Croissants

When we go out and need something to prevent the emergency hunger then we get butter croissant. My princess likes it a lot. So both mom and daughter will share major portion of it and the dad gets the remaining.   I have been not baking much lately, still whenever, I see some interesting recipes my baking brain gets somewhat lightened up.

This month daring baker’s challenge was to make butter croissant hosted by Sarah  a non-blogger, and I have been off from that scene for a very long time. But for the croissant I decided to give it a try.  The process to make croissant is a long one, at first I was not sure whether I can finish it. Then after reading the whole process ( Recipe source:  Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two. Julia Child and Simone Beck)., I slightly deviated from the procedure by making dough on the first day and then adding butter to dough next day. I used butter instead of oil specified in the original recipe.  It was fun.  This procedure is called laminating the dough which is unique for puff pastries.  I made the dough Saturday and made croissant Sunday and Monday.

 I came across croissant for the first time in Japan, and fell in love with them. I had not seen croissant in India, while I was there. I had read that French croissant is out of the world, but never any chance to taste them. If I get to visit that dream country, for sure I am going for it.  After researching several write ups and blog post, and even a black and white Julia child’s You Tube video I made this. They taste really good, but I still need more practice to get the exact shaping of it. It gets better and better while doing it.

I used less butter than the French croissant. For making croissant you need European style butter and for this I got Plugrá from the local H.E.B.  I think that makes a difference.  While baking it was intoxicating,   butter and bread smell comes of the oven. I used bread flour to make the croissant. I divided the dough into two halves, first half I baked yesterday and it turned out be little harder as I gave it some extra time to bake. So the next day, I did the final proof for about 2 hours and baked the croissant at 375 °F for 12 minutes. Trust me they are worth the effort. Golden rule is that you should learn from the mistake and   I did that. I am satisfied with the result. I will make it again as time permits. They are deadly delicious. If you are not worried about calories, give it try. Here goes the recipe.

One year ago: Kurumulagu rasam/ spiced pepper soup

Print recipe from  here

What you need

 Unbleached King Arthur bread flour: 2cups/387g plus ¼ cup flour for sprinkling.

Salt: 1 teaspoon/6g

Sugar: 1 teaspoon

Active dry yeast: 1 ¼ teaspoon

Water: ¾ cup/159g ( use luke warm)

Milk: 1/3 cup/ 90g ( use luke warm or warm to touch)

Butter: 2 tablespoon

For butter the dough

Plugrá  Butter: 114 g/ ½ cup/ 1 stick

For egg wash

Whole egg: 1 no

Water: 1 tablespoon

How I made

Day before baking

Proof the active dry yeast in ¼ cup luke warm water along with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Mix everything and set aside until the yeast become frothy. It takes about 10 – 15 minutes depending upon how warm is your kitchen.

In a large bowl mix bread flour with rest of sugar, salt, butter and rub the butter with hand so that it gets mixed well with flour.  To this add yeast, milk and rest of water to form soft, sticky dough.  Transfer the dough into the buttered container and chill overnight in fridge.

Next morning, when you are ready to incorporate butter into the dough, start making the butter sheet 5- to 6-inch square which supposed to 2 inch less than the dough sheet.  I found that if you placed butter into the two parchment paper sheet and whack them with roller it will be easy to roll the butter. Try with cold butter thus it easy to make the sheet. Once you made the butter sheet immediately chill it in fridge while you are making the dough sheet.

Transfer the dough to a liberally floured work place and start making a rectangular sheet (8X 24 inch) of dough.  Try to be gentle with the dough not any extra force should be applied while making the rectangular sheet.

Once you made the dough into rectangle then place the butter sheet around middle of the dough and seal from all edge, so that there will no butter are exposed.   Then gradually spread the dough with butter into a rectangle and make 3 fold. First fold from left and then right. Again spread this folded dough into second turn or second fold and chill the dough for about 2 and ½ hours in the refrigerator.

After chilling, take out the dough to floured board and repeat and 3^rd and 4^th fold/ turn. This will create about 82 layers of butter and dough.  Wrap with parchment paper and chill it in refrigerator for about 2 hours.  If you want you can chill for overnight too. I did with my second half of dough.

When you are ready to cut and make croissant remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Then spread the dough into 9X 18 inch rectangle, cut the sides to make it perfect, don’t try to use the trimming. Then cut out triangle with 4.5 inch base and 7.5 inch length. You will be able to get 12 croissants with this dough.

Make a slit in the center of triangle try to place a small piece of dough trimming and if you want you can place a dates, or butter in center like I did. And tightly roll the triangle with stretching the ends maximum; this will give nice layers while rolling. Brush with egg wash and proof for about 2 hours at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

At the end of proofing time when it become double in size brush once again with egg wash before baking. Bake the croissant for about 12 minutes or until they become golden brown in color.

Enjoy when it is warm.

After a bite

Preparation time: overnight+ 6hours and 12 minutes

Yield: 12 no

Verdict: Delicious

Will you make it again: Yes I will, depending upon the time permits.

For tips on croissant baking check here

http://www.mamaliga.com/desserts/croissants-a-la-julia-child

http://www.pilmico.com/partners-advice/pdf-baking/Troubleshooting%20Guide%20-%20Croissants.pdf

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/20695-classic-french-croissants-tips-techniques/page__st__60

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