Croissants
Oh my goodness, so much is going on. Last weekend I ran Disney’s Tower of Terror 10 Mile Race in Orlando. It was awesome. It was one of those runs where I just felt comfortable and warm from the very beginning… until mile 8. Then I felt old and broken down. I would have walked a little, but I knew if I stopped running I wouldn’t be able to start up again. I wanted to run through that finish line with my head held high, my arms outstretched, and my eyes closed, as if I had just won the race. I think I came in two thousand six hundred and ninety ninth. Not bad. Tomorrow night is my 20th high school reunion. I am excited, but I have to admit those feelings of teen inadequacy and inferiority, that I had felt so many years ago, are starting to creep back in. Basically, I am afraid that I will be … made fun of, I guess. It is so silly to even type this out. I am almost 40 years old. Almost. I am busy keeping two tiny humans alive. And keeping house. And running 10 miles. And baking CROISSANTS!! You read right, I baked freaking croissants today! Well, I started yesterday, because let’s face it, croissants take at least 10 hours to make. And I did it! Look at me Ridgewood High School Class of 1994… I made croissants!! What have you done lately?! If artisan bread and puff pastry had a child it would be a croissant. Croissant dough is a laminated, yeasted dough. The flavor develops in the rising and proofing (like bread dough), but the flakiness is brought on through rolling out and folding of the butter (like puff pastry). I found croissants to be easy, but I think I developed a nice feel for the dough after having worked with bread, pie, and puff pastry. Oh, and please look at my Puff Pastry post to see how to laminate the dough (roll and fold in the butter).
After your dough has risen, and been folded with butter, roll out dough to a 8″ by 20″ rectangle.
Cut dough in half length wise, and refrigerate one of the halves until further use.
Roll out the first half of croissant dough to a rough 5″ by 18″. Trim edges to make it nice and straight.
Cut out triangular shapes after marking every 5 inches.
Step 1: Gently stretch triangle at all points.
Step 2: Begin to roll triangle.
Step 3: Voila!
Form into a crescent shape and brush with an egg glaze.
With the chilled half of dough, I cut 3″ by 6″ rectangles, filled them with 2 teaspoons of good quality semi sweet chocolate, and then rolled them up tightly like a cigar to make Pain Au Chocolate.
Proof the croissants and pan au chocolate by loosely placing plastic wrap over top. To keep wrap off of croissants, place to drinking glasses on sheet.
If you can resist, place on a rack to cool for 10 minutes.
It’s a thing of beauty, really.
- 1 1/4 tsp. (4g) Dry Active Yeast
- 3 TBS tepid Water (not over 105 degrees)
- 2 tsp. (8g) Sugar
- 1 3/4 cup (228g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. (5g) Salt
- 2/3 cup (175ml) tepid Milk
- 2 TBS Canola Oil
- 1 3/4 Sticks (194g) Unsalted Butter
- Egg Glaze (1 Egg beaten in a bowl with 1 tsp. water)
- Half bar of good quality semi sweet Chocolate, roughly chopped
- Pizza cutter
- Ruler
- Thermometer
- Parchment Paper
- Mix the yeast in the tepid water with the sugar, and let liquefy completely while measuring the flour into a large bowl, with the salt; also warm the milk about 100 degrees.
- Then blend the milk, oil, and dissolved yeast into flour with a rubber spatula.
- Turn out onto kneading surface and let rest 2 to 3 minutes while you wash the bowl.
- Dough will be soft and sticky. Start kneading by lifting near edge, using scraper; flip it over onto the other side. Rapidly repeat the movement from one side to the other and end over end 8 to 10 times until dough feels smooth and just begins to draw back into shape when pushed out. Do not knead any more than this or you will overactivate the gluten and have difficulty rolling out the dough later.
- Scoop the dough into the cleaned bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place at a temperature of not more than 75 degrees.
- The dough is to have 2 long, slow, cool rises to develop its natural taste and texture. During the first it should more than triple in volume (a minimum of 3 hours)- refrigerate once in a while if dough is rising too quickly. After the first rise, turn dough out onto work surface, pat into a rectangle about 12 inches long, fold in three as though folding a business letter, and return to bowl.
- Cover and let rise again - this time until doubled in size (about 2 hours)
- Then turn out onto a floured plate, cover, and chill for 30 minutes.
- Dough s now to be spread with butter, folded, rolled out, folded again 4 times in all to build up layers of butter between layers of dough, exactly as you would roll puff pastry. Beat the cold butter in a mixer until softened, but still cold.
- Place cold dough on floured work surface, and lightly roll it out into a 8" by 14" rectangle.
- Spread the butter as evenly as possible over 2/3 the length of the dough, leaving a 1/4 inch border all around.
- Fold the unbuttered third up to the middle, then fold the buttered remainder down over it, as though folding a letter. This is the first turn.
- For the second turn, lightly flour the dough, rotate it so top flap is to your right, as though it were a book, and rapidly roll it out into a rectangle, about 10" by 16".
- Fold into 3 as before, flour lightly, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate.
- Dough must now rest for 45 minutes. To prevent it from over rising, weigh it down with a plate topped with a plate.
- For the third and fourth turns, if dough has been thoroughly chilled, beat back and forth and up and down with a rolling pin to break up congealed butter.
- Roll again into a rectangle and fold in 3 for the third turn; repeat the process for the fourth and final turn.
- Wrap and chill 2 hours, or overnight, before forming croissants. Don't forget to weight it down!
- Roll chilled dough into a rectangle (20" by 5").
- Cut in half length wise, and chill one half.
- Roll out remaining half into a rectangle (20" by 5").
- Measure approximately, and trim the edges.
- Using the ruler again, carefully mark at every 5 inches along one side of the dough.
- Along the other side, mark what would be the middle point between the 5 inch marks on the first side. (see photo above)
- With a pizza cutter, carefully cut out your triangles.
- Take each triangle and gently stretch all points, then tightly roll each one up and form into a crescent shape.
- Place each crescent on parchment-lined baking sheet, and brush each with egg glaze.
- Loosely cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise.
- With remaining, chilled dough, roll out to 20" by 6".
- Trim the edges to create straight border.
- With a ruler, mark out every 3 inches along one side.
- Carefully cut rectangular strips width wise.
- Place 2 teaspoons chopped chocolate on one end of rectangle.
- Wet the other end with a little bit of water, to act as a glue.
- Roll up each chocolate filled rectangle tightly.
- Place on parchment-lined baking sheet with seal of each croissant on bottom.
- Loosely wrap with parchment and set aside to rise.
- Croissants should rise until doubled is size, about 1 1/2 hours)
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
- Just before baking, paint egg glaze on each croissant again.
- Set croissants in middle of oven, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Cool on rack for 10 minutes.
- At any time during the croissant making process you may refrigerate the dough.
