{ chocolatines, french chocolate sweet bread for friends }

One of our “family tradition” I cherish the most is our friend gathering sundays . Every sundays we have friends coming over. They know the door is always open .  Depending on the weather we chat, we go for a walk ,  a picnic, we play pétanque … It’s a total free improvisation . we can be 3  to 12  people. A nice way to relax and to have fun before starting a brand new week. The only thing that never changes is the “goûter”. The french version of afternoon tea or afternoon snack. As they know I always bake something they start sending me short text message to “order” what they would like to eat. But it is just suggestion …I am free as a bird to follow it or not . Recently I ‘ve been asking for this recipe quite often. I shared in on internet a while ago and it still has a great success.

Petits pains au chocolat also known as chocolatines in south of France. They are not exactly similar to the ones you can find at the boulangerie but they are good. It 's a long elaborated recipe trying to copy the result of the feuilletage tedious & laborious process ... I have not achieve my goal yet, but I am getting closer ... & closer ….& closer.

Mes chocolatines

Ingredients make 6 to 8 servings
250 G farine
1 package active dry yeast
12 cl milk at room T°
1 tea sp salt
40 G sugar
85 G butter softened in pieces
Dark chocolate

egg wash : 1 egg + 1 table sp sugar

-Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except butter in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. The yeast must not be in contact with salt.Select Dough cycle.

-When well combined , add the butter piece by piece & knead for about 15 minutes. The dough must be smooth, silky but not sticky

-Let rest for 1h.

-Remove dough from pan, using lightly floured hands. . roll dough into rectangle & cut 6 to 8 rectangles. Keep the thickness even and the edges straight.

-Lay each rectangle on a lightly floured work surface, with a long side facing you, and place 1 chocolate piece (or chopped chocolate) on the edge of the pastry. Roll up the dough tightly, twice, completely enclosing the chocolate. On the remaining surface place a second piece of chocolate and fold the dough over the chocolate .

-Repeat with remaining pastry and make your 6/8 petits pains au chocolat*.

-Turn over the pain au chocolat so the seams face down. This will keep them from opening as they bake. Place them on a parchment covered baking sheet; spaced about 2 inches apart. * ----Loosely cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and allow the pain au chocolat to proof at room temperature until they have doubled in size and appear light and full of air, about 1 to 3 hours.

-Preheat oven to 220°C.

-Brush the pain au chocolat tops with the egg wash (1 beaten egg + 1 tbl sp sugar) . Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Only golden brown.

(*At this stage, they can be frozen for up to 1 week if well wrapped in plastic wrap. You also can thaw on a parchment covered baking sheet overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding. The cold retards the rising process, allowing a slow fermentation to help develop the flavor of the dough.)
As often, I use the bread machine , the kneading cycle , you -of course- can use the conventional method ... a food processor or …your hands. That’s a good work out exercice .

BON APPETIT . 

{ la petite histoire des pains au chocolat  }
petits pains au chocolat also called a chocolatine in certain regions of France, is a French pastry, consisting of a cuboid-shaped piece of puff pastry containing one or more strips of chocolate. In France, they are often sold still hot or at least warm from the oven.
Translated literally as 'bread with chocolate', it is fundamentally a croissant variation and is commonly sold alongside croissants in French bakeries and supermarkets. They are typically eaten for breakfast or in the afternoon, usually by children coming back from school, so they can wait until dinner.