The combination of the rich buttery pastry and the slightly bitter, full-bodied chocolate is almost indescribable. That something so "simple" can be so delicious, yes, it's almost incredible. The French – they just have a way with things, especially when it comes to pastries.
Recipe for pain au chocolat – chocolate croissant
Regular butter croissants are good. But chocolate croissants! In French, they are called pain au chocolat, and they are almost even better than regular croissants, at least sometimes.
The combination of the buttery pastry and the slightly bitter, rich chocolate is almost indescribable.
That something so “simple” can be so delicious, yes, it’s almost incredible. The French – they really know their stuff, especially when it comes to pastries.
And chocolate croissants can be said to be the cherry on top of both the breakfast table and the brunch spread. Can you imagine anyone complaining? No, right?
In my eagerness to find the perfect recipes and techniques, I once again had (Baker-Kim) Kim Jensen Rosengreen in my TV Kitchen to teach me how to make this recipe. Kim is a trained baker, food technologist, and sales manager at De Danske Gærfabrikker. So if there’s anyone who knows everything about yeast and the chemistry behind baking in general, it’s him.
Servings: pcs.
Pain au Chocolat - Chocolate croissant
The combination of the rich buttery pastry and the slightly bitter, full-bodied chocolate is almost indescribable. That something so "simple" can be so delicious, yes, it's almost incredible. The French – they just have a way with things, especially when it comes to pastries.
Equipment
- 1 Oven
- 1 Baking Tray
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 480 gram Wheat Flour cold, preferably frozen
- 75 gram Sugar
- 30 gram Yeast
- 10 gram Salt
- 50 gram Egg
- 110 gram Whole Milk
- 86 gram Water
- 50 gram Butter browned
- 375 gram Butter 5-10 degrees Celsius (41-50 degrees Fahrenheit) - to roll into the dough
Fill
- Dark chocolate
Brushing
- 1 pcs. Egg whipped
Instructions
Browned butter
- Start by browning your butter:
- Place the butter in a pan/pot (preferably with a thick bottom).
- Heat it over medium heat, 7 out of 14 on my stove.
- Avoid stirring it. As the butter melts, the whey will settle (sink to the bottom).
- Turn up the heat when the butter has melted (11 out of 14 on my stove).
- Stir it every other minute. It needs to foam up to develop the good nutty flavor and aroma, but the temperature must not be too high – it will give a burnt flavor to your browned butter.
- It is now ready to use. Let it cool slightly before using.
Dough
- The key to success with these chocolate croissants is to keep the dough from getting too warm, so it starts to rise and forms layers where the butter can either be absorbed or push the layers apart. Therefore, the flour must have been in the freezer beforehand, and the dough should be cooled down several times.
- Pour the cold water and milk into a mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast in it.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and turn it on.
- Mix it at the lowest speed for 5 minutes.
- Increase the speed to the highest setting and mix the dough for 2 minutes.
- Place the dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or chill for about 30 minutes.
- Take 2 pieces of baking paper and place the butter between them.
- Press it flat until you have a square of about 15x15 cm. You can do this with your hands or a rolling pin.
- Lightly flour the table and roll out the dough to about 25x25 cm.
- Place the butter in the square, but turn it 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees Fahrenheit) so the 4 corners all point towards the "center" of the 4 sides of the dough square.
- Fold all four sides of the dough over the butter, letting the four corners meet in the center, but with as little dough touching each other as possible. The butter should be completely covered by the dough.
- Place the dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or chill for about 30 minutes.
- Roll it out into a rectangle of 1 centimeter in height. CAUTION: Avoid pressing too hard when rolling over the dough, as this can damage the pastry’s fine layers. Also, remember to keep sprinkling flour on the table between each "rolling out".
- Brush off the flour before folding the dough, so you don't get flour between the layers.
- Fold the dough from one side over 2/3 of the way towards the other side.
- Finally, fold the last 1/3 the other way, so you have 3 layers of puff pastry.
- Place the dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or chill for about 30 minutes.
- Lightly flour the table and place the dough on the table as you took it out. Turn it 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees Fahrenheit) so you don’t roll it the same way as last time.
- Fold it the same as last time: 2/3 of the dough towards the left and then the last 1/3 the other way. Again, ensure that no flour gets between the layers.
- Place the dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or chill for about 30 minutes.
- Lightly flour the table and place the dough on the table as you took it out. Turn it 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees Fahrenheit) so you don’t roll it the same way as last time.
- Fold it the same as last time: 2/3 of the dough towards the left and then the last 1/3 the other way. Again, ensure that no flour gets between the layers.
- Place the dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or chill for about 30 minutes.
- Now roll the dough down to about 4 mm in thickness. Be careful not to press too hard with the rolling pin at the ends, otherwise, you risk "pushing" the butter out.
- Now it’s time to cut 8x15 cm triangles, which you will use for your pain au chocolat.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place either chocolate pieces about 7-8 cm in length and 1 cm in thickness on top of the triangles.
- Roll the triangle starting from the wide end (the one with the chocolate) and roll towards the pointed end of the triangle.
- After making a single roll over the chocolate, place another piece of chocolate in it and finish rolling it up.
- Place the croissant with the pointed end of the triangle facing down.
- Place it on the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining triangles.
- Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let them rise at room temperature until they are about double in size. This takes about 2 hours.
- If you don’t want to eat them all, you can freeze them before they rise and thaw them for rising another time. This way, you can bake 2-4 pieces at a time.
- Whisk an egg and brush the tops of your croissants with it.
- Bake at 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit) in a conventional oven for about 13-15 minutes until they are beautifully golden and crispy.
- There will be some butter left on the parchment paper afterward; just leave them on the parchment paper (preferably on a rack), and they will absorb the butter back. If there is a lot of butter, it is a sign that something went wrong with the rolling.
- Enjoy!