Pains au lait

Ce week-end j'ai fait des pains au lait, d'après la recette de Sandra du blog Le Pétrin qui est une bible pour tout ceux qui aiment boulanger.
Elle se trouve ici donc je ne la recopie pas - je l'ai traduite pour les non francophones plus bas.

Ils sont bien moelleux, se mangent très bien tous seuls même si les plus gourmands pourront ajouter de la confiture ou du chocolat.

J'ai divisé les proportions par deux et j'en ai fait en tout 16 en divisant la pâte en deux, puis en deux, puis en deux, puis en deux - 4 fois. Parce que je préfère les formats pas trop gros pour apprécier au goûter.

Dernière note, ces petits pains sont plutôt lights, comme souvent avec les pains au lait (d'où l'intérêt du lait, en plus du moelleux qu'il apporte) et peu sucrés lorsque l'on compare avec les recettes traditionnelles. Au final ils sont moins de 200kcal chacun, raison de plus pour vous régaler !

Pour la recette, c'est par là.

English version

This weekend I made Pains au Lait - I don't know if we can translate it in english, this literally means "milk bread" but they're more like brioche-style buns. I can't believe you don't have that somewhere in your country, they must be called something else.

Anyway those ones are soft, really soft, and you can eat them as they are - or you can add jam or chocolate I guess it won't spoil the fun... Just be aware that they're fine alone too.

And, last but not least - you won't believe me - they're light - I mean they're less than 200 calories*, which means less than a TWIX bar or two yoghurts... (but yoghurt is still best though I think). And if you look the list of ingredients below you will see butter, flour and sugar, but there's milk too and that's the thing. Besides, it makes 16 buns, which is quite a lot when you think I divided the recipe by two. Lucky for me, you can froze them.

* check this out (from here)

Pain au lait

Print Recipe

Recipe from here - makes 16
- 500g flour (T55)
- 180g to 200g milk, room temperature
- 15g fresh yeast
- 2 eggs
- 55g sugar
- 10g salt
- 100g butter, softened

Pour sifted flour in the bowl of your Kitchen Aid or Kenwood or whatever - or in a big bowl if you're doing it by hands.
Add salt and sugar, then mix. In the center, add fresh yeast (crumbled), 180g of milk and eggs (lightly beaten if your work by hands).

Mix first at low speed to incorporate flour then faster and knead for few minutes, until it is homogene and firm - it should not stick to much to the sides of your bowl. Adjust the hydratation by adding milk a little at a time until the dough has a nice consistency (not too soft, not too firm).

When the dough is homogene and don't stick anymore, add butter bit by bit and incorporate by kneading energetically after each addition then keep kneading for few minutes until the butter is well incorporated.
Your dough should be smooth, soft and homogene.

Cover with plastic film and let it rest for 30 to 45mn (should rise a bit). Then with your hand unstick a part of the dough from the bowl, lift it and let it fall down and fold it up side down (you're making a rabat).
Place in the fridge for the night, well covered with plastic film to avoid formation of a crust.

Prepare two baking sheets with baking paper.
Put the dough on a lightly floured surface, and divide it in 16 pieces (in two, in two, in two, in two - 4 times). Or you can make bigger buns if you wish - but I prefer not too big.
Cover with a clean cloth and let it rest 5 to 10mn.

Shape the pain au lait like shown in the video here.

At this point, you can add chocolate bar in the dough, right before you fold it, when it's still a square - and a second after the first fold like for a pain au chocolat. I didn't try it, I think they're perfect without chocolate... (plus you can always spread Nutella on it afterwards)

Place them on prepared baking sheets 5cm apart. Cover with clean cloth and let them rise for 2h.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush them with beaten egg (or egg yolk+milk), cut the surface as for a baguette if you wish (I should have cut more for the ones on pictures).
Bake for about 15mn, let it rest on a grill.

Note : can be frozen in a plastic bag - best eaten on the day, they are still soft the day after if kept in a plastic bag.