The (dirty) Secret Behind Perfect Chocolate Croissants...
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- My Chocolate Croissants were leaking in the last episode, and I needed to address that. Spoiler alert : I may have found a solution for that, but it's probably not what you would expect...
When making Chocolate Croissants, Cocoa and cocoa butter percentages are key. Chocolate croissants, aka Pains au chocolat or Chocolatines in France can be a bit tricky to master. Besides Laminated Croissant dough, one also must understand what makes chocolate viscous and why it matters so much.
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Salut,
Alex
As someone who owns a chocolate company, I thought I’d mention that the percentage that is on the chocolate bar wrapper is the total amount of cocoa butter AND cocoa solids. So you can have a 70% bar where 35% of that is cocoa butter and the other 35% is cocoa solids. You can also have a 70% bar that is 10% cocoa butter and 60% cocoa solids. The percentage on the bar would still be the same. If it were me, I would use Valrhona Coeur de Ganaja P125 80% dark chocolate. It is specifically designed to be low in cocoa butter so that it does not have fat that messes up the recipe - very good for this application as well as ice cream and mousse. If that is difficult to get, I would try making my own paste using cocoa powder and any low-temperature melting fat.
Wouldn't you want a higher temp melting fat if you want to avoid running in the oven?
Eric Honaker You might get a weird mouthfeel if it’s a higher melting point.
It would taste a bit waxy.
I was thinking that myself! I have always use the Valrhona chocolate sticks and they have always been a high percentage! Good to know a little bit more about it! Thanks! 🤟
Great insight thank you for sharing.
I would love to see a video where you try and make the most amount of layers possible! Thousands and thousands!
so basically a mille-feuille
it means million papers (layers)
@@HaikelTV mille is a thousand.... for million, french and english uses the same word.
I was hoping for cocoa powder to be mixed with the butter and then that to be made into the many layers... but yes the more the merrier of course. Also he could use good chocolate in the middle and just plug the ends with the cheaper stuff. And what about trying to cool the croissants in a way that the chocolate ends up tempered...
layermountain!!!
You will get shortbread pastry, around 30 layers is optimal.
'It has the exact same taste.'
'My life is a wonder.'
I can't stop laughing at this part. You handle frustrating realizations admirably well. ✌
"Pain au chocolat" vs "chocolatine" civil war in 3, 2, 1...
Chocolate crescent roll has left the chat...
There is no debate, a pain au chocolat is bread with chocolate in it and a chocolatine is a chocolatine.
Btw I'm kidding even tho I say chocolatine
kinda funny i searched chocolatine and google showed a card with pain au chocolat
Chocolatine doesn't exist but in Bretagne where they're all inbred
@@TigreDemon Excuse me ?! The inbreds are in Lille, in Bretagne we say pain au chocolat like any Frenchman with self-respect and dignity ! The Chocolatine people are in the South, in Toulouse and Bordeaux... How disgusting to accuse honest, innocent Bretons like this.
“Even with a test as stupid as mine”
Had me rollin 😂
So did we never get to see the DIY dough sheeter in action?
It's coming, but I was waiting specific parts for it...
Sounds like another great project for This Old Tony
@@FrenchGuyCooking That cliff-hanger was killing me. Good to know it will come eventually.
Hi Alex, I'm new to your channel and I must say I love it!
That mixture between cooking and experimenting, all of that with a lovely French accent! 😍
Keep it up 😊👌
Ah, the sweet pain of chocolate. (It's kind of a two language pun kind of thing... Nevermind.)
I got it. Ha.
Alex makes it painful :-)
I had made croissants and pain of chocolat before his first video. Now I'll just go to the boulangerie. What a pain (of chocolate)
Haha
It's actually called a chocolatine!! (< this is a French joke btw)
You could make special chocolate sticks with high quality chocolate in the middle and normal quality chocolate at the end to prevent the leaking.
That is cheating the wrong way round, so even worse ;-)
Or you could have added a bunch of cocoa *powder* to cut all that cocoa *butter* . You can still have 90%+ cocoa in you your chocolate, just less of it in butter and more in powder (also known as cocoa solids).
Nope. Tried it but it did not work at all.
@@FrenchGuyCooking That sounds like a very interesting direction to investigate. Why? You make it sound in the video that is just about the percentage of cocoa butter, but it seems that the real reason is deeper than that :D
@@aigarius You would need to add so much that chocolate would be inedible ( can't even call it chocolate then ). In fact I investigate the thing, but it seems no additives could solve it either. I wish tho.
