Pain aux Raisins
Before opening my retail pastry shop in Vineyard Haven, I baked for an extended summer season out of the porch of my house in Chilmark. In addition to producing desserts for several island restaurants, a daily assortment of Viennoiseries came out of my commercial convection oven. While they were primarily sold at Alley’s General Store, I did have one walk-up customer for the Pain aux Raisins, or Escargots as I called them then.
Irving and his family spent summers at their home right up the road, connected to mine via a field through which a meandering path was cut and maintained with weekly lawn mower cleanings. Several mornings a week, just after sunrise, Irving would stroll down the path to purchase two Escargots, “well-done, if possible,†to enjoy with morning coffee with his beloved wife. While it was a brief visit, after baking for several hours before dawn by myself it was nice to connect with a friend, one who appreciated having fresh Viennoiseries just a short walk away.
All these years later, the memory of those early mornings in my little bakeshop is still fresh and intertwined with these delectable pastries.
Pain aux Raisins are made by spreading pastry cream on a rectangle of rolled out croissant dough, sprinkling it with raisins or currants, then rolling it into a tight cylinder. This is sliced into one-half inch round pieces, which are then allowed to rise before baking. They may be brushed with an apricot glaze after cooling to provide some shine and an added taste element.
Traditional Pain aux Raisins sold in pastry shops are fairly large. To produce smaller Pain aux Raisins better suited for home baking and entertaining, I scale down the croissant dough rectangle, leading to a smaller cylinder and smaller slices, resulting in delicate, three of four bite breakfast pastries.
These are wonderful as a little sweet with coffee after a savory breakfast or brunch.
Pain aux Raisins
| Yield: 10 to 12 | # of servings: 6 |
Ingredients
1 recipe Croissant dough
½ recipe Pastry Cream
½ cup dark (2.5 oz / 71 g) raisins or currants1
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
½ cup apricot jam, strained, optional
Special equipment needed:
- Half sheet pan or other baking pan with parchment or silpat
- Heavy duty rolling pin, preferable French style
- Offset spatula
- Pastry brush
Pre-recipe preparations:
Beat the egg in a 1-cup measuring cup, or small bowl. Refrigerate.
Directions
Forming the Pain aux Raisins:
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the croissant dough to a 22†by 8†rectangle.
- Trim all edges with a knife, pastry cutter, or metal bench scraper to achieve straight lines.
- Using an offset spatula, spread a â…› “ thick layer of pastry cream over the dough, leaving a ¼â€ border.
- Sprinkle with dark raisins or currents.
- Starting with the top, roll the pastry toward you, keeping the roll tight. Place the seam on the bottom.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the roll in half, place on a cookie sheet or cutting board and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up, making it easier to cut.
- Remove one half at a time, place on a cutting board and cut into 1†pieces. Place each piece on the parchment or silpat lined baking pan, with 2†of space between them.
- Continue with the second roll, or freeze it for future use.
- Place a piece of plastic wrap over the dough pieces, and push down on each to widen. The unbaked Pain aux Raisins can be left on the pan, with the plastic film in place and refrigerated overnight.
Proofing and baking:
- Remove plastic wrap, brush each piece with egg wash and let rise in a warm spot until they have expanded about twice their original size.
- Preheat oven to 400 °F.
- Brush again with egg wash and bake until golden brown, approximately 12 to 15 minutes.
- Remove each piece from the pan and place on a cooling rack.
- Enjoy warm or at room temperature.
- If glazing with apricot, bring the strained preserves to a boil with a few droplets of water and lightly brush over each Pain aux Raisins. Let cool.
Notes:
1 If your raisins are a bit dry, soak in warm water for 15 minutes. Strain and pat dry.
