Easy Step-By-Step Flaky Vegan Pain Au Chocolat Recipe
This vegan pain au chocolat recipe teaches you how to make the most perfectly spiraled laminated chocolat croissants just like your favorite bakery- except entirely without eggs and no dairy! Made with a simple vegan pastry dough and based off of my tried and true vegan croissant recipe, these pain au chocolat rise beautifully into flaky, golden pastry wrapped around a stick of (dairy free) chocolate.
Table of contents
Why make homemade vegan pain au chocolat:
There’s nothing like a good homemade pastry, and honestly just as good as my homemade vegan croissants, these vegan pain au chocolat cannot be beat.
No store bought version (yes, Whole Foods does now carry them!) will compare. It’s worth the time (and honestly, they’re not hard- it just takes some patience and hands off waiting!), and the result is honestly like the bakery is in your very kitchen.
Now, OF COURSE I will always be found with a gooey vegan cinnamon roll come Christmas morning with my cup of homemade vegan hot chocolate. A homemade vegan croissant isn’t bad either, nor is some lovely brioche-based vegan French toast.
But these “buttery” vegan pain au chocolat with perfectly spiraled centers, buttery layers, and rich, molten chocolatey goodness? Yeah, this is so happening too this year.
The stages of making croissants at home:
- Make the dough: This is easy- in fact, even easier than my vegan cinnamon rolls, which are incredibly simple and easy! You can use either a stand mixer or make by hand. My video shows a stand mixer, but the by-hand method is just as easy.
- Beurrage: This is the encasing of the vegan butter layer. The key here is making sure that the butter is soft but not too soft, and doesn’t spill out of the dough as it’s being encased.
- Lamination: We do 3 rounds of laminations here to yield the *flakiest* vegan croissant dough. Just wait until you slice into those spirals- they’re perfectly round, soft yet sturdy, and hold their shape beautifully.
- Shape & bake: My favorite part! After the final and longest rest in the fridge for the laminations, we’ll shape our vegan chocolate croissants and bake. Now, I recommend resting the shaped croissants in the fridge overnight so that you can just wake up first thing in the morning without needing to do any work, and bake the croissants. It’s so simple and will make your holiday morning especially easy.
Ingredients:
You might think that making homemade vegan croissants is more difficult than regular, but it’s actually so similar (and if not, a little easier!).
Based off of my vegan croissant recipe, the dough for this vegan pain au chocolat is so simple:
- Flour: I recommend a good high quality all-purpose flour, like King Arthur Organic All-Purpose Flour.
- Sea salt: For flavor.
- Instant yeast: This will help our chilled dough continue to rise so you don’t spend too much time out of the cold, which would in turn soften our butter too much and ruin the laminations.
- Vegan butter: I recommend Miyoko’s vegan butter here. It’s European-style, which is similar to how traditional pain au chocolat are made, so it will yield the closest version to traditional pain au chocolat. For nut-free, another good high-quality vegan butter that won’t melt too easily is Violife. Plant Crock and Earth Balance are a bit tricky here, as their vegan butters melt too easily at room temperature, which will ruin our lamination.
- Vegan sugar: I call out vegan sugar here because not all sugar is vegan! I recommend an organic sugar, like Florida Crystals, which ensures that it hasn’t been processed with bone char.
- Dairy free milk: You can use soy milk, almond milk, or oat milk here.
- Vegan chocolate bars: I like Alter Eco (the dark sea salt chocolate is lovely), Rawmio (their 70% is my favorite!), Endangered Species, or Valrhona. You can also use vegan chocolate chips if that’s all you have on hand!
Overview: How to make vegan pain au chocolat
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
Making the dough:
As I mentioned above, the dough is super simple. You don’t even need to activate the yeast. Simply mix everything together, either by stand mixer or by hand, and wrap to refrigerate.
I opt for making the dough Day 1, then beurrage and lamination the next day. But whatever is easiest for you, there are options for both a 3-day and a 2-day pain au chocolat!
Beurrage and Laminations:
Next, we make our beurrage and laminations. These next few steps follow closely to my vegan croissant post, so I won’t go too in depth here and let you pop over to that page to really see how it’s done.
You can watch my video here as well.
We’re making three rounds of laminations for optimal layering of butter and dough, which yields the flakiest texture. In fact, my younger brother’s friends all were convinced these were not vegan 😉
Shaping the pain au chocolat
Once the dough is laminated, it goes in for a long rest- the longest rest of all of the laminations. This is to ensure that the gluten will allow us to stretch the dough a bit for shaping the croissants.
