Pain au Chocolat

Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Cut it in half crosswise, re-wrapping the remaining half and returning it to the refrigerator.

On a lightly floured, work surface, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 16 in. by 12 in. rectangle.

Brush off excess flour with a pastry brush and trim ½ inch off both short side edges so they are straight using a pizza wheel. The rectangle should now measure 15 in. by 12 in.

Cut the dough in half lengthwise. Using a ruler and pizza wheel cut the dough crosswise every 3 inches to form ten 3 in.by 5 in. rectangles.

Have one or two large baking sheets covered with parchment ready.

Place 2 sticks of chocolate at the short end of one rectangle. Roll the dough from the short side into a tight spiral. Place the pain au chocolat seam side down onto one of the baking sheets. Repeat filling and rolling each of the other 9 pain au chocolat placing them onto the sheet pans about 2 inches apart.

Using a pastry brush, lightly egg wash each pain au chocolat and allow them to rise in in an unlit oven for 1-2 hours or until they look puffy. If the oven is too cold, place a rectangular heat proof pan filled with about 1-2 inches of hot water on the bottom rack of the oven.

Remove the sheet pans from the oven along with the pan of water if using, and preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Egg wash the pain au chocolat again. Place one of the sheet pans into the oven on the middle rack, and immediately lower the temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for approximately 18 minutes or until the pain au chocolat are crisp and golden brown. Remove from the oven.

Raise the oven temperature again to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. and, egg wash and bake the remaining pan of pain au chocolat as in step 8.

Repeat rolling out, forming, proofing, and baking off the remaining half of dough as in steps 2-9.