Pain Au Chocolat - a delight!

I work with a French woman. Sadly, she is moving back to France in a week or two. I asked her "What would you like me to make for you before you leave?" She replied "Pain Au Chocolat!" I had never heard of such a thing. She described it as puff pastry wrapped around chocolate. YUM! I researched it and found great pictures to match but...could I make it taste fresh and delicious like it just came from a French Bakery?!

Here we begin. I found a great recipe from Dinner With Julie, another blog. I do feel bad about going off of someone else's recipe, but I had no idea how to make this otherwise. The directions and ingredients are exceedingly simple. I hope you'll give this delicious, but time consuming, recipe a try!

Pain Au Chocolat

Dough:

3/4 cup warm milk
1 pkt yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt

Butter:

1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter, room temp
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Chocolate:

1/2 cup or more chocolate (I chopped mine into slivers. I used Ghiradelli 60%Cacao, Intense Dark Evening Dream Chocolate Bar. Found it in the candy section of Wal-Mart. I'm sure you could use a semisweet bar as well.

Mix all of the dough ingredients and knead until smooth and no longer sticky (a few minutes). Don't add more flour to reduce stickiness. Adding flour will make the end result tough.

Whip/mix the butter ingredients until very fluffy and pale. I mixed it in the stand mixer the whole time I was working on the dough ingredients and kneading it. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Butter doesn't need to be refrigerated.

Take the dough out of the fridge. Roll it on a lightly floured countertop into a rectangle about 13" by 18" and 1/4inch thick. Stand facing it so that the 18" is horizontal and the 13" is vertical.

Spread the butter onto the right 2/3rds of the dough.

You will be folding the dough into thirds. At this point, take the 1/3rd of the dough that isn't covered in butter on the left and fold it over halfway to the other side of the dough, so that it covers only 1/3rd of the butter.

Then, fold the right side over the part you just folded so that it's a tri-fold.

Wrap it up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Take it out of the fridge, place the open ends to your left and right and roll out into another 13X18 rectangle 1/4 inch thick.

Then, do the tri-fold routine again. Don't be afraid if the butter looks odd or if the dough cracks. It will all work out.

Place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. You will do this an additional 2 times to make the total 4 times that you roll out and fold.

At this point, place the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 5 hrs or overnight (I didn't have plastic wrap, so I used wax paper)

At this point, it shouldn't take too long to get these guys in the oven. I know it's a lot of prep time, but it's worth it when you see the flaky buttery layers in croissants!

Take the chocolate and shave/chop it into little bits. I used a baking bar, so I just shaved bits off the edge.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface so that it is 1/4 inch thick. I used a pizza cutter to cut long strips and then cross cut to make pieces the size of a business card.

If the pieces are too thick for you, roll them a bit thinner. Place a small strip of chocolate down the middle.

Chocolate!!!

Roll them up tightly and place seam side down on the ungreased baking sheet.

Lots! If you have the time, let rise for an hour. I did not, so I just baked them. 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Finished! I made a mistake and only baked mine at 350 for 15 minutes and they don't seem as flaky as I thought they'd be. Be sure you bake them at the right temperature!

Pain Au Chocolat!

I taste tested a couple out of the oven and...although they tasted good, I look forward to trying them when they have cooled down. I think the flavor will come out more at that point.

Enjoy!