A solution some confectionaries (is that the english term for sweet baked stuff?) here in germany have is a small coating of sugar glaze on runny parts, i.e. We got a pudding filled thing that uses a similar dough to croissants and it has a thin covering of glaze on the pudding part to prevent leakage
@@nicksande6880 i think it would affect the flavour and texture too much
I don't think you read that email right. He is talking about cocoa BUTTER content. The percentage you see on the packaging is the amount of cocoa, not butter.
Yess
As I understand, the commonly stated cocoa percentage in a chocolate always includes both cocoa butter and non-fat cocoa solids (which makes cocoa powder). There's normally way more cocoa butter than non-fat cocoa solids in chocolate, even though the chocolate bar may state e.g. it contains 80% cocoa. The rest is taken up by sugar, emulsifiers, milk (if used) etc. So, if you want less cocoa butter then choose a chocolate with lower percentage of cocoa overall (the cheaper kind).
@@qkayaman Ok this makes sense.
My goto Choc for hot chocolate or eating as is, is Lindt 99%
It is rock hard, and not sweet. Best stuff ever. Was wondering if that too have more fats than solids.
My favorite dessert. Don't know if I will ever be able to conquer this recipe but you are definitely entertaining. Great video.
it has the exact same taste lol
I was thinking Kit Kats would save a lot of time.
@@benmcelwain5301 delete this
@@benmcelwain5301 😂😂😂
@@pr3nzlb3rg3r haaa😂
Moral of the story: just buy the regular chocolate
You never said what brand your favourite chocolate is but I’ve been very happy with Valhrona’s batons. They hold their shape when baked into pain au chocolate and still taste great if you have a chocolate attack at 2:00AM.
I'm gonna poke them with my little stick and tell you what I feel
-Alex the French Guy 2019
Guess we need T-shirts...
Feelsgoodhomme
@@MarcHollenbach same thoughts 😆
The chocolate you were using is from Callbaut (Cacao Barry is a sub-brand). Callebaut sell a version of its chocolate for use in baking. The name is "bakestable".
I'm confused. I always thought the "percent cacao" on various chocolates referred to cocoa SOLIDS, not cocoa butter. For example, "white chocolate" is almost 100% cocoa butter, but isn't listed as "100% cacao". So is Alex's issue with runny super premium chocolate really an issue with the percentage of cacao? Obviously less cacao in a finish chocolate means something else is taking up that volume, usually some combination of sugar, milk solids, other fats, etc. (aka "milk chocolate"). Maybe the milk solids and other fats that are not cocoa butter have better melting characteristics for baked goods than cocoa butter?
I'd be curious of the result if one were to make a chocolate croissant (Pain au Chocolat) with a super thick emulsion of cocoa powder and some other fat like vegetable shortening. Could such a paste be made into a sheet and incorporated in the pastry if kept cold enough? Or maybe you add it warm as a spread while sheeting?
Reid H the Cacao percent is made up of a a few ingredients (cacao solids, cacao butter, and cacao liquor) so the lower the percent the lower of these 3. Notice he didn’t use milk chocolate. So 47 percent of what he bought is made up of these. While it used high grade cacao.. it didn’t use more than 50 percent.. so the other amount is made of sugar milk powder and lecithin typically. Each company arrives at the mix of the 3 differently, however buying a bar with less makes it thicker so it doesn’t run. The higher the number means more cacao and less sugar milk and lecithin. When they say cacao it’s everything that comes from the bean.. meaning those 3 ingredients.
Not sure how it works in Europe, but in the States the % cacao includes both cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Part of what makes "couverture chocolate" special is that it requires a certain (I'm guessing higher than usual?) amount of cocoa butter.
Thanks, I was equally confused but the two previous replies helped me get it
@Warrior Son not necessarily i believe.
@@gilesleggett Do not confond cocoa pate and cocoa butter. The later doesn't have chocolate
Came for the food, stayed for the entertainment.
You are one funny dude, and your passion for what you do is remarkable!
I wish you'd title it pain au chocolat, too
chocolatine master race
He's baiting
@@no_mnom you know it XD
chocolatine! tu dis argentine ou pain au argent? justement, c’est chocolatine doncc
He's not titling it that because regular people won't be able to find it then. Not everyone calls them pain au chocolat.
Alex there is a technique somewhere out there where the croissant dough is in reverse with the butter on the outside and the dough on the inside. Sounds crazy but when baked almost fries the dough you might want to check it out!
I always thought that the % was for cocoa solids/liquor (the "brown"/cocoa powder part of chocolate), NOT cocoa butter. If it was the other way, wouldn't chocolate get closer to white chocolate the higher the % goes?
