The Laminated Luxury Series — No. 8 of 8

Every series needs a final statement. This is ours.

The Oud-Smoked Dark Chocolate Croissant begins before the dough is even mixed. The butter block is cold-smoked with oud wood chips — the same resinous, ancient wood burned in Gulf incense burners for centuries — for two hours before lamination begins. That smoke infuses every layer. When the croissant bakes, the heat unlocks the oud fragrance from the butter, and the kitchen fills with something extraordinary: pastry and perfume, inseparable.

The filling is an 85% dark chocolate ganache, seasoned with a pinch of smoked sea salt. The finish is charcoal flake salt and a single curl of dark chocolate. Nothing more is needed.

Chef’s Note

Oud wood chips are available from Arabic perfume suppliers and specialist food importers. You do not need much — a small handful in a smoking gun is sufficient. The goal is a whisper of smoke in the butter, not a bonfire. Over-smoking produces bitterness that competes with the chocolate rather than complementing it.

If oud is unavailable, sandalwood chips produce a similar warm, resinous character. Do not substitute with liquid smoke — it has none of the complexity and will ruin the butter entirely.

This croissant is best eaten within an hour of baking, while the smoke fragrance is still alive in the layers. It does not keep. It is not meant to.

Ingredients

The Dough

• 500g strong bread flour, 10g salt, 80g sugar, 10g yeast, 300ml cold milk, 30g softened butter

The Oud-Smoked Butter Block

• 280g European-style unsalted butter (84% fat), cold
• Small handful oud wood chips (or sandalwood)

85% Dark Chocolate Ganache & Finish

• 200g 85% dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 180ml double cream, 20g unsalted butter, 1 tsp smoked sea salt
• Charcoal flake salt, dark chocolate curls

Method

Shape the cold butter into a 20cm beurrage block. Cold-smoke with oud wood chips three times over two hours using a smoking gun — 30 minutes per infusion. Refrigerate overnight alongside the détrempe dough. Laminate over two days with three double folds. Shape into classic croissants, proof at 24°C for 2–2.5 hours, egg wash and bake at 190°C (fan) for 18–20 minutes. Make the ganache by pouring hot cream over chopped chocolate in three additions, adding butter and smoked sea salt. Once set to pipeable consistency, fill each croissant via a base slit. Finish with charcoal flake salt and a dark chocolate curl.

The Interior

The Series: Complete

Eight pastries. Eight techniques. One series that treats laminated dough not as a vehicle for breakfast, but as one of the great canvases in patisserie. From the Noir Croissant to this — every recipe is on the blog.

The Laminated Luxury Series — No. 4 of 8

The Paris-Brest was created in 1910 to celebrate a bicycle race between Paris and Brest. Its ring shape echoes a wheel. This version abandons the traditional praline filling in favour of something darker — a black sesame praline cream with a depth and nuttiness that makes the original feel one-dimensional.

The pastry itself is a hybrid: choux dough piped over a laminated croissant base, baked together until the exterior shatters and the interior yields. A charcoal glaze seals it. Silver dust finishes it. This is the series at its most architectural.

Chef’s Note

Black sesame paste is not the same as tahini. It is roasted until deeply nutty, almost bitter, with an earthiness that pairs beautifully with the richness of the praline cream. Source a quality paste — the difference between a good black sesame paste and a poor one is significant. If making your own, toast the seeds until fragrant and blend with a neutral oil until smooth.

The charcoal glaze is activated charcoal mixed into a mirror glaze base. It has no flavour impact — it exists purely for the visual drama of the near-black surface against the silver dust.

Ingredients

The Croissant Base

• 500g strong bread flour
• 10g fine sea salt
• 80g caster sugar
• 10g instant yeast
• 300ml whole milk, cold
• 30g unsalted butter, softened
• 280g European-style unsalted butter (84% fat), cold — for lamination

Black Sesame Praline Cream

• 120g black sesame paste
• 80g praline paste (hazelnut or almond)
• 400ml whole milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar
• 35g cornflour
• 30g unsalted butter, cold
• 250ml double cream, whipped to soft peaks

Charcoal Glaze & Finish

• 150g dark mirror glaze
• 1 tsp activated charcoal powder
• 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp cream (egg wash)
• Edible silver dust
• Black sesame seeds, for topping

Method

Laminate the dough over two days using three double folds. Roll to 4mm and cut rings using 14cm and 5cm cutters. Proof at 24°C for 2 hours, brush with egg wash and scatter black sesame seeds, then bake at 190°C (fan) for 18–20 minutes. Cool completely. Make the black sesame praline cream by combining a standard pastry cream base with sesame and praline pastes, then folding in whipped cream once cold. Apply charcoal glaze at 35°C. Split rings, pipe cream generously, replace tops, and finish with silver dust.