Welcome back to another “Experiments in Kitchen“ post. I know I am posting posts like this after a long time. Last year, I had been so busy taking care of my little daughter that I didn’t have time to try any new recipe. These days my experiments are more geared towards making recipes that she might like and are also nutritious and healthy for her.
I am going to make a few changes to these posts. Now I would add the recipe and the final pictures of the dish instead of the step by step ones. Then as and when time permits, I would add the step by step pictures.
This one is special to me. Because this was a Mother’s Day surprise by my husband. He made a french recipe – Pain Au Chocolat (Chocolate Bread) on Mother’s Day. I didn’t get time to write a post, but today here is one.
Pain Au Chocolat
Pain Au Chocolat has a texture similar to puff pastry, popularly known as Chocolate Croissants. It is quite similar to the cream roll (my favorites since childhood). The cream is replaced by chocolate and it’s less crispy from the outside.
This is the recipe that my husband followed with few changes – Miriam’s Cuisine – Pain Au Chocolat.
Changes
He didn’t make a lot of changes to the recipe. He kneaded the dough with hands as we don’t have a food processor that can do that. That’s about the only change but the most important one.
Let’s Begin
He started by adding flour, sugar, yeast, and salt to a bowl and mixing them. Then he started adding water to knead the dough. The dough became runny and he remembered that he forgot to add the egg.
Next, he added the egg and butter and again kneaded the dough. But it was still very sticky. So he ended up adding more flour to the dough to make it non-sticky. Next, he left the dough to rest for some time as he was cooking the dinner also.
After an hour when he got back, the dough has risen. He took it out and again kneaded it. He partitioned the dough into two parts, one he kept in the fridge. And one he used to make naans (Indian flatbread).
Once we finished dinner, he took the dough out from the fridge. He sprinkled some flour on the countertop. And rolled the dough into one big giant layer on the countertop using the rolling pin. Then he grated the butter all over it. Next, he started rolling from one side until he had one big roll. Then he folded the roll from both ends towards inside to form a big square roll.
Once again, he rolled the dough into a big giant pizza shape on the countertop. And placed long cuts along the length to form small-sized strips.
He placed some chocolate chips on one end and started rolling the strip. Added some more chocolate chips and continued rolling towards the other end. He followed the same process for half of the strips. For the other half, he used small chocolate bars.
He placed all the rolls onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. And brushed the rolls with butter.
He preheated the oven to 400 F/200 C and placed these baking trays inside for 20 minutes.
How was it?
One word for Pain Au Chocolat- Heavenly! Imagine having the first bite of that gooey, soft, and warm freshly baked croissant? Does it need any more description? Literally, it just melted inside the mouth.
We paired it with wine, chocolate sauce, hot tea, and coffee over the span of the next few days. Sometimes, we warmed them in the microwave before eating. I can confidently say it accompanied all of them very well. Pain Au Chocolat lasted seven days at room temperature.
Thank you, dear Husband, for such a wonderful treat.
Pain Au Chocolat
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Ingredients
Instructions
Have you ever made these croissants? Or will you try them after reading this? Let me know in the comments below!
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Cooking!
