Pain au chocolat is a French pastry made from yeast dough wrapped around dark chocolate. It is a popular breakfast and snack in France and around the world, and can be made from scratch or using ready-made puff pastry.
“Pain au chocolat” is a French phrase that translates into English as “chocolate bread”. A simple and popular Parisian breakfast, pain au chocolat is a roll made from yeast dough wrapped around dark chocolate. It’s also a much-loved snack that’s available in bakeries in France and around the world. This French pastry may be simple, but it takes time to make, with a dough made from milk, flour, yeast and butter with a little sugar and salt. Once ready, the rectangles of dough are wrapped in sticks or pieces of chocolate and cooked in the oven. The resulting dough is best served hot, while the chocolate inside is still soft.
The typical breakfast in Paris and many other parts of France consists of coffee, often “cafe au lait” and a sweet pastry. A popular choice is pain au chocolat, which consists of a croissant-like yeast dough, wrapped around dark chocolate. In parts of southwestern France and French Canada, it is referred to as a “chocolate”. It usually has a slightly rounded rectangular shape with a light golden brown color, and sometimes a small amount of chocolate can be seen oozing from the ends.
In addition to being served for breakfast, it is a much-loved snack in France and many other countries, including the United States, where some people call it a “chocolate croissant”. Virtually all bakeries and cafés in France sell pain au chocolat and it is widely available in similar establishments around the world. Methods of preparation can vary slightly from location to location, and many aficionados have their own favorite places to purchase them.
Most chocolate pain recipes are relatively simple; the two main components are leavened dough and good quality dark chocolate. Preparing the dough can be time-consuming, as it requires several resting periods. The basic ingredients including flour, yeast, milk, sugar, salt and butter are mixed together to form a smooth dough and then left to rise. Next, the dough is rolled out thin, folded in thirds, and then left to rest for at least two hours or overnight. Then the dough is rolled and folded again, sometimes with more butter in between, and left to rest for anywhere from two hours to a few days.
Once the dough is ready to use, the rest of the preparation is simple. The dough is rolled out one last time, cut into rectangles, wrapped around the chocolate and baked. Pain au Chocolat is supposed to be best eaten hot when the chocolate inside is soft and gooey, and can be served as a breakfast, snack, or even dessert. If making it from scratch is too laborious, it can also be made using ready-made puff pastry and high-quality chocolate with similar results.
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