Sunday Breakfast

... best thing about Sundays is that we can all have breakfast together, I always liked preparing big, lazy, prolonged brunches and now I have a little helper it even more enjoyable than before...

Today we had the usual eggs,bacon, tomato English breakfast, pancakes, coddled eggs with salmon and Parma ham and asparagus and a lovely  cup of tea with pain a chocolat...

when making Pain au chocolat you have 2 option, the first is restricted to pure and real domestic goddesses ( ie people with a cook, a cleaner, a nanny, and an unhealthy obsession with some cat charity)

Pain Au Chocolat (Prep Time: 180 minutes)

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons instant dried yeast
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water for 5 minutes. Add the bread flour, milk, sugar, melted butter, and salt to the dissolved yeast and water and mix the dough on medium speed for about 2 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add 1 tablespoon of extra flour at a time, until the dough is just firm enough to fold a shape.
Shape the dough into a ball and loosely cover it with plastic wrap. Allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Roll the dough into a 10-inch by 15-inch rectangle, and then cover it loosely and allow it to rise for 40 minutes.
Brush the rectangle with the softened butter and then fold the dough into thirds, like a letter. Roll the long, thin rectangle back into the original 10-inch by 15 shape. Fold the dough into thirds, again, and then cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Repeat this process one more time.
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough crosswise into 12 rectangles. Arrange 2 teaspoons of chopped chocolate across one of the short ends of the rectangle and fold that third of the dough over the chocolate, toward the center. Repeat the process on the opposite side of the dough, folding it over and tucking the end under to create a cylindrical shape. Arrange each finished brioche on a lightly greased baking sheet with at least 1 1/2 inches between each pastry. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap and allow them to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until they are nearly doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200 grades centigrade.
Whisk the egg and 2 tablespoons milk together to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash across the surface of each pastry.
Bake the pan au chocolate for 12 to 14 minutes, until they are puffed and golden brown.

if you do this you will be rewarded with something that looks like this:

Should you otherwise not have 3 hours to dedicate to baking while sipping tea from your favourite mug, but craving the sugary rush needed to survive yet another 5am start ( a perfectly acceptable time for your loved toddler to demand you watch Ponyo together) you could do this:


Open the fridge and see the light:

( i strongly suggest you have several of these stacked in your fridge, they are a life savior solution and they also come in croissant, cinnamon swirl variety and they work a treat) ( thank you jus-Rol )


and get your toddler to help, they love it, you have a perfect treat and your husband is none the wiser and still think you better then Nigella :P, and they do look like this:

Here is Amy showing you all how easy it is: