These homemade Pain Au Chocolat are heavenly. I tried to think of a more descriptive word but that really is what they taste like, heaven. They are buttery but light and fluffy with layers of dough that melt in your mouth and then you add the chocolate to these and it gets melty and they are just amazing, truly heavenly.
I roll these Pain au chocolat slightly different than traditionally because I do one line or vein of chocolate through the center rather than two lines, however, I have added instructions below on how to roll these with 2 lines if you want them to look traditional.
I love making these pastries, they are not too hard to make, though they do take some time. So make them on a day that you can pop back into the kitchen every 20 minutes or so.
You will laminate this dough, which is the term for putting layers of butter through out the dough. This croissants, there are a few different ways to do this, I use the butter square method because I feel like you get the best layers this way.
What you do with the butter square method is form butter into a square and make sure it is cold then you roll it into the dough by doing a roll then tri-fold then resting the dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes then repeating. Each of these tri-folds are referred to as a turn. This recipes calls for 6 turns as I feel like that is enough turns to get good layers. you can do more or less for more or less layers if desired.
These pastries do not last long at my house, they get inhaled by my kids and honestly any pastry I have ever made has not lasted more than a day. Which makes all the hard work worth it to see everyone so eager and excited to eat these.
What you need to make this Homemade Pain Au Chocolat Recipe: (printable recipe is below)
Makes 12 pastries
For the butter square:
- 1 cup salted butter – slightly colder than room temp to make into a butter square.
For the dough:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons melted salted butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 cup flour – plus more for rolling (about 1/8 cup to roll in)
For the chocolate:
- ~7 ounces chocolate of choice
For egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Additional ingredients:
- Sprinkle of sugar over the Pain Au Chocolat pastries before they bake
- Small pinch of salt to go over the pastries before baking
- Powered sugar for dusting over Pain Au chocolate after they have baked.
Instructions for homemade pain au chocolat:
Instructions to form the butter square:
- Place slightly colder than room temperature butter onto a sheet of parchment paper then form into a 6 x 6 inch and ~1/2 inch thick butter square.
- Fold the sides of the parchment paper over the sides or place another sheet of parchment paper on top, so the butter is fully covered.
- Then place into the refrigerator until it is cold and firm. Work on the dough while it is chilling.
Instructions to make the pain au chocolat:
(pictures that show the steps are below the instructions)
- In a mixing bowl, add warm water, dry active yeast and sugar.
- Stir and let sit for 2 minutes.
- Add salt and stir again.
- Add melted butter, milk, and stir.
- Slowly add flour, one cup at a time until a wet but not too sticky dough forms.
- Knead dough with an electric mixer dough hook for about 3 minutes or knead by hand for about 4 minutes or until dough feels elastic and smooth.
- Place 1/8 of a cup of flour onto a clean surface and roll dough out to form a square roughly 12 x 12 inches.
- Remove the butter square from the refrigerator and unwrap it and place butter square so it looks like a diamond in the middle of your dough square.
- Fold in the corner to form a box with the butter enclosed in dough.
- Roll dough out to a rectangle roughly 14 by 16, then fold into 3 layers, each side folded in towards the center.
- Wrap tri folded dough in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Remove plastic wrap or parchment paper and roll out again into roughly a 14 X 16 inch rectangle. Fold into thirds again, wrap again and refrigerate for 20 minutes again.
- Repeat the same step again 4 more times, each of these folds is referred to as a turn, so we want a total of 6 turns.
- After the final turn and refrigeration time, remove the wrap from the dough and roll out into a 14 x 16 inch rectangle again.
- Cut into 12 equal sized rectangles.
- There are two ways to roll these, one chocolate line or two. For one line; cut chocolate into 12 lines and then place the chocolate at the end of each of the rectangles and roll up dough then place on a lined baking sheet.
- If you want a traditional style pain au chocolate with two lines you can cut chocolate into 24 lines and then place on the end of each side of the rectangle then roll each side towards the center so there are two chocolate lines going through the pastry. Place smooth side of rolled pastry up on a lined baking sheet.
- Mix together the egg and water and then brush the tops of the pastries with it.
