This pain au chocolat recipe makes light, flaky French croissants filled with delicious chocolate. They do require a little effort but a bread machine makes the process a lot easier. Your entire family will love these!
Ingredients
- warm water: 0.25 cup
- ¼ cups bread flour: 2 piece
- instant nonfat dry milk: 2 Tbsp
- white sugar: 1 Tbsp
- salt: 0.5 tsp
- butter: 2 Tbsp (softened)
- ½ teaspoons instant yeast: 1 piece
- butter: 0.5 cup (softened)
- egg yolk: 1 piece
- milk: 1 Tbsp
- ounces semisweet chocolate chunks: 9 piece
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Gather the ingredients.
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Pour water into a bread machine pan; add flour. Sprinkle milk powder over flour. Place sugar, salt, and 2 tablespoons of softened butter into the corners of the pan. Make a small indent in the top of the dry ingredients and place yeast in the indent. Run the bread machine on the basic dough setting.
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Meanwhile, lay out a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Shape the remaining 1/2 cup of butter into a 3x5-inch rectangle on the waxed paper; wrap and chill until ready to use.
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Remove butter from the refrigerator and allow to soften while you roll out dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; roll into a 8x12-inch rectangle. Place butter on half of the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border of dough on 3 sides. Fold the other half of dough over butter and press the edges firmly to seal.
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Roll the dough out to a 6x14-inch rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds from the long ends, as you would fold a business letter. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
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Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Place it onto a lightly floured surface so that the folded edge faces you. Roll the dough out again into a 6x14-inch rectangle, and fold into thirds. Cover with plastic and chill for 20 minutes.
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Repeat step 5, then chill the dough for 30 minutes.
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In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolk and milk; set aside. Grease two baking sheets.
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Roll dough out into a 12x21-inch rectangle. Cut dough into thirds in both directions, to make 9 rectangles. Divide chocolate among the rectangles. Lightly brush egg yolk mixture around the edges of each piece. Starting at a short end, roll each piece of dough around the chocolate; press the edges together to seal.
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Place the croissants onto the prepared baking sheets; cover with greased plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until they have doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush the top of the pastries with the remaining egg yolk mixture.
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Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer croissants to wire racks. Serve warm or at room temperature.
