Croissants and pains au chocolat

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 250 g flour
• 30 g sugar
• 50 g butter, soft
• ½ tsp salt
• 12 g fresh yeast
• 115 g water, cold
• 5 g milk
• Flour for the work surface
• 125 g butter, cold

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 5 hours; Total time approx. 6 hours

Original French recipe. It’s time-consuming to prepare, but worth it.

Mix the flour with the sugar, softened butter, salt, and crumbled yeast. Transfer to a food processor and knead, slowly adding water and milk. The dough should be elastic and homogeneous and no longer stick to the sides of the bowl. Knead for about 6 minutes. Then roll out into a rectangle on a floured surface. Wrap the rectangle in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Spread the cold butter over half of the rectangle. Fold the other half of the rectangle over the dough. Roll out the doubled dough, with the butter in the center, into a rectangle 6-7 mm thick. Fold the bottom half of the rectangle to the middle, and do the same with the top half. The edges should touch in the middle. Fold together again in the middle. You will have 4 layers. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Now roll out the dough into a rectangle 6 mm thick. Fold in one-third of the dough and place the other 2/3 on top. You will have 3 layers. Wrap in foil and refrigerate for one hour. Now roll out the dough into a square, about 3-4 mm thick, and cut into 2 or 3 strips (depending on the desired size of the croissants). For croissants, cut the strips into triangles, for pains au chocolat into squares. Roll the triangles into croissants, starting at the long end and rolling towards the tip. Shape into croissants. Fill the pains au chocolat with chocolate (in France they use special bars for this, but grated chocolate works too) and roll them up so that the chocolate is in the center. Now place the croissants (pains au chocolat) on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, brush with lightly sweetened milk, and let rise for 1-2 hours. Bake in a hot oven at 180°C (top/bottom heat) for about 12-15 minutes. The preparation is time-consuming, requiring a long wait in the refrigerator. But it’s the only way the croissant gets its flaky texture. Margarine is also not a suitable substitute for real butter in this recipe.