- Sprinkle the tops with sugar and a light dash of salt.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes or 1 hour or until pastries are doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Bake for ~15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown on the tops.
- Remove from the oven and let pastries cool slightly then dust tops with powdered sugar.
- Enjoy!
Printable recipe card is below the instruction pictures.
Here are the pictures that go along with the instructions:
This is the butter square wrapped in parchment paper and ready to be chilled.
Butter square placed in the center of the dough.
Butter square being rolled into the dough.
Tri-folded dough.
Rolled out dough that is ready to be cut into rectangles.
Chocolate added to the ends of the rectangles, this is for a 1 line chocolate roll. IF you want two, then add chocolate to each side and roll each end towards the center then place rolled ends down on baking sheet.
Add rolled up and ready to be brushed with egg wash, sprinkled with sugar and salt, lightly covered with plastic wrap and left to rise for about an hour before baking.
Add baked up and dusted with powdered sugar.
All ready to eat! Trust me I was pushing away little hands who wanted to eat these while taking this picture. Enjoy!
Here are a few other recipes you may also enjoy:
Kouign Amann Pastry Recipe
Swedish Pancakes
Cheddar Jalapeno Babka
Cinnamon Danish Pastry
Homemade Pain Au Chocolat
Ingredients
For the butter square:
- 1 cup salted butter slightly colder than room temp to make into a butter square.
For the dough:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons melted salted butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 cup flour plus more for rolling about 1/8 cup to roll in
For the chocolate:
- ~7 ounces chocolate of choice
For Egg Wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Additional ingredients:
- Sprinkle of sugar over the Pain Au Chocolat pastries before they bake
- Small pinch of salt to go over the pastries before baking
- Powered sugar for dusting over Pain Au chocolate after they have baked
Instructions
Instructions to form the butter square
- Place slightly colder than room temperature butter onto a sheet of parchment paper then form into a 6 x 6 inch and ~1/2 inch thick butter square.
- Fold the sides of the parchment paper over the sides or place another sheet of parchment paper on top, so the butter is fully covered.
- Then place into the refrigerator until it is cold and firm. Work on the dough while it is chilling.
Instructions to make the pain au chocolat:
- In a mixing bowl, add warm water, dry active yeast and sugar.
- Stir and let sit for 2 minutes.
- Add salt and stir again.
- Add melted butter, milk, and stir.
- Slowly add flour, one cup at a time until a wet but not too sticky dough forms.
- Knead dough with an electric mixer dough hook for about 3 minutes or knead by hand for about 4 minutes or until dough feels elastic and smooth.
- Place 1/8 of a cup of flour onto a clean surface and roll dough out to form a square roughly 12 x 12 inches.
- Remove the butter square from the refrigerator and unwrap it and place butter square so it looks like a diamond in the middle of your dough square.
- Fold in the corner to form a box with the butter enclosed in dough.
- Roll dough out to a rectangle roughly 14 by 16, then fold into 3 layers, each side folded in towards the center.
- Wrap tri folded dough in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Remove plastic wrap or parchment paper and roll out again into roughly a 14 X 16 inch rectangle. Fold into thirds again, wrap again and refrigerate for 20 minutes again.
- Repeat the same step again 4 more times, each of these folds is referred to as a turn, so we want a total of 6 turns.
- After the final turn and refrigeration time, remove the wrap from the dough and roll out into a 14 x 16 inch rectangle again.
- Cut into 12 equal sized rectangles.
- There are two ways to roll these, one chocolate line or two. For one line; cut chocolate into 12 lines and then place the chocolate at the end of each of the rectangles and roll up dough then place on a lined baking sheet.
- If you want a traditional style pain au chocolate with two lines you can cut chocolate into 24 lines and then place on the end of each side of the rectangle then roll each side towards the center so there are two chocolate lines going through the pastry. Place smooth side of rolled pastry up on a lined baking sheet.
- Mix together the egg and water and then brush the tops of the pastries with it.
- Sprinkle the tops with sugar and a light dash of salt.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes or 1 hour or until pastries are doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Bake for ~15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown on the tops.
- Remove from the oven and let pastries cool slightly then dust tops with powdered sugar.
- Enjoy!