Monday, June 14, 2010

Pain au chocolat...with pleasure there comes pain

I am going against my own rules today, and pushing baking day to Wednesday. This is mainly because I spent the bulk of the weekend in the kitchen tyring to perfect the French pastry better known as pain au chocolat. We also need to have a break from baked goods. As it turns out my pastry worked perfectly, and as a result I have to avoid my jeans for the rest of the week, I think I can actually feel my hips growing wider....I keep looking at the baking tin and thinking I should pop them in the freezer, but my will is not strong enough, they are sooooo good.
I declared to Mr Hooper yesterday that I can officially cook anything, his response was that until I can 'perfect his spag bol recipe' (the only thing he can cook), I cannot award myself with such acclaim. There is something to be said about the old adage of opposite attracts, spag bol, is he kidding! Anyway, it is true I cannot officially cook anything, but I am certainly one step closer.


So I began on Friday night, at my third attempt of creating dough (some may say the easy stage!), I finally had something to work with. By Sunday afternoon I was putting the first bundles of joy in the oven. I am unsure how these can be considered a breakfast snack, as I would have had to be working in the middle of the night to present them at breakfast time.


I found my recipe in Leiths Baking Bible very unsatisfactory, so I turned to the net and found this great recipe and step by step guide for croissant. It is much the same pastry base as for pain au chocolat, and with a few tweaks I had created both croissant and pain au chocolat, what delight. As Mr Hooper and I shared the first offering, we were both struck by how much they tasted like the real thing, we were both stunned into silence, and had to try a few more, just to make sure. My only advice is to put them into the oven in small batches, it wasn't until about the third batch that I had my oven at the right temperature to prevent burning. Also I suggest you have the vacuum cleaner handy, I had made such a floury mess I had to vacuum the entire kitchen, including the benches. If you are planning a quiet weekend at home, and have always wanted to try making pain au chocolat, I would highly recommend giving it a crack. However if you have a favourite patisserie, I would suggest letting the professionals do all the hard work!

Here is some photographic evidence.....
I am so proud, I think I better go and have another one, just to make sure it wasn't all a dream.




1 comment:

  1. Loving your cooking adventures! x big sis

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