Pain au Chocolat

Pain au chocolat is the same laminated croissant dough wrapped around two batons of dark chocolate and folded into a rectangle. It's France's other essential breakfast viennoiserie, built from an identical laminated dough to the croissant but shaped and filled rather than left plain and curved.

What it actually is

The same laminated, butter-layered dough used for croissants is rolled out and cut into rectangles, with two batons of dark chocolate laid near one edge before the dough is rolled up around them into a neat, seam-down log. It's proofed and baked the same way as a croissant, the layers puffing and crisping around the chocolate, which softens and turns glossy inside without fully melting out.

Using two batons rather than one is standard, spaced so that a cross-section cut through the middle shows two distinct dark stripes rather than one thick vein — a small detail bakers take seriously.

How it's served

• Warm, whole, the chocolate still slightly soft inside.
• Plain, without any glaze or dusting, in the standard version.
• Alongside coffee, as a breakfast staple alongside the plain croissant.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag gluten, dairy and egg; the laminated dough and egg wash carry all three.
• Note that the name varies regionally — some parts of France call it chocolatine — worth knowing if guests ask for one by that name.
• Say if you make it in-house with real lamination, since that's the same point of craft that applies to a plain croissant.
• Mention that it's best eaten fresh, since the pastry loses its flaky structure quickly once it sits.