Pain au chocolat
Lamination is an exercise in temperature, not dexterity. Butter and dough must be of similar firmness: butter too cold shatters and punches through the layers, butter too warm soaks into the dough and the separate layers that steam could push apart disappear. Three folds give 27 layers of butter sandwiched with dough, and in the oven the water in the butter turns to steam and forces them apart.
Your own work in that: 2 h 40 min.
- Base dough 20 min
- Overnight chill 480 min
- Folding 160 min
- Shaping 30 min
- Proving 120 min
- Baking 40 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMix briefly and chill overnight
Combine all the dough ingredients and knead for only 5 minutes — the gluten develops later, during rolling. Shape into a rectangle, flatten, wrap and refrigerate overnight (at least 8 hours). Cold, rested dough does not shrink back under the pin.
Ingredients: 500 g strong bread flour · 140 ml milk · 130 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 55 g sugar · 11 g salt · 40 g butter
Beat the butter into a flat square
Place the cold butter between two sheets of paper and beat it with a rolling pin into an 18×18 cm square of even thickness. The aim is butter that is pliable but still cold — worked, not warmed.
Ingredients: 280 g butter
An even square, pliable but still cold.Enclose the butter in the dough
Roll the dough into a rectangle of about 20×38 cm, twice as long as the butter square. Set the butter in the middle, fold both ends of the dough over it so they meet in the centre, and pinch the seam and sides firmly. The butter must be fully enclosed — any gap lets it escape during rolling.
Ingredients: 500 g strong bread flour · 140 ml milk · 130 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 55 g sugar · 11 g salt · 40 g butter
Do three folds with chilling between
Roll into a rectangle three times longer than wide and fold in three like a letter. Wrap and chill for 45 minutes, then turn 90° and repeat — three folds in all, with 45 minutes in the fridge after each. The timer counts one chill. Three letter folds give 27 layers of butter sandwiched with dough.
Ingredients: 500 g strong bread flour · 140 ml milk · 130 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 55 g sugar · 11 g salt · 40 g butter
Three letter folds, chilling after every one.Cut rectangles and roll in the chocolate
Roll into a rectangle of about 32×62 cm, about 5 mm thick, trim the edges to 30×60 cm and cut into 12 rectangles of 10×15 cm. Lay a chocolate baton along the short edge of each, roll once, add the second baton and finish rolling. The seam goes underneath — otherwise it unrolls in the oven. Space them out on two lined trays.
Ingredients: 250 g dark chocolate · 1 pcs egg
Two batons, seam always underneath.Prove at 24–26°C, no warmer
Leave the trays for 2 hours at 24–26°C, until the pastries have visibly risen and wobble when you shake the tray. Do not put them in a warm oven — above about 28°C the butter starts to run out of the layers and pools on the tray.
Ingredients: 500 g strong bread flour · 140 ml milk · 130 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 55 g sugar · 11 g salt · 40 g butter
Risen and wobbling — no warmer than 26°C.Bake 20 minutes, starting hot
Towards the end of proving, heat the oven to 200°C. Brush the pastries with beaten egg and bake one tray at a time: 10 minutes at 200°C, then 10 minutes at 180°C, until deep golden. Bring the oven back up to 200°C before the second tray. The first blast turns the water in the butter to steam and forces the layers apart; the lower heat lets the centre bake through without burning the top.
Ingredients: 250 g dark chocolate · 1 pcs egg
Cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes
Cool on a rack. The chocolate inside is liquid now and a pastry torn open too soon dumps all of it onto the tray. After twenty minutes it returns to the consistency of a thick ganache and stays where it belongs.
Ingredients: 500 g strong bread flour · 140 ml milk · 130 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 55 g sugar · 11 g salt · 40 g butter
Before you start
82% butter
Lower-fat butter (such as 73.5%) holds more water, softens faster and smears into the dough during rolling instead of forming separate layers. 82% butter, or a dedicated laminating butter, makes a visible difference here — this is not snobbery.
Spread it over two days
Day one, in the evening: dough into the fridge overnight. Day two: butter, three folds, shaping, proving and baking — about 6 hours. You can also leave the wrapped dough in the fridge for another night after folding and shape it in the morning; laminated dough takes this well.
Freeze after shaping
Freeze the shaped, unproved pastries on a tray and then bag them. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then prove as normal. It is the best way to fresh pastry on a Sunday morning without getting up at five.
