Croissants & pains au chocolat

Updated Jan 2014: a few more tips & troubleshooting; clearer pictures for shaping pains au chocolat.

Sections in this post:

• Introduction
• Recipe for a laminated yeasted dough
• A few tips
• Troubleshooting
• Proving: a cooler environment
• Shaping the dough for croissants and pains au chocolat
• Variations
• A rough timescale for making croissants
• Quicker croissants
• A slightly different approach

Introduction

There really is something quite magical when you get the lightest croissant, pain au chocolat or savoury variation – all with the crispiest flakes and a rich, buttery flavour. The photos in this post are of various batches of croissants I have made. 

Rather than just a light, cresent-shaped, bready concoction with not much flavour – ie) your typical mass-produced croissant – I like a croissant to have a crisp outer shell as you bite into it, with bits of the flaky exterior falling off; a honeycombed interior structure; a rich, buttery flavour and…