Pain Au Chocolat — Al Brady

Posted by Bob on Nov 28, 2020 in Breads, Pastry |

How do you improve croissants? Just add chocolate!

250g strong white flour
30g sugar
5g salt
10g instant yeast
75g whole milk
75g water
200g salted butter

1 egg, for glazing

Place all the ingredients for the dough into a bowl and using a dough scraper mix everything together to create a rough dough.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead until smooth and springy.
Place the dough into a clean bowl, cover and leave to prove for an hour or until doubled in size.
Knock back the dough, wrap in clingfilm and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes place the dough in the fridge for 8-12 hours to rest.

Place the butter on a sheet of parchment paper and tap with a rolling pin to flatten it until you have a flat rectangle approx. 15x15cm.
Wrap in a clean piece of parchment paper and put into the fridge with the dough.

Once rested turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, and roll to a rectangle approx. 30x15cm
Place the butter block in the middle of the dough and fold over the dough to cover the butter.
Use the rolling pin to light press the dough from one end to the other to seal the seam and to soften and expand the butter and the dough.
Roll to the dough to a rectangle to 45x15cm and about 3-4mm thick.
Fold the bottom third of the dough up to cover the middle of the dough, then fold the top third down to cover the bottom third.
Seal the edges lightly, wrap with cling film and return to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, so the dough firms up but is not hard.
Repeat this process again more giving you 2 rolls and folds in total. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place the dough into the fridge for 8-12 hours or overnight.

To shape the chocolate croissants:

Roll the dough to a square approx. 25x25cm trimming the edges to create a nice and straight square 24x24cm.
Using a ruler mark the square into 6 rectangles 8x12cm and using a sharp knife cut down the markings cleanly to create 6 separate rectangles.
Place one or two of the chocolate sticks at the short edge of the rectangle.
Roll the dough over the chocolate to completely cover it.
Then place another 1-2 chocolate stick onto the dough and then continue to roll up into a log shape. Continue this process with the remaining rectangles.
Place the rolled chocolate croissants onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, with the seam tucked underneath, pressing down slightly to stop the chocolate croissant from unrolling on the baking sheet during proving and cooking.
Spray or brush the chocolate croissants with a little water to stop them from drying out, then cover and leave to prove for about 3 hours or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
Once the pain au chocolate have doubled in size, brush with egg wash to coat them completely.
Put into the oven and bake for 10 minutes then drop the temperature to 170ºC and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes until the tops are a rich golden brown.
Once cooked remove from the oven and leave to cool.

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