Pain au lait

Chef Philippe’s selected pains au lait are elongated, soft milk buns with vanilla in the dough. This profile follows the plain version, with coarse sugar available for the surface and a bare finish also shown by the recipe.

Fresh baker’s yeast dissolves in the warm whole milk. Flour, sugar and salt begin mixing before the yeast-and-milk mixture, two whole eggs and vanilla flavouring are worked into the dough.

Softened butter is incorporated and the dough is kneaded until it pulls away from the bowl. After rising, it is folded, shaped into a regular log and divided into equal portions.

The plain portions are shaped into elongated buns and placed in ungreased moulds. They are snipped before their second rise, then brushed with a separate yolk-and-water wash; coarse sugar can finish their tops.

Baking gives the buns a golden surface and a risen, very soft interior. They cool before handling, while this selected plain version keeps the milk-and-vanilla dough at the centre of its flavour.