Now where we differ here from making traditional croissants is that we cut the dough into rectangles instead of triangles.
Stretch the dough gently with your hands to elongate it about an extra inch, then place a stick of chocolate at the base. Roll the chocolate up, and place the shaped vegan pain au chocolat on a baking sheet, repeating for the remaining dough rectangles!
Overnight Proof & Bake:
Once the croissants are shaped, I recommend letting them proof overnight (see schedule A below). This allows the most optimal flavor, and makes for a super easy holiday morning.
They should be puffy and doubled in size, while keeping the butter layers securely in 🙂 Perfect!
Brush with the vegan egg wash (dairy free milk and maple syrup), and bake at a high temp- 390F with fan – to golden, flaky perfection.
Recommended schedule:
Here are two different schedules for making these vegan pain au chocolat. I recommend the 3-day schedule, but you can make them in 2!
Option A:
DAY 1:
5:00 PM: Make the dough.
5:30 PM: Prepare the butter layer.
DAY 2:
10:00 AM: Make the beurrage, followed by the first lamination.
10:30 AM: Make the second lamination.
11:00 AM: Make the third lamination. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
1:00 PM: Shape the croissants. Cover and proof overnight in the fridge.
DAY 3:
8:00 AM: Rest the croissants by the oven as the oven preheats.
9:00 AM: Bake the croissants and enjoy!
Option B:
DAY 1:
1:00 PM: Make the dough.
3:30 PM: Prepare the butter layer.
4:00 PM: Make the beurrage, followed by the first lamination.
4:30 PM: Make the second lamination.
5:00 PM: Make the third lamination.
DAY 2:
7:00 AM: Place the dough onto the counter to rest for 30 minutes.
7:30 AM: Shape the croissants.
8:00 AM: Proof the croissants.
9:00 AM: Bake the croissants and enjoy!
Can I make these gluten-free?
Unfortunately, I have not yet developed a gluten free version, and they won’t work with a gluten-free flour as is. Please check back in the coming months for an update on this!
Do I really need 3 days to make them?
I think for the best flavor, 3 days is optimal. You can of course make them in 2 days, but it will feel rushed (and who doesn’t love waking up to freshly baked pain au chocolat?!). Trust me, it’s worth it!
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Easy Step-By-Step Flaky Vegan Pain Au Chocolat Recipe
- Prep Time: 30
- Resting Time: 6 hours, plus overnight
- Cook Time: 22
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Pastries
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This vegan pain au chocolat recipe teaches you how to make the most perfectly spiraled laminated chocolat croissants just like your favorite bakery- except entirely without eggs and no dairy! Made with a simple vegan pastry dough and based off of my tried and true vegan croissant recipe, these pain au chocolat rise beautifully into flaky, golden pastry wrapped around a stick of (dairy free) chocolate.
Ingredients
Vegan Pain Au Chocolat Dough:
- 4 cups (500 g) all purpose flour*
- 1 1/4 cup (300 mL) dairy free milk, cold
- 1/4 cup (50) granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp instant yeast*
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup (5 tbsp) unsalted vegan butter, room temperature
Beurrage (butter block):
- 350 g unsalted vegan butter, room temperature
- vegan “egg” wash (1 tbsp maple syrup + 1 tbsp soy milk)
Chocolate center:
- 12 sticks of vegan chocolate (about 1.5 vegan chocolate bars)
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT:
- Large rolling pin
- Silicone baking mat with a ruler printed onto it (I use this one)
- 2 large baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Pizza cutter
Instructions
- Please read the two options for time tables in the blog post. Read the blog post entirely before beginning and watch the video. Decide which part of the process you will leave for resting overnight.
- Prep: Measure out all ingredients for the dough first. Allow the vegan butter for the beurrage to sit at room temperature as you make the dough.
- Make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook or in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, yeast, and salt. Add in the cold dairy free milk, and begin to mix on medium speed until a shaggy dough forms. Then add in the room temperature vegan butter from the dough ingredients, and mix again on medium speed until a smooth and slightly tacky dough forms (about 7-10 minutes). If making this by hand, it’s easiest to knead the dough here.
- Rest: Cover the dough and rest the dough in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.
