Fresh pain au chocolat??? YES PLEASE!!! This Chocolate Croissant Recipe will have you transported to the streets of France. With these flaky layers, soft inside, and chocolaty goodness; you’ll be returning to make this recipe again in no time!!!
If you want more in depth directions for the croissant dough, I recommend reading through my plain croissant recipe you can find here!
Rolling the Chocolate Croissants
Before rolling the croissants, score the bottom side of the dough. This is optional but, is very beautiful when baked.
The chocolate batons may seem to be slightly too long but don’t worry! The dough expands quite a bit and won’t be an issue after proofing and baking. (Although, shoot for them to not peek out AS much as mine are in these pictures.)
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Chocolate Croissant Recipe
Ingredients
Dough
Butter Block
Chocolate
Egg Wash
Instructions
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In a bowl fitted for a stand mixer combine the yeast and warm water. Let that sit for 3 minutes. Add in the milk, egg, flours, sugar, and salt. Knead on low speed. Once combined, add the 40g of butter 1 tbsp at a time while still kneading on low speed. Continue to knead for 15 minutes.
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Form the dough into a ball and cut an X on the top using a sharp knife. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover. Rest at room temperature for 45 minutes.
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While the dough is resting, make the butter block. Put the butter on a piece of parchment paper. Fold the parchment paper so the butter is encapsulated in a square. Roll out the butter with a rolling pin to fill out the square. Make sure the butter is in an even layer. Refrigerate overnight. After the dough has rested at room temperature for 45 minutes, transfer to the refrigerator to rest for 10-12 hours
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After the dough has rested in the fridge for 10-12 hours, roll it out to the width of your butter block and length of your butter block x2. Then place the butter in the center of the dough and fold the sides of the dough on top of the butter. Roll out the dough and do a letter fold. Wrap in Saran Wrap and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then transfer to the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
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Roll out the dough again and do another letter fold. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then transfer to the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
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Roll out the dough and do one last letter fold. Total of 3 letter folds. Wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes then transfer to the fridge for 30 minutes.
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Before your final roll out of the dough, boil a small pot of water. Place the boiling pot of water in the oven. This creates a "proofing box".
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Roll out the dough in a rectangle shape. Roll out until it's 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 8 rectangles. Score one side of the rectangles then flip them. Place a chocolate baton on each end of the rectangle and start to roll the dough up. Add two more chocolate batons before rolling the sides up to meet in the middle. Each croissant should have 4 total chocolate batons.
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Place the rolled croissants on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap. Place the baking sheets of croissants in the oven to proof for 2-2.5 hours. They will be puffy and jiggly when they are done proofing. Transfer the trays of croissants into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 475 while the croissants are chilling.
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Remove the plastic wrap from the croissants. Whisk and egg to make an egg wash and egg wash the tops of the croissants before placing in the oven. Bake at 475 for 5 minutes then reduce the heat to 425 and bake for 15 minutes. Croissants should be golden when done.
