Inspired by David Bedu, I developed this new concept of twin-laminated pastry during my master’s degree studies in 2015/2016. The orange chocolate croissant is a pain au chocolat-type pastry made using two different types of laminated dough which are merged together before the final sheeting. A plain croissant dough and also one made using chocolate butter. The plain croissant dough is laminated using the 3-3-3 system, and the chocolate croissant dough is made using the 3-3-3 laminating system. Both doughs are merged together and sheeted to 4 mm, giving 37 layers.

The pastry is placed on the worktable with the chocolate side down and then cut into rectangles 15 cm long x 8 cm wide. The pastry is brushed with a tiny amount of orange oil and a chocolate croissant bar. I also use candied orange peel strips to enhance the flavour. The candied orange slices are used to garnish the pastry when cool. The orange strips can be made at home; there are plenty of online resources, such as this one at Epicurious, with step-by-step instructions on how to make them. Also, slices are available commercially from Keylink Ltd in the UK. The candied orange bars are a filling designed to enhance the flavour of the product. They are added before baking for flavouring purposes. They are a natural product, free of sulphides.

Full recipes and more tips are available in my book, The Art of Lamination: Advanced Technical Laminated Pastry Production.