Name: Raisin breads (pains aux raisins)
Prep time: 2 h 11 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 2 h 41 min
Yield: 12 pieces
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 300 g yeast-based flaky dough (for croissants); 200 g confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière, or french pastry cream); 100 g raisins; 3 tablespoons water

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - ⌛ 5 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 1

Roll out the cold 300 g yeast-based flaky dough (for croissants) in front of you (take it out of the fridge at the last minute), to a thickness of 3 mm, into a large rectangle of about 30 x 40 cm (12 x 16 inches).

Stage 2 - ⌛ 2 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 2

Roll out very thinly, 1 mm or less, the last 5 cm (2 inches) of the dough indicated by the blue arrow.

You are literally going to crush this part, to make it very very thin, don't worry about the puffiness there, it's a crush intended for later.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 3 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 3

Spread with the metal spatula 200 g confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière, or french pastry cream) on the paste, stop you at the level of the last 5cm which you will have crushed in the preceding stage, and which must them be without cream.

Stage 4 - ⌛ 2 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 4

Spread 100 g raisins over the custard only.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 2 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 5

This is the delicate moment, roll the dough "tightly" on itself...

Stage 6

... and stop when you don't see any more cream.

Stage 7 - ⌛ 2 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 7

With a brush dipped in water, wet the crushed area all over.

Stage 8 - ⌛ 20 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 8

Finish rolling the dough, check that the seam with the wet dough is well done and leave it still, seam (or key) underneath.

You should obtain a nice, regular cylinder, put it on a baking sheet, wrap it, and put it in the freezer for 20 minutes (or 1 hour in the fridge) to cool it down.

Stage 9 - ⌛ 5 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 9

After this time, cut the cylinder into slices of about 2 cm (0.8 inches).

Stage 10

Place the slices on several baking sheets with a sheet of baking paper.

Don't squeeze the slices too tightly, they will swell up.

Stage 11

Check that the welds (green arrow) are well closed, if it is not the case put a brush and water to stick well.

Stage 12 - ⌛ 1 hour 30 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 12

Put to rise in a tepid place during 1 h30 approximately, the slices double in volume.

Stage 13 - ⌛ 30 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) : Stage 13

Once well puffed, bake at 180°C (360°F) for about 30 minutes.

Let cool on a rack.

Stage 14

Note: If you want to make a "mini" version, it's exactly the same recipe, only the size of the dough cylinder changes, make a longer one with a smaller diameter (by at least half).

Remarks

As always with pastries, cold is your friend, if you feel that the dough is getting too soft and unmanageable, put everything on a plate for 15 minutes in the freezer, and pick up where you left off.

You will notice that we do not glaze the raisin breads, this is the exception in viennoiserie which is explained by the presence of pastry cream.

The quantities of custard and raisins are indicative, feel free to adapt to your taste.

Staying on the same principle, a roll of croissant dough and a cream, you can decline this recipe according to your desires by replacing the pastry cream by a pistachio or chocolate version, and/or the grapes by cranberries, goji berries, etc. Let your imagination run wild.

Nutritional information

	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats	Calories	Energy
Per 100 g	55 g RDI=86 %	323 g RDI=122 %	164 g RDI=226 %	2,637 kcal RDI=132 %	11,041 kJ RDI=132 %
Per piece	30 g RDI=46 %	174 g RDI=66 %	88 g RDI=121 %	1,417 kcal RDI=71 %	5,934 kJ RDI=71 %
Whole recipe	360 g RDI=554 %	2,089 g RDI=788 %	1,062 g RDI=1,455 %	17,009 kcal RDI=850 %	71,213 kJ RDI=850 %