High Fructose Corn Syrup Free Pain au Chocolat
Few things in the pastry world rival the moment a flaky, buttered shell gives way to a ribbon of melted dark chocolate — and making these at home means you control every single ingredient that goes into them. Store-bought versions and even many bakery pastries rely on sweeteners and additives that can sneak high fructose corn syrup into the dough, the chocolate, or both, but this recipe keeps things beautifully straightforward. The dough is built from flour, cold milk, water, a touch of granulated sugar, and real butter — nothing processed, nothing hidden. The lamination process, where a cold butter block gets folded into the dough through three careful turns, is what creates those impossibly thin, shattering layers that make a proper pain au chocolat so satisfying. Dark chocolate batons tucked inside before rolling deliver a rich, slightly bitter contrast to the buttery pastry without any need for corn-syrup-laden fillings. Yes, this is a project recipe — the chilling and folding takes patience — but each step is straightforward, and the payoff is a tray of golden, bakery-worthy pastries that are genuinely made from scratch. Warm from the oven, with the chocolate just barely set, they are absolutely worth every fold.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
For the dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp fine salt
- ¾ cup whole milk, cold
- ¼ cup water, cold
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
For the butter block
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 225g) unsalted butter, cold
For the filling
- 16 dark chocolate batons (or 4 oz dark chocolate, cut into 16 short sticks)
For the egg wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
- 1
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the cold milk and cold water, then mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms, about 2 minutes. Add the 2 tbsp softened butter and increase to medium speed, mixing until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky but not sticky.
- 2
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, shape it into a flat rectangle roughly 6×8 inches, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
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