Pain aux raisins

The good old pain aux raisins, there are many variations to how this is made. Some use puff pastry and some uses brioche dough. Personally, I'm a fan of the brioche dough method. A trip to Boston and a taste of the pain aux raisins from the Flour Bakery really got me interested in making these myself, especially when I realised I couldn't just take a trans-atlantic flight every time I fancied some. To make the pain aux raisins, you will need to make the brioche dough and the pastry cream. 

Recipe (brioche dough)

• 160g plain flour
• 170g strong white bread flour
• 2 and a half large eggs
• 60ml water
• 160g unsalted butter, cut into 10-12 pieces (room temperature)
• 7g dried yeast
• 40g caster sugar
• 2g salt

1. You can use a dough hook, that can make your life easier, but I don't have one, so I did it by hand
2. Mix plain and bread flour, sugar togther
3. Add salt to one side of mixing bowl 
4. Add yeast to the other side of mixing bowl
5. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the water and eggs to the well
6. Use your hands to bring all the ingredients together and knead the dough for 5 minutes
7. Add one piece of butter at a time to the dough and incorporate by kneading it on a lightly floured surface, repeat the process until all the butter has been incorporated
8. The dough at this time will feel VERY wet and you will start to doubt whether it's going to work, keep kneading it and it will eventually become silky and elastic. Stop when you can stretch it by about 30-35cm and it doesn't break
9. Put the dough in a lightly floured bowl, seal with cling film and let it proof at room temperature for 2-3 hours or better, overnight in the fridge for up to 10 hours
10. The dough should have almost doubled in size

Recipe (pastry cream)

• 300 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 100g caster sugar
• 30g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence

1. Bring milk to a boil
2. Mix sugar, flour and egg yolks together until it resembles a thick paste
3. Add hot milk a bit at a time to the eggs, whisking it the entire time to prevent lumps from forming
4. When all the hot milk has been added to the eggs, return the whole mixture back to saucepan
5. Put it on medium heat, whisking the mixture the entire time, until it boils and thickens
6. Take the pastry cream off heat and fold in the vanilla essence
7. Let it cool to room temperature

Recipe (sugar glaze)

• 140g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Make the glaze by simply mixing everything together, add more water if necessary to make it thinner. 

You will also have to soak your raisins if they are very dry

1. Knock out the air in the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to 40cm by 30cm, with the length of dough facing you 
2. Spread the pastry cream on the dough, you don't need any cream 2-3cm on the length closest to you
3. Spread the raisins over the pastry cream
4. Start rolling from the length furtherest away from you and roll it towards you. Try to keep it a tight roll (I didn't in mine as you can see, and it didn't look very good, but it's my first time)
5. Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 3-4 cm thick pieces and turn them round, then you can see the spiral
6. Put it in a baking tray and wrap with cling film and let it proof for a second time in a warm room for 60 minutes to 90 minutes and it should increase in volume
7. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C (160 fan) when the doughs are almost ready (i.e. have increased in volume)
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven
9. Take it out of oven and brush the top with glaze whilst it is still warm