Peanut Free Pain au Chocolat
Few things in the pastry world rival the moment you pull apart a perfectly laminated chocolate pastry and see those shatteringly crisp, buttery layers give way to melted dark chocolate inside. This from-scratch version is built entirely on a short list of clean, straightforward ingredients — flour, butter, milk, sugar, yeast, and dark chocolate batons — so you know exactly what's going into every flaky fold. For anyone navigating nut allergies, store-bought versions can be a minefield of shared-facility warnings and ambiguous labeling, but making these at home puts you fully in control. The lamination process — folding cold butter into chilled dough across three careful turns — is what creates those impossibly delicate, honeycomb-like layers that puff and separate in the oven. Yes, it takes patience and a few rounds of refrigeration, but none of the steps are technically difficult, and the payoff is extraordinary. The deep amber crust, the glossy egg-wash finish, and that ribbon of dark chocolate running through the center make these look and taste like something from a serious Parisian boulangerie. Serve them warm off the rack and watch them disappear.
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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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