Le Pain au Chocolat
One of my favorite pastries in France is Le Pain au Chocolat - or Chocolate Croissants. I look forward to un pain au chocolat accompanied by un chocolat (hot chocolate) as the perfect start to my day each time I visit France. Le Pain au Chocolat has an interesting history that seems to be influenced more by the Austrians than the French.
In 1683, the Austrians were under attack by the Ottoman Empire in Vienna. During the siege, a baker was in his kitchen, beginning his daily routine of lighting the ovens to bake the morning bread, when he heard the Turks, tunneling under the walls of the city. To alert the militia, he rang an alarm which allowed them to collapse the tunnels and save the city. To commemorate the Viennese victory, the baker created a crescent-shaped bread - representing the crescent-shaped moon on the Turkish flag - and so the crescent-shaped pastry was born.
Legend has it that another Austrian influenced the making of the croissant in France. Marie Antoinette came to France as a fifteen-year-old Archduchess from Austria. She was the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. She was to marry France’s king, Louis XVI, in order to strengthen the relations between France and Austria - two countries who had been long-time enemies. It is said that Marie Antoinette missed her homeland’s “kipfel” - German for crescent - so much that she requested the royal baker to create a French version of it, and so the croissant - French for crescent - came to be. This version of the croissant’s history seems to be more legend than fact.
A version of the story that seems more believable is that of another Austrian, named August Zang. He was an officer in the Austrian artillery who founded a Viennese Bakery in Paris in 1839, 46 years after the French Revolution, where Marie Antoinette met her demise. It is said that he is the one who introduced the “kipfel” to the French, which later inspired the French bakers to create their own tasty version. Whereas the “kipfel” is more like a crescent shaped cookie, the French claim the croissant is a French invention because of its puff pastry texture.
And so, you may ask, why is the pastry we’re learning about today not called un croissant au chocolat? A pain au chocolat differs from a croissant because it has a stick of chocolate cradled inside the layered pastry dough. It is not rolled into a crescent shape, but rolled in a straight line, like a jelly roll. Because the shape of the pastry is not in the form of a crescent, the word crescent - croissant - has been removed from its name, and it is literally translated as “chocolate bread”.
In my upcoming novel, The Suitcase Adventures: Paris-Beyond the Peacock Gates, the main character, Brianna, enjoys a pain au chocolat for breakfast on the morning of her solo trip to Paris. She sits on the backyard patio next to her mom who reassures her that she is ready for the adventure ahead. The warm, buttery croissant oozes delicious chocolate into Brianna’s mouth with each bite. Her fears are held at bay… at least for awhile.
If you would like to make your own pain au chocolat, there is an excellent recipe with photos and a video below that explains all the steps. It’s a relatively easy, but long process. The dough has to be rolled out, then it must rest in the refrigerator several times for many hours to get it ready for the baking stage. Here is the link:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-chocolate-croissants/
If you would like to make an easy, less traditional, but still delicious, pain au chocolat, you could use refrigerated crescent rolls and baker’s chocolate pieces. Roll out the crescent rolls and separate the dough into triangles, following the perforations. In the center of each triangle, place a small piece of the baker’s chocolate. Roll the triangle beginning with the longest edge towards the pointed edge, and place on a baking sheet. Bake according to the directions on the can, and voilà! You have created your own scrumptious treat. Enjoy!