A french treat (Pain aux raisins)

Member Name: mumsymary

Product:	Pain aux raisins
Date:	16/08/07 (1467 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: tasty

Disadvantages: fattening

While on holiday in France we ate several pain aux raisins. Translated pain aux raisins means bread with raisins.

Pain aux raisins are a traditional French treat. They are a bit like a currant bun/ Danish pastry. Made with brioche bready dough which is rolled out like pastry. Then a sort of custard is spread over the surface .Next raisins are sprinkled over the dough add the dough rolled up like a Swiss roll. This is cut into slices then glazed and baked .
A pain aux raisin is approximately 8cm in diameter or you can get miniature ones.

Pain aux raisins are a treat at any time of the day. Often served for breakfast or as a snack. I can not remember the price exactly but I think they cost just over a euro which is between 60 and 70 p at the mo.

We have visited France several times and the quality of pain aux raisins does differ from baker to baker, some the recipe obviously a little different.
The boulangerie (bread shop) near our campsite at Petit Bornand in the French Alps sold some good ones.

Do I play with my food .? yes . I like to eat my pain aux raisin by nibbling the edge and slowly unrolling the dough and eat it unravelling the circular bun wheel I have to be carefull I do not drop the raisins. I eat chelsea buns this way too >

Having got home a few days ago I though maybe I would be able to find a recipe to make some one day. I have found recipes at http://www.foodnetwork. com /food/recipes/recipe /0,1977,FOOD_9936_20294,00.htm and http://www.insanitytheory.net /kitchenwench/2007 /06/2 0/i-dont-need-no-stinkin-kitchen-aid/l
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/painauxraisin s

Basically the ingredients are bread flour eggs yeast butter milk, sugar for the dough and sugar, raisins and cinnamon, a custardy pastry cream like the one in this recipe at http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2006/03/ cooking-school-pastry-cream-and-mini.html. Some recipes just have sugar raisins and cinnamon no custard in them I think the custard centre just adds that something extra.

Thanks for reading about one of the foods I ate in France. It is possible to get pain aux raisins in some bread shops and supermarkets in England now. I am not sure that I really like all the foods of the world being easily available everywhere. I think maybe it takes away the extra excitement of meeting new foods in other countries, but on the other hand it makes different tastes available to those who do not travel.
It’s a bit like Easter eggs and hot cross buns being available all year round.

Summary: A bun a bit like a danish pastry and a chelsea bun