So finally I made Croissants today. First let me tell you that it’s a looong looong recipe. The longest I tried spanning over a period of 3 days .But don’t you worry. You just have to follow the recipe word to word. And there you are. Done and happy with a BIG BIG smile looking at a batch of yummy homemade buttery Croissants. Like I told you follow the recipe word to word. That’s all.
When I saw my croissants baking in the
oven I was elated. Am ''I'' making them? The least I got close to a croissant was
buying it from a nearby bakery and chomping them down my throat. And here I am
trying to bake them .All thanks to Aparna’s project-We Knead to Bake-2
Since the recipe involved a large amount
of butter and owing to my novice status with the word baking in itself, I was
unsure whether I should try the recipe or not .So I baked my croissants with
only half the quantity of ingredients listed below except for butter which I
used only 100 gms against the 250 gms mentioned below. I warned myself if I
messed up I would be wasting a lot of butter and flour. I decided to make Pain
Au Chocolat and then proceed to
make the crescent shaped ones only if my previous attempt with Pain Au
Chocolat succeeded. Which did .At the end of it I couldn’t believe I made
them. Really.
Aniket and my
mom were elated too .A Three day work paid off when I saw a gleam on their
faces.
With the rest
of the dough I made small croissants of various shapes. Actually I tried to
make the crescent shaped ones but since I used only half of the quantity of all
ingredients my triangles were not long enough to form the actual shape of the
crescent shaped croissants.
So what is a
croissant?
Well
croissants are- I quote Aparna’’ Croissants are basically yeasted puff pastry
that is baked in the shape of crescents. If plain they are shaped into
crescents (Croissant ordinaire/ croissant au beurre) but usually left as
straight rolls if filled with chocholate(Pain Au Chocolat). For pain au
Chocholat just cut out long strips of the dough, place the chocolate at one end
and roll them up into logs.
The Wikipedia says They are made of a layered yeast-leavened dough. The dough is layered with butter, rolled and folded
several times in succession, then rolled into a sheet, in a technique called
laminating. The process results in a layered, flaky texture, similar to a pastry. A pain au chocolat called a chocolatine or chocolate
croissant in south-western France and in French Canada, is a sweet roll consisting of a cuboid-shaped piece of yeast-leavened laminated dough, similar in texture to a puff pastry, with one or two pieces of chocolate in the centre.
So are you ready? Here comes the loooong looong recipe-:
For the dough
All purpose flour-4 cups and a little
more for dusting and rolling out the dough
Cold water-1/2 cup+2tbsp
Cold milk-1/2 cup+2 tbsp (I used 2 %)
Granulated sugar-1/4 cup
Soft unsalted butter-40 gms
Instant yeast-1 tbsp+scant ½ tsp
Salt- 2 tsp
For
the butter layer
Cold unsalted butter-250 gms
To
brush dough
Cold milk-1/4th cup or or 1/8 cup of cream + 1/8 cup cream or 1 egg for egg wash
For filling
Cooking chocolate-50 gms
Method
Day 1
Combine all the ingredients for the
dough in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. You can also use
a food processor with the plastic blade, or do this by hand.
Mix on low speed for 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the
mixing bowl once if necessary. Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
Lightly flour a 10-inch pie pan or a dinner plate .Place
the ball of dough on it.
Gently shape the dough into a flat ball
by pressing it down before storing it in the fridge, this makes rolling out
next morning easier. Making a tight ball will strengthen the gluten which you
do not need.
Lightly flour the top of the dough and wrap well with
plastic so it doesn’t dry out. Refrigerate overnight.
Day 2
Make butter
layer
The next day, cut out 2 pieces of
parchment or waxed paper into 10” squares each.
Cut the cold butter into 1/2-inch-thick
slabs.
Place these pieces on one piece of
parchment/ waxed paper so they form a 5- to 6-inch square. Cut the butter
further into pieces as required to fit the square. Top with the other piece of
parchment/ waxed paper.
Using a rolling pin, pound the butter
with light, even strokes. As the pieces begin to stick together, use more
force. Pound the butter until it flattens out evenly into a square that’s
approximately 7-1/2”.
Trim the edges of the butter to make a
neat square. Put the trimmings on top of the square and pound them in lightly
with the rolling pin.
Refrigerate this while you roll out the
dough.
Laminate
the Dough
Unwrap and lay the dough on a lightly
floured work surface.
Roll it out to a 10-1/2-inch square, and brush
off the excess flour.
Take the butter out from the
refrigerator —it should be cold but pliable. If it isn’t refrigerate it till it
is. This so that when you roll out the dough with the butter in it, neither
should it be soft enough to melt, or hard enough to break.
