Pain au chocolat
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| Alternative names | Chocolate bread, chocolatine |
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| Type | Viennoiserie sweet roll |
| Place of origin |
 France
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| Serving temperature | Hot or Cold |
| Main ingredients | Yeast-leavened dough, chocolate |
| Variations | Pain aux raisins |
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Pain au chocolat (French pronunciation: [pɛ̃ o ʃɔ.kɔ.la], Pain de chocolat chocolate bread, also known as chocolatine in the south-west part of France and Canada, is a type of viennoiserie sweet roll consisting of a cuboid-shaped piece of yeast-leavened laminated dough, similar in texture to a puff pastry, with one or two pieces of dark chocolate in the centre.
Pain au chocolat is made of the same layered doughs as a croissant. Often sold still hot or warm from the oven, they are commonly sold alongside croissants in French bakeries and supermarkets.
Legend has it that Marie-Antoinnette introduced the croissant to France, but croissants and pains au chocolat are a relatively modern invention. The word croissant, which refers to a plain form of pain au chocolat shaped like a half-moon or "crescent", made its entry in the French dictionary in 1863. The type of pastry, called "viennoiserie" in French, was introduced in the early 19th C. when August Zang, an Austrian officer, and Ernest Schwarzer, an Austrian aristocrat, founded a Viennese bakery in Paris located at 92 rue Richelieu.
Originally, croissants and pains aux chocolat were made from a brioche base but later evolved to incorporate a buttery flaky dough ('pâte feuilletée).
They are often sold in packages at supermarkets and convenience stores, or made fresh in pastry shops.
In Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Ireland and the United Kingdom they are sold in most bakeries, supermarkets and cafés.
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Wikipedia