Croissants and Pain au Chocolat
Oct 5th, 2008 by SteveB
If I had to choose a single pastry that is the embodiment of all that is French viennoiserie, it would have to be the croissant. In the U.S., croissants have been steadily increasing in popularity, particularly as the basis for a wide variety of breakfast sandwiches. When properly baked, the croissant has a crisp, flakey exterior with a light, open and wonderfully buttery interior. If formed in a rectangular shape wrapped around a stick or two of chocolate, the pastry takes on the name, pain au chocolat. A croissant with a favorite spread, or a pain au chocolat, and a hot cup of coffee is a great way to start the day.
The croissant formula used here is derived from the one described in Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas. Not having the osmotolerant yeast specified, I used just a bit more instant yeast. I also used an imported Irish butter (unsalted Kerrygold), with a slightly higher fat content than typical American butters (82% vs. 80%). I find that the higher fat content makes the butter a bit more pliable, making it easier to fold into the dough. The Kerrygold is also made from cultured cream, giving the croissants a wonderful, more complex flavor. For the pain au chocolat, I cut up a bar of high quality semi-sweet baking chocolate to form the bÁ¢tons.
Poolish
- 145 g Heartland Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour
- 145 g Water
- 1/8 tsp. Instant Yeast
Final Dough
- 335 g Heartland Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour
- 115 g Water
- 65 g Milk
- 65 g Sugar
- 10 g Salt
- 1½ Tsp. Instant Yeast
- 20 g Butter
- 290 g Poolish (all of the above)
Roll-In
- 225 g Butter
Chocolate
- Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate BÁ¢tons (as needed)
The night before baking, prepare the poolish by mixing the flour, yeast and water until combined. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and allow to ferment at room temperature overnight, until the level of the poolish just begins to recede, about 12 hours.
The next morning, mix the flour, sugar and salt until evenly distributed. To the mixture add the 20 g of butter in small pieces and rub into the flour with your fingertips. Mix in the yeast, then add the milk, water and poolish. Mix with a dough whisk until all the ingredients are hydrated, then empty the bowl onto the countertop and mix by hand until moderate dough development is achieved. Immediately place the dough on a floured sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
After the 2 hour rest, the dough is transferred to a floured work surface and the dough is rolled out to a 7″ x 14″ rectangle. The butter is then incorporated into the dough and the dough is given its first turn as follows:[qt:http://breadcetera.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/Croissants1.MOV 500 375]After the first turn, the dough is returned to the refrigerator for another 1 hour rest. After the 1 hour, the dough is turned two more times, each time followed by a one hour rest in the refrigerator. After the final turn and refrigerated rest, the dough is once again placed on a floured surface and rolled and trimmed into a 16″ x 16″ square. The dough is divided in half and one of the halves is cut and shaped into croissants as follows:[qt:http://breadcetera.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/Croissants2.MOV 500 375]The other half of the dough is cut and shaped into pain au chocolat as follows:[qt:http://breadcetera.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/Croissants3.MOV 500 375]After the croissants and pain au chocolat have been panned, each piece is given an egg wash, and the pieces are allowed to proof by placing the sheet pans in an enclosed, temperature-controlled environment (I use a homemade proofbox) for 1½ hours at 76ºF. The pieces are then given a second egg wash and the sheet pans are placed in a 375ºF oven and baked for 20 minutes, the first 5 minutes being under steam. I dare you to wait for the croissants to cool before your first bite!
I just tried this recipe for the first time and it came out beautifully! I used some amish roll butter and it really produced a wonderfully flaky result. I have no idea what the fat content is of the butter, but I’m guessing it might be along the lines of the European butter that you recommend since it rolled out so well.
Thanks for a wonderful recipe and great instructions — I’m definitely going to make this one of my staples 🙂
Hi Steve! Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I want to know if I should use powdered milk or liquid?
Thank!
Hi Louise,
This particular recipe makes use of whole, liquid milk.
Thanks Steve! I will be making this today and I just can’t wait but I know I have to be patience when making bread. I love you site!
I just want to let you know that my Croissants and Pain au Chocolat
Turn out very good. I’m surely going to make this again and again but I have to double the batch next time.
[…] passed again. Time just flies. In between we’ve enjoyed some croissants and focaccia. Tried the croissant recipe from Bread cetera, flavor was gorgeous, but the structure was missing some flakiness. Didn’t […]
I am trying VERY hard to improve and hopefully perfect my croissant making, and would be very grateful if someone could tell me what difference it would make, if any, if one used all water, rather than a mixture of water and milk? Many thanks.
Hi chris,
Typically, milk is used in a bread formula to produce a more tender crumb as compared to that obtained by using water alone.
Hi Steve – many thanks for your response. I am getting a reasonably good lamination on my croissants (I would love to be able to send you some pics, but not sure if it’s possible on your site?) but they just feel a tad heavy, and the inside can look a bit dense, and I just wondered if using all water might help to provide a more open texture. This just feels to be the final hurdle to croissant nirvana and it is SO frustrating!! Best wishes Chris
Thanks for the recipe. I tried to follow your videos, but the audio got way ahead of the video and there were not controls for me to re-wind or pause to let it download and hope the audio and video would sync.
I’m planing to make Pain au Chocolate for Christmas this year.
Dan
Turned out great! Thanks for the recipe and instructions.
Merry Christmas,
Dan
Why do you use a poolish? o_O We just use fresh yeast in France. And basically in a baking school we use water, not milk.
250g white flour, 10g fresh yeast, 5g salt, 35g sugar,125g water, 125g butter. The less is more.
thefrog,
A poolish serves to increase the extensibility of the dough and improve the flavor profile of the final viennoiserie.
We never use a poolish in croissant pastry, I think that complicate it for nothing.
Hi this might be quite a late comment.. i just want to ask.. what do u mean by moderate dough developement? definately a novice here. And i live in Singapore, a place where it’s humid and hot all year long. let’s say after i incoporated the butter into the dough, can i chill it first before i start to laminate my dough? Thanks!
Hi Carmen,
If you pull a small piece of dough slowly between your fingers and, without tearing, are able to get a translucent window with strands of gluten running throughout the window, the dough is judged to be mixed to moderate development. Your dough can be chilled before the start of lamination. Just make sure that the dough and butter being incorporated during lamination are of the same consistency.
Thanks Steve!
Dear Steve,
Thank you so much for these videos, the techniques are explained perfectly and have been a real help! Can’t wait to look around the rest of your site.
Happy baking from the UK,
Hugo