egg slightly beaten
- In your mixing bowl add milk, yeast and sugar together and let proof about 10 mins until the yeast is dissolved.
- Add the flour, salt and 2 Tbsp softened butter to the warm milk mixture. Mix with a dough hook until it's combined, then mix 2-3 more mix until it's smooth (if you don't have a bosch you can knead by hand about 5 mins)
- Let the dough sit (covered) for 1 hour (or until doubled in size.
- With your hands, on the counter (or in your Bosch) mix the cold butter and 3 Tbsp flour until it is smooth and without lumps. Work quickly to keep the butter cold.
- Place the butter on plastic wrap and shape it into a 9x6 in rectangle. Wrap and refrigerate the butter 30 mins
- knock the dough down, knead lightly in the bowl and refrigerate for 30-45 mins.
- Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface to a 15 x 8 inch rectangle.
- Take the rectangle of butter and place over 2/3 of the dough leaving a 1/2 inch border on 3 of the side and about 5 inches on the other. Fold over the excess 5 inches of dough then fold over the buttered side like you were folding a business letter. Seal the edges and rotate 1/4 turn.
- Roll out the dough/butter into a 18x8 inch rectangle, fold into thirds again, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 mins (first turn)
- Repeat rolling out, folding, wrapping and refrigerating 2 more times (2nd and 3rd turns)
- Roll out the dough one more time, roll into thirds again, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate, this time for an hour or overnight (4th turn) (at this point the dough can also be frozen, let thaw completely before proceeding.).
- Roll out dough into a rectangle about 10 x 15 inches (it will be about 1/4 inch thick)
- Cut down the center, creating two 5 x 15 inch rectangles
- Cut small rectangles by cutting every 3 inches, creating 12 5x3 inch rectangles
- Place one of the chocolate stick at one of the 3 inch ends, roll it up until it's completely wrapped and press the dough together
- Add a second stick just on the other side wrap around the rest of the dough, press the seam so it's underneath
- Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with non stick spray, like pam or bakers joy, and let rise until increased by almost half, 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
- Brush each pain au chocolat lightly with the egg. Bake at 375 for 20-25 mins.
Recipe Video
SOOOOOO what do you think? are you going to give it a try? Have you ever made your own croissants before? What’s holding you back? and do the videos help at all????
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