Pain au chocolat

I recently attended a two-day workshop in making French pastries at the Adelaide  Le Cordon Bleu school (they seem to have schools everywhere)! We learned how to make croissants, Pain au chocolat, brioche filled with cream, and pastries shaped like a slipper. Here is a photo of some of our ‘loot.’ Doesn’t that look good!

Photo courtesy of Emma Wormald, Le Cordon Bleu, Adelaide

We even learned how to make a bi-colored croissant filled with jam:

Photo courtesy of Emma Wormald, Le Cordon Bleu, Adelaide

Here is a photo of me trying to master the art of making Pain au chocolat!

Photo courtesy of Emma Wormald, Le Cordon Bleu, Adelaide

If you’ve ever eaten French pastries, you’ll be familiar with the flaky, buttery dough that seems to melt in your mouth and challenges your will power to its upper limits. The flaky layers of Pain au chocolat are achieved through the use of laminated dough– a technique creating many thin layers of dough separated by butter, produced by multiple steps of rolling and folding the dough.

My recipe below will create 25 layers of dough, separated by butter!

I’ve seen several ‘cheats’ recipes that promise to fast-track you to French pastry heaven, however the truth is, there is no short-cut to making flaky pastry- you really need to go through all the steps. I find that if I spread the process over two days, doing the mixing of ingredients on one day an the rolling and folding of the dough the next day, it is not that bad.

I was even inspired to buy a Kitchen Aid stand mixer to help knead the dough! This post is rather long and may appear a bit complicated. But you know what they say, “No pain, no gain!”

Here are a few tips:

• It’s important to keep the dough chilled while you are rolling it out and folding it. Otherwise, the butter will ‘melt’ into the dough and you’ll lose the layering effect.
• If you find the dough is becoming too warm, place it in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill, before continuing.
• The recipe calls for splitting the dough into two separate balls for easier handling. After you complete the process for rolling and folding one ball of dough, you’ll need to repeat the process for the second ball of dough.
• Use 3- inch long special chocolate sticks, made especially for Pain au chocolat pastries. I used Callibaut chocolate sticks, available on Amazon or specialty stores.

Here’s the method for making your Pain au chocolat (see printable recipe below):

The Method:

Add all the ingredients at once into the bowl of a stand mixer: flour, sugar, dried yeast, milk powder, butter, water and milk. Using a dough hook, mix for three minutes on speed #1, then 5-6 minutes on speed #2.

Divide the dough into two balls, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, press the balls into two rectangular shapes (about 8 x 6 inches) and place in the fridge overnight to rest.

On a lightly-floured surface, roll out one piece of dough into a rectangle measuring about 16 x 6 inches, with the shorter side facing you- the dough should be about 1/4 inch thick.

Wrap two sticks of salted butter (one cup) in an ‘envelope’ of parchment paper- use a rolling pin to press down on the butter and shape it into a rectangle that will cover the lower half of your dough (i.e. measuring approximately 8 x 6 inches). Spread the butter over the lower half of your dough- the butter should be warm enough to be pliable, but not runny.

Fold the upper half of the dough over the lower half and then rotate the dough 1/4 turn so that the open seam that was on the bottom, is now located on the right side and the closed seam will be on your left (like a book). Make sure your edges are nice and even.

Fold the  top of the dough over the bottom half. Follow with a 1/4 turn to left so that the closed seam remains on your left (like a book).

Now roll the dough out into a rectangle measuring approximately 12 x 6 inches, with the shorter side located closest to you. Fold both ends of the dough into the middle, bringing the top and bottom edges together.

Then fold the dough in half again (bringing the two halves together). This process is called a ‘four-fold.’

Cover the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Place the dough with the shorter end closest to you and roll-out the dough into another rectangle, measuring approximately 16 x 6 inches.

Fold the top part of the dough into the center, then fold the bottom part over to form a ‘business letter’ shape. This process is called a three-fold or simple fold. Place the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill.

Place the dough on your workspace and turn the dough so that the closed seam is now on your left (like a book) and roll the dough out so that it is 1/8 inch thick. Here, you can cut the dough in half so that it is easier to work with- place the reserved dough in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Cut the dough into individual rectangles measuring 6 inches long and 3 inches wide.

Place one chocolate stick on the very bottom of the rectangle, roll the dough once or twice, then place another stick on the dough. Continue to roll the dough all the way up with the end of the rectangle facing on the bottom.

Place the pastries on a parchment paper-lined baking tray and set in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about 90 minutes). Brush with egg wash and bake at 375 F. for 12 minutes, turn the tray then bake for another approximately 5 minutes. The pastries should be golden on top and the dough cooked through. Dust with a little confectioner’s sugar and serve.

Brush with egg wash before baking