• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Start here
  • Baking 101
  • Recipes
  • Shop
  • Cart

The Bake School logo

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Start here
  • Baking 101
  • Recipes
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Cart
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Start here
    • Baking 101
    • Recipes
    • Shop
    • Contact
    • Cart
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Breads

    Published on: April 28, 2012 by Janice; Updated on: October 8, 2021 4 Comments

    Brioche, croissants, chocolatines, and pains aux raisins

    French pastry shops often sell viennoiseries that include brioche, croissants, chocolatines, and pains aux raisins. Find out what they are below!
    A pastel yellow plate with small brioche à tête and croissant and roulé aux raisins

    Traditional yeasted products sold in French bakeries, include brioches and flaky croissants:

    • Brioche is a butter yeasted bread. It is very light and fluffy, especially considering how much butter is used to make the dough!
    • Croissants are made from a yeasted dough that is "laminated," meaning it's rolled out and folded repeatedly to create very thin alternating layers of dough and butter, creating a very flaky, buttery product.

    A blue plate with brioche buns on it, one of them is broken open to show the fluffy interior

    You can make brioche at home with a stand mixer instead of kneading by hand. Brioche takes more time to knead and is usually kneaded in two stages: 

    1. the dough is kneaded before adding butter to build up the gluten network and give the dough strength
    2. the dough is kneaded again after adding butter to re-build the gluten network

    These two stages of kneading result in an extremely light and fluffy bread that is a real treat. Leftover brioche can be transformed into bostock or even bread pudding or stuffed French toast. The shaping of brioche leads to different names. When brioche dough is shaped into two balls and baked in a fluted mold, it's referred to as a brioche à tête, which is what you see pictured here. You can also shape it into a loaf and break it in a bread pan, or shape it into buns.

    A row of homemade chocolate croissants

    Croissants are not to be confused with puff pastry (pâte feuilletée is the French baking term for it). Puff pastry is made without chemical leaveners or yeast, and the puff that happens in the oven comes purely from layering butter within thin sheets of dough to create steam when the pastry bakes and the butter melts. Both croissants and puff pastry can be made at home, though it is a bit laborious and takes quite a long time because there are many chilling steps that prolong the process significantly. For this reason, it's easiest to stretch these recipes over a couple of days. Once you've mastered making croissants, you can use the dough or the leftover croissants to make a number of viennoiseries, including:

    1. chocolatines (also referred to as pains au chocolat): squares of rolled out croissant dough are folded to enclose thin bars of chocolate
    2. pains aux raisins (or roulés aux raisins): these look like flat cinnamon buns. Rolled out croissant dough is filled with a thin layer of pastry cream and raisins, and rolled into a log before slicing into swirly bun shapes that are baked and glazed before serving.
    3. pains aux amandes: a leftover croissant is split in half and filled with frangipane before baking a second time. 
    4. pains au chocolat et aux amandes: where a leftover chocolatine is split in half and stuffed with frangipane before baking a second time.
    A stack of chocolate croissants with one broken open to reveal the chocolate in the centre
    Here's a video showcasing how to hand knead bread dough the French way to give you a rough idea of the technique we learned to knead dough in pastry school.
    A platter of golden brown, flaky viennoiseries.

     

    « Gluten-free pistachio financiers
    Stuffed brioche French toast »
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Baking resources

  • Baking conversion charts
  • Baking ingredients and pantry staples
  • Baking substitutions
  • Common baking conversions
  • Choosing baking pans
  • How to measure ingredients for baking
  • Mixing methods
  • Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Juanita says

      April 29, 2012 at 9:19 am

      So much buttery pastry - how divine!

      Reply
    2. mayssam @ Will Travel for Food says

      April 30, 2012 at 12:04 pm

      I believe this is what all your 6am workouts have lead you to: kneading dough. I'd be out of breath after 5 minutes! 🙂 Everything looks incredible! I expect you'll be showcasing this new slap and scoop talent of yours once you're back in Montreal? 🙂

      Reply
    3. [email protected] says

      April 30, 2012 at 3:03 pm

      oh my gosh Janice... they look so beautiful! I want one for breakfast right now. I think there is something very soothing and therapeutic about kneading dough, despite the hard work. And you get something sooo tasty out of it!

      Reply
    4. S.V. says

      May 01, 2012 at 9:46 pm

      All of these look amazing I am in awe of the skill it takes to make things the French way!

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    This is a picture of Janice Lawandi

    Hi, I'm Janice! I am a baking-obsessed recipe developer with a PhD in Chemistry who writes about baking and the science of baking.

    More about me →

    Marmalade 101

    a palette of orange marmalades with varying thickness and set, some runnier others thicker, to show impact of cooking temperature on marmalade set
    Understand the marmalade setting point and your marmalade making will be more successful! Use this to make lime marmalade!

    Baking for Easter

    • How to make hot cross buns for Easter weekend
    • Carrot muffins
    • Eggless carrot cake
    • Carrot focaccia

    Baking conversions

    How to poach pears

    Poached pears on an enamelware plate.
    This simple poached pears recipe is easy and you can use the fruit for salads, appetizers, and desserts!

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Meet Janice
    • FAQ
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and conditions
    • Press

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Services
    • Portfolio

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    COPYRIGHT © 2022 · THE BAKE SCHOOL