Recipe Pain au Chocolat by Paco Pérez
A little window in Llançà (Girona, Spain), with a taste of home. That could very well be the slogan of a Mà, the unique artisan bakery that chef Paco Pérez opened in May 2024 on the corner of his prestigious three-Michelin-starred restaurant Miramar, located opposite the beautiful Costa Brava.
A Mà is not your typical bakery. It’s a space with a window, a workshop, and a shop where he offers a selection of signature products, from specialty breads to sweet and savory pastries.
“We’ve always loved the world of dough and fermentation. We started baking bread after the pandemic hit at the Hotel Arts, with Jason Ronnie Galbáo, who was head chef, and at Miramar with Fede Brega. And honestly, it’s addictive. Very addictive. We soon noticed that people coming to Miramar were taking bread home, brioches… That led us to wonder why not open a window and offer bread of this quality,” he explains. Among their products is this impeccable Pain au chocolat, whose recipe we share below.
Pain au chocolat
Ingredients for 38 pieces
Pain au chocolat dough
- 2156 g strong bread flour (Huracan)
- 556 g mineral water
- 556 g whole milk
- 46 g pasteurized egg yolk
- 46 g dried yeast
- 276 g sugar
- 52 g fine salt
- 46 g powdered milk
- 116 g butter
- 500 g butter for laminating
- Egg wash (300 g pasteurized egg yolk + 340 g whole milk)
Knead all the ingredients except the butter at low speed for four minutes. Once everything is combined, add the butter and knead for another four minutes. When the dough is smooth, remove it from the mixer and divide it into 1,720 g and 200 g blocks. Shape into balls and let rise until doubled in volume. Roll out the larger piece of dough in a pasta machine until it reaches the size of a gastronorm. Wrap in film and freeze overnight.
Repeat the same process with the smaller piece of dough, without covering the entire sheet. Final rolling number: 3.
Separately, roll out the butter to obtain a long strip of 88 cm. Cut into rectangles of 22 x 36 cm and 500 g each. Keep wrapped in film in the refrigerator.
Place the dough on the work surface, position the butter in the center, and cut the dough to fit the size of the butter. Cover the butter with dough and roll out, changing the orientation of the dough during the process. When you reach setting 6 on the rolling pin, make a double fold and cut along the fold. Roll out again, starting with the cut side facing you. Roll out again to setting 6, make a single fold, and cut along the fold. Roll out to setting 12. Place the dough in the freezer for 1 hour and then refrigerate for another hour.
Once that time has passed, roll out the smaller piece of dough to cover the entire rectangle of laminated dough. Sprinkle with a little flour and turn the dough over, leaving the extra dough at the base. Roll out the dough using the vertical cuts as a guide. Keep an eye on the dough to ensure it is 45 cm wide. Finish rolling at setting 3. Roll the dough around a metal tube and place it in the freezer for approximately 1 hour. Once thoroughly frozen, roll it out on a work surface and cut it into 6 x 31 cm rectangles. Place 3 chocolate bars on each rectangle. Roll them up. Freeze.
Prepare the proofer and place the frozen pain au chocolat inside. When the machine reaches 27°C with 70% humidity, brush it with an egg wash made from equal parts egg yolk and milk. Bake at 180°C with the steam vent closed and fan speed 3 for 10 minutes. Open the vent and continue baking at 175°C with fan speed 3 for 8 minutes.
Discover other special products from Paco Pérez’s bakery in our Spanish pastry magazine, in issue 518 of DPAS
Buckwheat bread
Fig tart
Lemon tart
Tigretón of the 70s
Ensaimada A Mà
Rye bread