The black part, for a lack of better word, basically being dissolved in butter. It's like tea and water.
Very funny, clever, educational and superbe! I used to travel to Calais from England just to buy hundreds of Pain Au Chocolat (or is it Pains Au Chocolats?!). This was when they were not famous in England and I could give them away as extra-special gifts. I love your enthusiasm, attention to detail and humour. Merci! And thanks for being able to speak such wonderful English too. And English with a French accent is like chocolate - sensual !
Cacao and coco butter are separate components! agh!
Ans i think they use the cocoa butter less the cocoa solids (cacao) to make white chocolate. However, chocolate with less 'cacao' in will de facto have less cocoa butter in.
Cocoa butter is removed when making dark chocolate, but i think they leave it in for milk chocolate sometimes, unless they replace it with milk powder or something.
Well, that's what i thought happens anyway.
@Vamoo very interesting. I just know that more solids is less melt. There's no reason he couldn't adjust his high quality chocolate.
@Vamoo this is Alex. He's either lazy or so extreme
@Vamoo
But on the other side, Bakers don't buy their stuff in the supermarket. I mean there is special chocolate for PaC
@Vamoo
Yes, didn't See your 2nd comment ;)
5:28 The one on the right looks so good I could cry. I have never seen something more tempting on a screen. Literally never.
You should buy English chocolate. It's shit with cocoa content as low as 12%
Thats nothing, I’ve eaten chocolate with 7% cocoa. Not good, tasted awful.
English and fine dining should not appear in the same sentence.
@@agwhitaker you are the only one who put them together
Andrew G. Whitaker didn’t you just do that?
You need some Green & Blacks or Doisy & Dam in your life
My mother used to make these with chocolate flakes more dispersed through the inside. Wonderful!!!
"Mmmmm....
They taste the same."
I'm dying over here lol
OK looks like you did a wonderful job with the chocolate version. I propose next should be a ham and cheese version. In the US doughnut shops sell these. While the ones offered here use a prefab dough, a cheap slice of processed ham and some rather bland processes cheese, I can imagine how good they would be with good ham and good cheese inside of one of your wonderful croissants.
You need to complete this holly trinity with my personal favourite : le pain aux raisins!
Or a cheese croissant,
Love all the series man, i love your dedication to obtain the best results but in a practive and relatively homely way. Love your content
Hi Alex,
I'm not a professional, nor am I that much of a chocolate snob, but my understanding is different from what you've learned in this video...
"White Chocolate" isn't chocolate at all, it's almost all cocoa butter.
The Percent Cacao figure printed on (premium) chocolate is the amount of actual cocoa solids.
You shouldn't have gone for a lesser percentage from your 70% premium, but to a higher percentage. Try a 95% to 98% cacao bar as your tempered base. That would be a higher ratio of solids to butter that your friend had written about.
The lack of leaking was due to the emulsifiers that mass-produced commercial products add to aid in transportation.
Hope that helps!
I agree; this is also how I understand it. Alex attempted to equate cocoa with cocoa butter, which are two very very different products. Furthermore, it is important to note that lower percentage of cocoa solids does NOT indicate lower quality, which was implied by Alex. It is not very difficult to create 100% cocoa chocolate; you would just not mix any cocoa butter into the mixture, which theoretically reduces work.
Agree
@Vamoo No, Vamoo, the percentage is just the Cocoa liquor (pate in french), and doesn't include the Cocoa butter (beurre). a quick google search should bring up a top listing on ecolechocolat dot com that breaks down the FDA's percentages. (ranging from unsweetened >85% liquor to milk chocolate which is
I gotta say, I just love the way you film^^ also the detail you go into and the extent you go to to find the perfect recipe just excited the heck outta me! Luv ur videos Alex. merci bien
Hey Alex, I would love to see how you make the perfect french baguette! I was born close to the french border but live now in Berlin, and it's hard to find a decent baguette here.
The percentage is the total cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Meaning you can still get great quality chocolate but just with a ration of solids to butter that suits your case
You should make a sour dough croissant
The shot of you sawing the chocolate was really cool for some reason!
awesome! what beauties!
Demnächst wagyu pain au chocolait?
You could stir cement into a bowl in silence for hours and I'll still watch every minute of it. Love you Alex, keep it up with the awesome videos.
i know its titled chocolate croissant for us dumbos who arent french.... but i think people still know what a pain au chocolat is
It's a continuation of the croissant series.
Literally means chocolate bread, a croissant is the same flaky pastry, but is called a croissant because of it's shape, a pain au chocolat isn't crescent shaped.