Unwrap the butter and place it on the square
of dough in the centre, so that it forms a “diamond” shape on the dough.
Fold one flap of dough over the butter
toward you, stretching it slightly so that the point just reaches the middle of
the butter square.
Bring the opposite flap to the middle,
slightly overlapping the previous one.
Similarly repeat with the other two so
that the dough forms an envelope around the butter.
Lightly press the edges together to
completely seal the butter inside the dough to ensure the butter doesn’t escape
when you roll out the dough later.
Lightly flour the top and bottom of the
dough.
With the rolling pin, firmly press along
the dough uniformly to elongate it slightly.
Now begin rolling instead of pressing,
focusing on lengthening rather than widening the dough and keeping the edges
straight.
Roll the dough into an 8” by 24”
rectangle.
If the ends lose their square shape,
gently reshape the corners with your hands. Brush off the excess flour.
Mark the dough lightly equally into
three along the long side. Using this as a guideline, pick up one short end of
the dough and fold 1/3rd of it back over the dough, so that 1/3rd of the other
end of dough is exposed.
Now fold the 1/3rd exposed dough over
the folded side. Basically, the dough is folded like 3-fold letter before it
goes into an envelope (letter fold).
Put the folded dough on a floured baking
sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 15 to 20 minutes to relax and
chill the dough.
Repeat the rolling and folding, this
time rolling in the direction of the two open ends (from the shorter sides to
lengthen the longer sides) until the dough is about 8” by 24”.
Once again fold the dough in thirds,
brushing off excess flour and turning under any rounded edges or short ends
with exposed or smeared layers. Cover once again with plastic wrap and freeze
for another 15 to 20 minutes.
Roll and fold the dough exactly in the
same way for the third time and put it baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap,
tucking the plastic under all four sides and refrigerate overnight.
Day 3
Divide the dough
The next day, unwrap and lightly flour
the top and bottom of the dough. Cut the dough along the longer side into
halves. Cover one half with plastic wrap and refrigerate it while working on
the other half.
Press dough firmly along its length with
the rolling pin. Don’t widen the dough but simply begin to lengthen it with
these first strokes. Slowly roll the dough into a long and narrow strip,
approximately 8” by 22”. If the dough sticks as you roll, sprinkle with flour.
Once the dough is about half
to two-thirds of its final length, it may start
to resist rolling and even shrink back. If this happens, fold the dough in
thirds, cover, and refrigerate for about 10 minutes; then unfold the dough and
finish rolling.
Check that there’s enough excess dough
on either end so that when you trim the edges to straighten them, you have a
strip of dough that is 20’ inches long. Now trim the edges so they’re straight.
Shape the dough
To make Pain au Chocolat, cut the dough into long
strips (rectangular) 5" wide . Place the chocolate at one end and tucking
it in, start to roll the dough strips reasonably tight, right up to the the
other end, in Swiss roll/ jelly roll style. Lightly press down the
end and seal it and place them on baking trays with the sealed side down
Place them on a greased or parchment lined baking
sheet leaving as much space between them as they will rise quite a bit.
Proof the croissants
Brush the croissants with milk (or a mix
of milk and cream). If you use eggs, make an egg wash by whisking one egg with
1 tsp water in a small bowl until very smooth. Lightly brush this on each
croissant.
Refrigerate the remaining milk/ milk+cream (or
egg wash) for brushing the croissants again later.
Place the croissants in a cool and
draft-free place (the butter should not melt) for proofing/ rising for about 1
1/2 to 2 hours. They might need longer than 2 hours to proof, maybe as much as
3 hours, so make sure to let croissants take the time to proof.
The croissants will be distinctly larger but
not doubled in size. They’re ready if you can see the layers of dough from the
side, and if you lightly shake the sheets, the croissants will wiggle.
Bake the croissants
Just before the croissants are fully
proofed, pre-heat your oven to 200C (400F) in a convection oven or 220C (425F)
in a regular oven.
Brush the croissants with milk/ milk+cream (or
egg wash) a second time, and place your baking sheets on the top and lower
thirds of your oven (if regular) or bake one tray at a time in the convection
oven.
Bake them for about 15 to 20 minutes till
they’re done and golden brown on top and just beginning to brown at the sides.
In a regular oven, remember to turn your baking sheets halfway through. If they
seem to be darkening too quickly during baking, lower the oven temperature by
10C (25F). Cool the croissants on the baking sheets on racks.
Serve warm.
