Pain au Chocolat Revisited

To preface why I chose the bi color pain au chocolat, this is a pastry I made in 2016 at Terre Blanche Resort for Valrhona Chocolat corporate.

The pain au chocolat, much like the croissant, is a staple in French boulangeries. The pastry is made from the same dough as the croissant but it is filled with chocolate batons and rolled up like a log.

I have adopted the bi-color technique at Café Ficelle. The bi-color process involves laminating one detrempe (I preform a double fold and a single fold). Then I have a colored dough that I lay on top of the fully laminated detrempe like a blanket. I preform the final sheeting and cut the dough in to 3.5”x5.5” rectangles (12×8 cm). Then I I score the dough with a lame. This scoring technique gives the pastry a lattice appearance.

After I score the outer layer of chocolate dough, I roll the batons inside like a log. The pastry then proof for 2.5 hours at 75°F. I bake the pastry at 360°F for 20 minutes. For the final touch, I brush the baked chocolate layer with a simple syrup to make the chocolate color pop.

Crunchy Banana Nutella Brioche

A double chocolate chip Brioche filled with a crunchy Nutella and banana filling. It’s topped with a cocoa nib and banana crumble just before the bake. After baking it’s dusted with powdered sugar and topped with a gold leaf.

Pain au chocolat

These lattice cut pains au chocolat have been flying out of the case since we introduced them a few weeks ago. Great job to my team of bakers at Café Ficelle for always working hard to grow and maintain the highest quality of breads and pastries.

Forêt Noire

Black Forest Pain au Chocolat! We mixed cocoa into the croissant dough prior to lamination. After the final sheeting, we rolled in a Valrhona chocolate petit baton and cherry jam. After the bake it was brushed with a morello cherry syrup, topped with a vanilla bean whipped cremeux, and brandy soaked morello cherries.

Pain au Chocolat

Café Ficelle pain au chocolat. They are made with Valrhona chocolate 48% petit batons rolled inside and an exterior chocolate dough made using Valrhona dutch cocoa powder.

St Patty’s Croissant

Mint Chocolate pain au chocolate for St. Patty’s day. It’s made from a chocolate croissant dough base with a chocolate baton rolled inside. After it’s baked it’s filled with a mint cremeux with fresh minced mint leaves. It’s topped with a shamrock garnish.

Venetian Brioche

This Venetian Brioche inspired by the Ferrero Rocher chocolates. This pastry is filled with a chocolate hazelnut ganache and then dipped in a chocolate hazelnut chablon. For the chablon we used Valrhona Caramelia feves.

Pain au Chocolat

In October 2017, I completed my stage at Terre Blanche Resort in the South of France, we hosted Valrhona Chocolate for a private lunch in the Michelin starred restaurant La Faventia. That lunch was an opportunity to make cutting edge breads and pastries; breads and pastries you will unlikely find in most boulangeries.

The pain au chocolat pictured above is one of the pastries that we made for Valrhona Chocolate. The exterior dough is colored with Valrhona cocoa powder and added to the detrempe once lamination is completed. After final sheeting and the pains au chocolat are cut, the chocolate exterior is scored with a blade and 2 chocolate batons are rolled inside the pastry.

I knew that this pastry would one day become a staple at Cafe Ficelle. Since opening in June 2018, we have produced this Valrhona pain au chocolat each day and it was an instant customer favorite.

Babka Wreath

‘Tis the season for holiday favorites when it comes to breads and pastries. This weekend we brought out the babka, an Eastern European favorite. It’s made from a sweet brioche dough with a Valrhona chocolate and honey filling spread on it. It’s rolled up and cut lengthwise then shaped into a wreath. After baking, it’s brushed with a syrup with Grand Marnier and topped with cocoa nibs and chocolate croquantes.

Chocolate Hazelnut Croissant

This weekend we are serving Chocolate Hazelnut Croissants. The croissant is colored with Valrhona cocoa powder and has a Valrhona petit baton rolled inside. After baking, we filled them with a chocolate hazelnut pastry cream. It is garnished with candied hazelnuts.