MSG Free Pain au Chocolat

Total time16 hr 20 min

Prep time1 hr 30 min

Cook time20 min

Few things in the pastry world feel as luxurious as biting through shatteringly crisp, buttery layers to reach a pocket of melted dark chocolate. The magic here comes entirely from lamination — a process of folding cold butter into the dough repeatedly to build those impossibly flaky, honeycomb layers from scratch. Every ingredient in this recipe is straightforward and clean: flour, milk, butter, sugar, salt, yeast, eggs, and good dark chocolate. There are no flavor enhancers, no stabilizers, and none of the additives that make store-bought versions a concern for anyone avoiding processed ingredients. The technique does ask for patience — multiple chilling periods and three careful turns — but each step is well within reach for a home baker willing to take their time. That deep amber crust, achieved with a simple egg wash and a hot oven, signals exactly the kind of caramelized, bakery-quality result you'd expect to pay a lot for. Warm off the rack, these are genuinely hard to beat.

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Ingredients

8 servings

For the dough

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
King Arthur Baking Company Unbleached All-Purpose Flour Gold Medal Flour All-Purpose Unbleached - 5 Lb Bob's Red Mill Organic All Purpose Unbleached White Flour - 5 Lb Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Unbleached White Flour - 5 Lb Pillsbury Best Flour All Purpose - 5 Lb
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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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