If I’m going to make Croissants then I’m going to want Pain au Chocolat too and visa versa – so I use this recipe to make both! The process takes about 4 and a half hours from start to finish (just long enough to fit them into a workshop) but they are SO worth it! It’s not a bread dough, but it’s not a pastry – it’s both, and it’s amazing!
Ingredients
Makes 6 Croissants and 6 Pain au Chocolats or 12 of either one – Halve the recipe to only make 6 of one.
- 160ml Water
- 220ml Milk
- 7g Easy bake yeast
- 560g Plain white flour
- 275g Butter, chilled
- 2 Tbsp Caster sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 Egg, beaten
- 150g Dark Chocolate (for Pain au Chocolat)
Directions
To make the dough
- In a medium sized saucepan, gently heat the milk and water until warm. Stir in the yeast and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, pour the flour into a large bowl and rub in 50g butter, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and salt.
- Pour in the liquid and stir with a cutlery knife to bring together. Knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface until smooth. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge for about an hour until it is cool.
- Put the remaining butter between 2 sheets of baking paper and bang with a rolling pin making it into a flat rectangle, about 1cm thick.
- On a lightly floured worksurface, roll out your chilled dough into a rectangle approximately twice the size of the butter. Place the rectangle of butter in the centre of the dough and fold over the ends of the dough and then the sides to compeltely conceal the butter. Roll lengthways into a rectangle and then fold into three – bottom third up and top third down. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for 10 minutes if the butter is becoming very soft. Repeat this rolling and chilling 3 more times.
- Cut the dough in half (if making croissant and pain au chocolat) and roll into two squares 5 mm thick.
To make Pain au Chocolat
- Cut the dough into 6 even sized rectangles.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the chocolate into lengths (don’t worry if it shatters a little). Arrange a row of chocolate along the two narrowist sides of each piece of dough and roll both sides into the middle, encasing the chocolate.
- Place the pain au chocolat on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to prove for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Brush the pain au chocolat with beaten egg and bake in the top third of the oven for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden. Serve warm, not straight out of the oven as the chocolate will be very hot! Or enjoy cold 🙂
To make croissants
- Cut into roughly 15cm triangles. Roll with a rolling pin from the top to base of each triangle to slightly elongate them. Roll tightly from the base (wide side) to the tip (narrow side) and bring the ends round to make a crescent shape, tucking the tip underneath.
- Place the crescents on a baking tray and leave in a warm place, covered with lightly oiled cling film to rise for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Brush the crescents with beaten egg and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm or enjoy cold.
