Paris: pain au chocolate

In Paris it is not hard to find a pâtisserie, they are on practically ever corner. However here in Olympia, Washington it is a slightly different story. Of course there are bakeries and there are ever a good number of them here (I can think of four off the top of my head) but what really makes a bakery worth going to? I think it is the croissants, the chocolate croissants. In Paris I would deem most of the bakeries are worth a visit, but I might be a little bias. The reason I love the French pâtisserie so much is the ample supply of my favorite pain au chocolate. I have fond memories of bakeries during my life in France. I would eagerly run across the street at my afternoon break from school to a small pâtisserie with steamed windows and a line of students trailing out the door. I would always get a warm gooey pain au chocolate and eat it right out side the shop window with my friends before we had to run back to class. Pain au chocolate literally means "bread with chocolate" but it is a little more. It is a flaky and buttery concoctions filled with, you guessed it, chocolate.

Because I can only currently dream of the day that I will get to eat a warm French Pain au chocolate I though I could instead find the most authentic pain au chocolate around. I went to the only three bakeries I know of in Olympia that sell chocolate croissants (a more common name for the treat here in the USA)
The Blue Heron Bakery
The Bread Peddler
San Francisco Street Bakery

Now to begin! Who can resist trying chocolate croissants!?

 

These croissants all have a different look. The one on the far left (A) is by far the largest of the three and the filling is made simply of chocolate chips (you might even be able to see them). The middle croissant (B) is small and feels more bread-y than the others; its chocolate is completely enclosed. The croissant on the far right (C) is the smallest and seemingly the flakiest, it has already lost some of its outer layer, the chocolate is melted and runs in two lines though the pasty.  

Close ups.

C and A

Now to warm them up...

  

I cut each croissant in half to see how it held up in the warming process.

 

Croissant A sqished when it was cut in half. The pastry looked undercooked and stuck together the layers of pastry were lost when cutting it.

croissant B cut in half easily but as you can see it does not have many layers of pastry dough. the dough is more bread-y. However it is cooked all the way through and has a large amount of chocolate.

Croissant C held up to being cut, the layers of pastry bounced right back. You can see how flaky this dough is in this picture. A true mark of a good pain au chocolate.

Results

All the croissants were good. Croissant A, however, was a little undercooked which made for a gooey indulgence. It did have good flavor and the chocolate was nothing real special after all it was just chocolate chips. The dough was flaky (even if underdone) and the final results were good. It was a definitely tasty treat. Croissant B was good but it was lacking the flaky crust so key to an authentic pain au chocolate. However the dough had a really good flavor that was a little heartier than the other two and the chocolate was extremely rich. I would not say this is a contender with a pain au chocolate but it does have good qualities of a different sort. Croissant C was hands down the most authentic experience. It had a very flaky and very buttery dough that held up when being eating. The layers flaked off beautifully and the chocolate was simple and delicate.

That being said, I really enjoyed each one... as you can see...

I would suggest eating all of these chocolate croissants because they each have something unique and delicious to offer. 

Best of luck finding your little bit of French paradise where you live.