Pain au Chocolat

Laminated dough folded round two chocolate batons rather than chips, so the chocolate sits at the folds and cannot leak out.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 1 batch croissant dough, as on its own page, through all its folds and rested
• 16 chocolate batons, or 200 g dark chocolate cut into 8 cm sticks
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, to glaze

Method

1. IT IS BATONS, NOT CHIPS, AND THEY GO AT THE TWO FOLDS. A baton is a solid stick that holds its shape while the pastry bakes; chips and chunks melt early, run to the lowest point and burn onto the tray, and the pastry above them collapses into the gap. Two batons, each sitting where the dough will fold over it, so the finished pastry has chocolate at both turns and a seam of plain dough between them.
2. THE DOUGH IS COLD EVERY TIME IT IS TOUCHED. Straight from the fridge for rolling, back in if it softens, and cold again before the oven. Warm laminated dough leaks butter instead of steaming into layers, and this one is handled more than a croissant is.
3. THE SEAM GOES UNDERNEATH AND IS NOT SEALED. No egg, no water, no pinching -- the weight of the pastry holds it shut and the layers stay free to lift. A sealed seam is a glued edge that will not rise.
4. AND THE GLAZE STAYS OFF THE CUT SIDES, for the same reason. Brush the top only.
5. Croissant dough made as on its own page, taken through all its folds, and rested cold at least 1 hour.
6. Rolled to a rectangle 3 to 4 mm thick, about 40 cm wide, working in one direction and resting it if it fights.
7. Trimmed square with a sharp knife in single strokes, then cut into eight rectangles about 8 by 13 cm.
8. CHILLED 20 MINUTES on the tray before shaping.
9. One baton laid about a third of the way along a rectangle, the short edge folded over it.
10. The second baton laid against that fold, and the remaining dough rolled over to enclose it. Finished SEAM DOWN.
11. Set well apart on lined trays, seam underneath.
12. Proved at warm room temperature 2 to 2 hours 30 minutes until visibly puffed and wobbling when the tray is nudged. NOT above 25C.
13. Glazed on top only, carefully, and baked at 200C for 10 minutes, then 180C for 8 to 10, until deep brown with the layers visible at the cut ends.
14. Cooled 15 minutes on a rack. The chocolate is molten straight from the oven.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes