This week I made Pain au Chocolat!

Bake off season has began!!  (Begunn??)

So.  Every wednesday I go to see my brother Stuart, my sister-in-law, Carrie, and my wee 2 year-old nephew, Finlay.  Last year we would have tea then watch GBBO with a cup of tea, and it was lovely.

This year we've cranked it up a notch.

This year I've challenged myself (for I've, read Carrie's) to make the same thing they make on the programme each week, so we really feel like we're there. Week 1 was cake week, and Caarrie requested red velvet cake, which was fine!  Week 2 was biscuit week and Carrie requested viennese whirls.  They were lovely.

But week 3 was bread week.  I'm not very experienced when it comes to making bread, but we decided that I would attempt to make chocolate croissants.

Pain au chocolat, if you will!!  Je m'appelle Shona n'that!!

Now.  These take some doing.  I found a recipe online that didn't look too awkward, which wasn't easy, let me tell you!  But find one I did!  Bread flour, salt, yeast, sugar, water and a shit load of butter!!  Ooh and some chocolate to pop in too.

I mixed the dry stuff and added the water adn kneaded until I could knead no more.  Well.  10 minutes anyway.  It's murder on the wrists!  Once I'd kneaded I took the butter out the fridge and battered it flat witih a rolling pin.

Butter is not easy to roll.  And it melts really quickly!  But I perservered.

The butter sheet goes onto the rolled dough and you fold it like an envelope.

I knew how to do that cos I'd seen it on the bake off :)

Then I proved. And then folded adn rolled out.  The proved and folded adn rolled out. Then proved adn folded and rolled and proved adn folded and rolled out.  4 times  like I was told to do.  Then I cut them out anf folded a wee bit of chocolate into each of them.  Then I popped them into the fridge for an hour (it said overnight but I was right impatient plus I wanted to test them out!).  Oven on at 200c and in they went.

They fucking worked!!!

I'm so unbelievably chuffed with myself it's embarrassing haha!!  I took a selfie with them!!

I'd been viber-ing Stuart and Carrie all night and they were dead excited too.

They came out all crispy and buttery, and chocolatey and they tasted bloody delicious!!  I ttok them up to my brother's the next night and they were demolished.

Next week is batter week...  Churros!!

Shit.