You can however sometimes get actual chocolate croissants which are fulled with chocolate in a similar manner to an almond croissant.
Thank you so much for all of your hard work! You have really helped to open my, American, eyes to not only French cuisine and preparation but that not all French people are the stereotype. I LOVE your channel!
HE HAS "LE STUDIO" ON HIS STUDIO DOOR.
Goshhh luv the way he says Pain au Chocolat haha
What happened to the laminator? I would love to see you do a kouign amann!
I respect the tenacity. I would've used chocolate chips as a dirty quick solution but that's why I don't have a big youtube channel.
Don't be mean with Poulain chocolate, it would break us ! It helped you doing the perfect chocolate croissant ! 😂
Pain au chocolat on dit!!!!!
Yes, your life is a wonder! I enjoy all your videos. Good morning from Canada, where my memories of France and croissants and espresso are fondly remembered.
Wait why didn’t Alex just use a heated knife to cut the chocolate instead of sawing
Heating any part of a blade over 350F/175C will ruin your knife.
@@heruhcanedean you don't need to heat it that hot. Just dip it in hot water for a few seconds should work.
Because the saw worked? KISS principle
But that's the point, MOST people DON'T have a saw in their kitchen. KISS-ing would be to either use a bread knife, or a water-heated chef's knife (maybe even one of those electric knives that people use once a year on Thanksgiving ;).
Damn everyone likes to complicate things; temperature, ruining knives, KISS... How about this: it just didn't occurred to him and he went with the solution that first crossed his mind.
a mate of mine had a little trick he used to seize the chocolate before putting it in so that it held its shape better during cooking or so he said but i mean his pastries were pretty spot on
How would dark chocolate nibs work in PaC?
Its 3AM, Im watching this, and its SO worth it. 11/10 Alex.
essaye de faire ton propre beurre
“I’m gonna poke it with my little stick”. Oh, Alex. Never change 😂
In the South (West) of France, we call it a "Chocolatine", JUST SAYING
N0Styl au Québec aussi!!!
ah bah pas dans le gard, ni dans le 13, ni en lozère..
, JUST SAYING
@@super64615 J'ignorais, une raison de plus pour visiter :D
@@someguy4592 C'est vrai, on ne peut pas tous être parfaits. Je vous invite à faire sécession :P (j'ai corrigé)
You’re my new kitchen hero 👍 Would love to see you make another traditional delicious French product: nougat. Any chance of making a video on that topic?
La seule vraie façon d'appeler cette pâtisserie c'est «chocolatine» :)
I recently discovered you Alex, and at first I thought you were joking and then I started listening to your delicious accent and your adorable presentation.You are officially my favorite u-tube chef.
Tu dis Argentine ou pain au argent? ah, justement comme j’ai pensé - donc c’est chocolatine!
Tu dis raisinine ou pain au raisin ? Ah, comme j'ai pensé. Donc c'est pain au chocolat.
this made me laugh. the music, the analytical chocolate test, the hole video mage me laugh. thanks!
alex your croissant still looks like the layers need some work
Agreed. Hence the machine v2 coming
@@FrenchGuyCooking yes!!!
The croissant-series was definitely enjoyable to watch and it was nice to see you get even better! I think you're basically done with this topic so I think after this great video it might be a good time to move on to the next series :)
I’m hungry...
Alex, mon cher ami, I was thinking about the dough sheeter. You could try to put wooden blocks under the handles of a rolling pin. That way you can have the exact measurements you need without the extra trouble
Stp dit pain aux chocolat dans le titre 😭😅
love your picture
I hope people don’t decide to use chocolate chips 😱 I have had great luck with couverture Callebaut with the 2 drop system. basically gives you the softness and mouth feel you want when the PoC is cool but melts when warm. The 2 drop Callebaut works to prevent leaking IMO. I am not a pastry chef, but I have been making my own regular puff pastry and yeast puff pastry for at least 2 decades! I think it took me about a year to get my lamination techniqu down pat☺️ Thank you for your tutorials!
I’m a big fan of your stuff but this video wasn’t worth waiting a week to see the results, wow that was one of the most disappointing videos I’ve watched (cooking video). But still nice job
Just came across this channel and already I'm in love with it and your positive enthusiasm towards everything!
I really love the idea of Alex (or cooks in general) giving the food that they produce and can't eat, or will throw away anyway, to the people that are in dare need of it
This was awesome Alex! Can’t wait for the next video! I love watching your shows.
