Danish pastry is a real all-rounder! In this blog post, I’ll show you how to bake crispy, flaky sourdough pain au chocolat. You can also use the same dough to make german Franzbrötchen, vanilla danish pastry, sourdough croissants or danish pastry with cheese filling. You can divide the dough and make several Danish pastries at once.
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Why you should definitely try the chocolate croissants with sourdough
The French pain au chocolat has airy layers and a crispy crust. They are made from homemade Danish pastry dough, which is only leavened with sourdough and contains no yeast. You can leave the dough to rest in the fridge overnight.
The chocolate croissants contain no eggs. If you replace the butter with a plant-based alternative and use vegan chocolate, you can even make the recipe vegan.
Ingredients: What you need for sourdough pain au chocolat
- Wheat flour: Type 550 or Bread Flour.
- Water: Cold in summer and lukewarm in winter.
- Sourdough starter: It is not necessary to constantly feed the sourdough starter fresh, but the last refreshment should not be longer than a week ago. If you have a sourdough discard I will be happy to provide you with suitable recipes. My personal method is to feed my sourdough with an equal amount of water and flour. I use a mixture of wheat flour and wholemeal rye flour. If you choose a different water-to-flour ratio for your sourdough, remember to adjust the amount of water in the recipe accordingly. Here are some helpful tips to keep your sourdough starter vital and healthy at all times.
- Soft butter or vegan butter for the dough and for the butter layer.
- Sugar and salt for flavour.
- Chocolate (dark): Either chocolate sticks* or chocolate chips.
In three steps: Bake your own French chocolate croissants
Prepare the dough and the butter sheet.
For the dough, mix the flour, water, sugar, salt, butter and sourdough starter.
Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for about an hour. Then stretch and fold once.
In winter, leave the dough to rest overnight at room temperature. In summer, leave the dough to rest for two to three hours at room temperature and then place in the fridge overnight.
For the butter layer, mix 200g soft butter with 40g flour. Then place in the centre of a sheet of baking paper. Fold the baking paper around the butter so that a 20 x 20 centimetre square of butter is enclosed in the baking paper. A rolling pin helps with this.
Place the butter layer in the fridge overnight.
Laminate the Danish pastry dough
Roll out the dough into a square and place the butter plate (without the baking paper) in the centre of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough around the butter plate to form an envelope.
For the first tour, carefully flatten the dough with a rolling pin* and roll out until a rectangle is formed. Fold in a third of the dough on the left-hand side and fold the right-hand third over it so that there are three equal layers of dough on top of each other. Wrap the dough in a tea towel and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Then unwrap the dough again, carefully flatten with a rolling pin* and roll out into a long rectangle. For the second tour, fold the rectangle in again to create three layers of dough.
Repeat three times in total, placing the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes between each time.
Shape and bake the chocolate croissants
After the third round, the dough is rolled out into a large rectangle. Cut off the edges of the rectangle with a pizza cutter* (optional) and divide into four equal strips on the long side. Divide the big rectangle into three parts on the short side to make a total of 12 rectangles.
Roll the chocolate into the dough and place the chocolate croissants on a baking tray, brush with milk, water or egg, cover and leave to rest for two to three hours – depending on the room temperature. Brush the pain au chocolat once more with milk or egg before baking.
Preheat the oven to 230 degrees using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*. Bake the chocolate croissants for 10 minutes with steam and about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Possible schedule: How to make sourdough pain au chocolat
| Day 1 | 5 pm | Mix all the ingredients into a dough, cover and leave to rest. Mould the butter layer and place in the fridge. |
| 6 pm | Stretch and fold the dough and cover again. In winter, leave the dough to rest overnight at room temperature. | |
| Between 8 and 9 pm | Put the dough in the fridge in summer. | |
| Day 2 | 8 am | Place the dough in the fridge. |
| 9 am | Roll out the dough*, fold the butter layer into the dough and make three simple rounds. If the dough gets too warm, place in the fridge for 30 minutes between laminations. | |
| 10 am | Roll out the dough and cut* into 12 rectangles. Place the chocolate on the short side of the rectangle and fold the dough over it. Place another layer of chocolate on the edge of the dough and roll up the chocolate croissants. Brush the pain au chocolat with egg or milk, cover and leave to rest. | |
| 11.30 am | Preheat the oven with a steam tray consisting of astainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*. | |
| 12 pm | Bake the pain au chocolat until golden brown and crispy. |
Video: How to laminate Danish pastry dough
Helpful tools – My recommendations
✨ The links with an star* are affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and buy something, I get a small commission and you support my work (thanks for that 🧡). This does not change the price for you. You can find more information on privacy policy here.✨
- A Danish Whisk* – especially if you don’t use a kitchen machine. This allows you to mix your ingredients without the whole dough sticking to the spoon.
- A kitchen scale*.
- You can use a stainless steel dough knife* to cut your dough pieces or shape your loaves.
- A wooden rolling pin*.
- A steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven mould* and lava stones*. The tray is filled with the stones and placed on the bottom of the oven during preheating. When you put your bread in the oven, pour hot water onto the stones. This creates steam, which ensures that your bread rises well.
- A cooling rack* for bread, rolls and waffles.
- A pizza cutter* for sweet knots, croissants etc.
- A sharp bread knife*.
You can find more product recommendations here.
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Recipe: Sourdough Pain au Chocolat – French Chocolate Croissants
Ingredients
- 300 g water
- 50 g sourdough starter
- 500 g wheat flour bread flour (or type 550)
- 50 g soft butter or vegan butter
- 25 g sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
Butter Layer
- 200 g soft butter or vegan butter
- 40 g wheat flour bread flour (or type 550)
Other
- 100 g Chocolate sticks or chocolate chips for the filling
- egg or milk or a plant-based milk
Instructions
Day 1
- For the dough, mix the flour, water, sugar, salt, butter and sourdough starter.
- Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for about an hour. Then stretch and fold once.
- In winter, leave the dough to rest overnight at room temperature. In summer, leave the dough to rest for two to three hours at room temperature and then refrigerate overnight.
- For the butter sheet, mix 200g soft butter with 40g flour. Then place in the centre of a sheet of baking paper. Fold the baking paper around the butter so that a 20 x 20 centimetre square of butter is enclosed in the baking paper. A rolling pin helps with this.
- Place the butter layer in the fridge overnight.
Day 2
- Roll out the dough into a square and place the butter plate (without the baking paper) in the centre of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough around the butter plate to form an envelope.
- First round: Carefully flatten the dough with a rolling pin* and roll out until you have an elongated rectangle.
- Fold in a third of the dough on the left-hand side and fold the right-hand third over it so that there are three equal layers of dough on top of each other.
- Wrap the dough in a tea towel and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Then unwrap the dough again, carefully flatten with a rolling pin* and roll out into a long rectangle.
- For the second round, fold the rectangle in again to create three layers of dough.
- Perform a total of three rounds. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes between batches.
- After the third round, the dough is rolled out into a large rectangle.
- Cut the rectangle into twelve equal rectangles using a pizza cutter*.
- Place the chocolate on the short side of a rectangle and fold the edge over it. Place a second layer of chocolate on the edge and roll up the chocolate croissant.
- Place the pain au chocolat on a baking tray, brush with milk, water or egg, cover and leave to rest for two to three hours – depending on the room temperature.
- Brush the chocolate croissants again with milk or egg before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 230 degrees using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*.
- Bake the pain au chocolat for 10 minutes with steam and about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
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