Pain au chocolat making requires some technical skills, it does take a while to make but well worth with when you get the hang of it.

Pain au chocolat is perfect for breakfast and other times of day.  Some people cut them and put savoury fillings in between.

Ingredients

• 500 grams strong white bread flour
• 40 grams caster sugar
• 300 ml warm milk
• 1 large egg
• 250 grams cold unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons dried yeast
• chocolate pieces

For the glaze

• 1 medium egg beaten together with 1 tablespoon of milk

Method

• Add all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, add the egg, milk and mix. Knead the mixture with your hands in the bowl and then tip it onto your work surface and knead until nice and smooth.
• Brush some oil in the large bowl and put the dough inside and let it rise until doubled in size.
• While your dough is rising get your block of butter and flatten it between two pieces of greaseproof paper to form a rectangle roughly 16cm x 5cm /6 inches by 2 inches and put it in the fridge to keep it cold.
• When the dough has risen gently knock the dough and then tip it onto a floured work surface and then roll it out into a rectangle about 46cm x 15cm/18 x 6 inches.
• Remove the butter from the fridge and put it in the middle of the pastry. Fold the top down over the pastry and then the bottom covering and also cover the sides too. Do one book turn and then roll the pastry to the same size as the original size and then.
• Fold the pastry again and put it in the fridge to chill for about an hour.
• Get it out and then fold it again to the original size and then fold one more time and then roll it again and then divide the dough into 12 and then put some chocolate on one end and roll up the pain au chocolat. Put the pain au chocolat onto the baking tray seam side down to prevent it from unrolling while it bakes.
• Let them rise again until double in size. 10 minutes before they finish rising preheat your oven to 200 Celsius. Brush the home made traditional French pain au chocolat with the egg and milk mixture and bake the homemade traditional French pain au chocolats in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
• Put on a cooling rack to cool completely or wait until they are warm and serve.
• Enjoy!