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
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.
After chilling, take out the dough
to floured board and repeat and 3rd and 4th 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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Sending this to Yeast spotting.
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Sending this to Yeast spotting.
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