I honestly think your videos inspired me to get back into the kitchen. Since watching your videos I have been the one cooking in the house every night. Coming up with different dishes for dinner each night. Thank you 🙏
I have no Idea if you're french or if you just have a lisp and it's wonderful.
Given my obsession with chocolate croissant (I can't call it "chocolate bread"...), this is my all time favorite TH-cam video. Ever. Much appreciated, will definitely try this at home.
Love the way you edit and story tell.... A+
I love how the guy makes the mistakes before we can make them... he also makes the learning experience for us
It's been a while since you haven't posted a video, and meanwhile I've been watching old videos of yours, like really old, and it's almost like I missed you man.
Had to say it.
J'ai adoré la voix off de tes anciennes vidéos, c'était hilarant !
FWIW, both Callebaut and Valrhona sell prepared batons for PoC, though only in fairly large quantity (1600g). Valrhona has two different chocolates available this way, 48% and 55% cocoa.
Me: makes croissants and says - OH MY GOSH THEY ARE PERFECT
Alex: It's leeking....
Your premium chocolate has a fluidity guide (the water drops) on the bag showing it has very high fluidity.
The pre-made batons used for making pain au chocolat, are twice the size of the ones you are making!
The feuilletage on the other hand look beautiful!
I think you should try making a stick of chocolate with premium chocolate in the middle part and low cocoa butter chocolate at the ends to prevent leaking but keep that delicious premium taste.
I think you doing realy well, you make smile whith that converstion you just tempering super quality chocolate.
Regards keep going
I uh fell asleep and woke up to this idk where or how i got to this video lol
I checked McGee's On Food And Cooking for other factors, lecithin may also be making a difference to viscocity. From Serious Eats, "Almost all chocolate contains small amounts of lecithin... it reduces chocolate's viscosity, which improves the flow of melted chocolate. This comes in handy when enrobing truffles, glazing, and spreading chocolate out to create chocolate décor. It also allows the melted chocolate in your mouth to more quickly gush over your taste buds for a full-flavor experience."
I got into croissant making. I got decent at it. I decided to make some with chocolate in them. I broke up a candybar. That did not work. I immediately decided I had no idea what I was doing. I got online and purchased chocolate batons from Callebaut specifically for putting in croissants. My chocolate croissants are amazing.
That prove how cooking is not just about how great the ingredient is. Cheap ingredient can also be good.
Just realized that the more excited Alex gets, the closer he moves toward the camera. @1:20 It's too cute.
"will make the pain au chocolate less prone to leaking. A man gotta do what he gotta do." 😂
I don't think these ones look any better or worse than the ones he made last week. They both looked delicious.
I've been using a 45% dark for my PaC pretty much since I started making them! Didn't realise there was a good reason for it (:
Hi alex! Maybe it is a little bit late to say this, but i took a boulangerie class a year ago and one of the secrets was that you could mix the chocolate with a very VERY tiny amount of water, so it seizes. Then you can pipe it into tiny logs and it should be ok to use for the pains au chocolat. Hope this helps (?)
Mec t'es un ouf. J'aime trop tes videos! Tellement original!
Even though I absolutely love these videos/series I sometimes miss the good old days of you just uploading some sick recipes. I know you have written a book (which I also have), and I can imagine you put a lot of your knowledge in that book. But please, we need great/original/funny/simple recipe inspiration!
“My life is a wonder!” XD
your methods are so amazing and compelling. I love it so
Alex you are so crazy !!! (as I am), but really like your videos. I am a pro chef and can tell you that I find very interesting (and funny) your approach to cooking. Don't stop doing this!!
Now Alex you must make your own low percentage cocoa butter chocolate to be perfect Truly perfect
I think that "premium" chocolate is not only made with high fluidity, there are many different fluidities and densities, as the labels indicate.
He's like a mad scientist. I LOVE HIM
you're such an inspiration ... continue de nous faire rêver Alex !
There's a reason why every chocolate manufacturer sells some chocolate stick adapted for baking and resistant to higher temperature, which isn't properly speaking couverture... That's chocolate which usually has around 25-30% cocoa butter, and rarely gets to 50% cocoa solids in total.
"It works - that's all that matters to me, okay!?" Wise words - softly spoken ...
One of the best Chocolate Croissants I ever had was from a french ex pat in my areas who bakery didnt use a stick but seemed to make the inside more of an even layer through out. It was so much better because it didnt give you one bit that had a block of chocolate and one bit that had next to nothing.....instead it was almost like it was powdered thinly through out the inside.
This was in the 90s, I have never found the like, and I still dream about them from time to time.