French cuisine · Breakfast & Eggs

Pain au Chocolat

Laminated butter pastry rolled around two chocolate batons, golden outside and flaky within.

Ingredients · for 8 servings

• 500 g flour
• 60 g sugar
• 10 g salt
• 20 g fresh yeast
• 250 ml lukewarm milk
• 280 g butter
• 16 chocolate batons (or dark chocolate cut into strips)
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Knead the flour, sugar, salt, crumbled yeast and lukewarm milk for 8 min into a smooth, elastic dough, flatten it and let it rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours – overnight is best.
2. Pound 200 g cold butter between two sheets of baking paper into a 20 × 20 cm square and chill again; set the remaining butter aside for the trays.
3. Roll out the dough into a square twice the size, fold the butter block into the centre and give it three simple turns – chilling for 30 min between each turn, otherwise the butter will leak out.
4. Roll the dough out 4 mm thin and cut into 8 rectangles of about 8 × 14 cm; place two chocolate batons on each rectangle and roll up tightly.
5. Place the pastries seam-side down on buttered trays and let them prove, covered, for 2 hours until visibly risen and wobbly when nudged.
6. Brush with the beaten egg and bake at 200 °C top/bottom heat for 18–20 min until deep golden brown; serve lukewarm, when the chocolate inside is still soft.