- 30 minutes before the dough is ready to shape, shape the beurrage layer: measure out a rectangle on a piece of parchment paper to be 7×10″. Fold along the lines to create creases for where you’ll put the butter. Spread the room temperature butter onto the parchment paper in the rectangle you’ve made, folding the paper to help keep the lines for the butter correct (see the video and blog post photos for reference). Once shaped into a rectangle, wrap the vegan butter completely in the parchment paper, and place in the fridge to slightly solidify for 30 minutes.
- First & Second Lamination: Remove the dough from the fridge, along with the butter block (it shouldn’t bee too solid; still flexible but not room temperature). Use the silicone baking mat with a ruler attached (or grab a ruler!), and lightly flour it, along with a large rolling pin.
- Encase the butter: Roll the dough out to be 10×14″ long. Try very hard to get neat, right angle corners. Place the butter block in the middle (the length of the butter rectangle will align with the width of the dough rectangle. Fold the end flaps of the dough over the butter to create what looks like a pamphlet (see video and photos). Seal the edges of the dough on the sides by pinching the dough together tightly.
- First lamination: Rotate the rectangle 90 degrees so that the width of the rectangle is perpendicular to you, and the length is parallel. Roll the dough out by first, gently pressing on the top of the dough with the rolling pin. Then gently roll the dough out to be 10×20″ rectangle. We’ll fold in thirds, or the letter lamination (see video and photos). If you notice that the dough is too warm and the butter is too warm, wrap the dough in parchment paper or plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before doing the second lamination.
- Second lamination: Rotate the dough again 90 degrees, and roll the dough out again, gently pressing on the top of the dough with the rolling pin. Then gently roll the dough out to be 10×20″ rectangle. This time we’ll fold in the book lamination, folding the two ends towards the middle, then folding the dough in half (see video and photos). Cover the dough and rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Third Lamination & long rest: Roll the dough out to be another 10×20″ rectangle. Fold into thirds again for the letter lamination, then cover and rest in the fridge for 2 hours, or overnight.
- Shape the pain au chocolat: When ready to shape the croissants, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough out to be about 10×20″ (it doesn’t need to be perfect here). Then mark the dough on one of the 20″ length sides in 5″ intervals. Slice the dough with a pizza cutter from those marks horizontally, so you have now four strips of 5×10″ dough. Then on the 10″ side, mark the dough into thirds, about 3.33″ each. Slice the dough vertically, so now you have 12 3.33×5″ pieces.
- Stretch and roll the pain au chocolat: From there, take one dough rectangle. Gently stretch it with your fingers to be about 1″ longer. Then place a stick of chocolate at the base along the 3.33″ inch side. Starting at the base of the rectangle, roll the dough tightly like a cinnamon rolls (but not too tightly that you ruin your laminations). Place the rolled croissant onto the baking sheet with the last part of the croissant underneath the croissant (tip is tucked down so that the croissant doesn’t unravel). Repeat for the remaining rectangles, placing about 6 on each baking sheet.
- Rest: Brush the tops of the pain au chocolat with the vegan egg wash (save the rest for the second brushing). Cover the croissants in a clean dish towel or a piece of plastic wrap, and rest the croissants for 1-2 hours at room temperature (until doubled in size), but not near the stove (or else the butter will warm too much, and will leak from your croissants). While the croissants are resting, preheat the oven to 390F. Alternatively, you can rest your pain au chocolat overnight in the fridge, covered for an easy morning of baking. This will improve the yeast flavor.
- Bake: Once rested, carefully brush the tops of the pain au chocolat again with the vegan egg wash. Then place the pain au chocolat into the oven to bake. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until deeply golden brown on top.
- Enjoy! Remove from the oven, and allow the pain au chocolat to cool for 10 minutes. Then serve with coffee, tea, and fruit, and enjoy! Store any leftovers in an airtight container or bag for up to 2 days at room temperature or 5 days in the fridge (though best enjoyed that first day!).
Notes
Please see blog post for tips on schedule and baking times!
Instant yeast: Please use instant yeast rather than dry active yeast, as it will help speed up the process while also preventing your butter from melting during the proofing stages.
Can’t wait to make these! would I be able to make ahead and freeze before baking? thankyou!
Yes absolutely! I recommend freezing them after they’ve been shaped. Then the day before you want to bake them, place the in the fridge to thaw. About 2 hours before baking, you can leave them at room temperature and then bake for the recommended baking time!