Notes
Ensure that your butter is
cold – cold enough that it is pliable enough to smoothly roll out; not hard (or
it will break) or soft (it will melt). If the butter is too hard and breaks
while rolling out the dough, you will not get the layers in the croissants.
Do not over-knead / develop
the dough too much, too much gluten will not help during the lamination
process. The lamination process itself is a kind of stretch and fold anyway and
will strengthen the dough. So keep to the 3 minutes the recipe says. You want a
soft dough, not an elastic one.
When you cover the
butter square with the dough, make sure you seal the dough well, otherwise the
butter will leak out when you roll out the dough, and there’s no way you can
manage to put the butter back in. You will also end up with butter leaking
during the baking
Always, always make sure your
dough and butter inside it are cold.
Once the butter has melted, it is difficult to get the dough to produce layers because the dough tends
to absorb the butter and will make greasy croissants. So, while working with
the dough, or when rolling it out, if at any point you feel the dough becoming
warm and soft, put it back in the fridge immediately for 10-15 minutes. Also
work as quickly as you can so the butter stays cold.
During the lamination of the
dough (rolling and folding repeatedly), chill the dough in the freezer and NOT
the fridge. The overnight refrigeration is to be done in the fridge NOT in the
freezer. Resting the dough is an important part of the croissant making process.
You
also need a lot of patience to keep rolling out the dough with just enough pressure
to stretch it. The rolled out dough before shaping should be somewhere between
1/4” and 1/8” thick
Make sure your dough is shaped
with straight lines and square-ish corners. All the time you are rolling your
dough out, keep this in mind. This way you will minimise waste of dough. More
importantly, the edges where there is no butter would get folded in during
lamination and affect your layers. So trim off those bits if you have any of
them
Keep lightly flouring your work surface (not
too much), just enough to keep working smoothly without tearing the dough.
However, dust with a light hand or you could end up adding more flour than
desirable
Do not be tempted to fold more than three times. A
fourth fold will give you more layers, but thinner butter layers between them,
and your croissants will not puff of as much as you would like them to
After lamination and refrigeration
overnight you can cut the dough into half and bake in two lots. You can
refrigerate the remaining half (you can wrap and freeze it) and use after 2
days
You can use an egg wash on your
croissants for deep colour and shine. Otherwise use milk or mixture of cream
and milk(this gives better browning and shine)
If at any point you feel the
dough is not rolling right or butter is leaking ,roll the dough and keep in the
freezer for 10-15 minutes, that would help heaps.
If there are butter leaks
slightly pat with flour and continue working on it.
To make crescent shaped croissants
Follow upto Divide the dough section for
Pain u chocholat
If you’re good at “eyeballing” and
cutting the dough into triangles, then forget the measuring rule, marking and
cutting instructions. Otherwise, lay a measuring rule or tape measure
lengthwise along the top length of the dough.
With a knife, mark the top of the dough
at 5-inch intervals along the length (there will be 3 marks in all).
Now place the rule or tape measure along
the bottom length of the dough. Make a mark 2-1/2 inches in from the end of the
dough. Make marks at 5-inch intervals from this point all along the bottom of
the dough. You’ll have 4 marks that fall halfway between the marks at the top.
Make diagonal cuts by positioning the
yardstick at the top corner and the first bottom mark. Use a pizza wheel/ pie
wheel or a bench scraper and cut the dough along this line which connects each
top mark to the next bottom mark and then back to the next top mark and so on.
This way you will have 7 triangles .Scrap of dough at the ends.
Now work with one piece of triangular
dough at a time. Using your rolling pin, very lightly roll (do not make it thin
but only stretch it slightly) the triangle to stretch it a little, until it is
about 10” long. This will give your croissants height and layers. You can
stretch it by hand too, but if you don’t have the practise, your stretching
could be uneven.
Using a sharp small knife, make a 1/2- to
3/4-inch-long notch in the centre of the short side of each triangle. The notch
helps the rolled croissant curl into a crescent.
Place the triangle on the work surface
with the notched side closest to you. With one hand on each side of the notch,
begin to roll the dough away from you, towards the pointed end.
Flare your hands outward as you roll so
that the notched “legs” become longer. Roll the triangle tight enough but not
too tight to compress it, until you reach the “pointy” end which should be
under the croissant.
Now bend the two legs towards you to form a
tight crescent shape and gently press the tips of the legs together (they’ll
come apart while proofing but keep their crescent shape).
Shape all the triangles like this into
croissants and place them on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet leaving
as much space between them.
Proof
and bake as for Pain Au Chocolat
You can watch this video for getting an
idea about the process of making croissants. This
video
however shows the making process of crescent shaped croissants.
Btw this is yeastspotted!
