croissants
my first croissants! baked over a single day, August 2023
I followed this recipe by the Flavour Bender, with the folding techniques outlined by NYT Cooking here and made all the croissants over a single day
this is less of a recipe and more of a timeline of the steps, for my own records!
timeline
11:00am - supply run for flour and a rolling pin from the pastry store
12:30pm - prepare the dough and leave to rise for 1hr in a warm place. prepare the butter block and pop in the fridge to harden
1:30pm - admire the proofed dough, flatten into dough block of 18 x 27cm, and freeze for a few hours (or until 3:00pm if too excited to wait)
3:00pm - remove the dough and butter block from the freezer and fridge respectively, and enclose the butter block in the dough. wrap and return to the fridge for 30 minutes
3:30pm - roll out the dough and complete the first book fold. wrap and return to the fridge for 30 minutes
4:00pm - roll out the dough and complete the second letter fold. wrap and return to the fridge for 30 minutes
4:30pm - roll out the dough to a width of 22cm and thickness of 1cm. wrap and place in the freezer
7:00pm - remove from the freezer and let sit for 5-10 minutes to become pliable. roll out to a width of 24cm and thickness of 4-5mm. wrap and return to the fridge to let the gluten relax if the dough starts resisting rolling out
7:30pm - cut the dough to an even width of 23cm, retaining the scraps. cut into 6 triangles and a few leftover pieces. roll up the 6 triangles into perfect croissant shapes and place on prepared baking trays (three per small tray) for their second rise. roll up the scraps into tiny cruffin shapes and place in baking tray and freeze for future snacks / experiments.
7:45pm - place the trays in a warm (but not too warm!), undisturbed place for at least 2 hours until doubled in size, puffy and jiggle slightly when the trays are gently shaken. I proofed mine in the oven with a pan of warm water and it was too warm and melted half the butter out of my beautiful laminations! a lesson for next time..
9:25pm - gently remove the proofing croissants from the oven and preheat the oven to 180C (the recipe calls for 190C but I found this too hot and my first batch were more golden that I’d like)
9:45pm - give the proofed croissants a gentle eggwash and place in the oven to bake for about 20 minutes, or until totally golden and your apartment smells phenomenal
10:05pm - remove the croissants from the oven, and let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes (or as long as your self control can stand! this is a good time to walk away and take a shower to pass the time)
10:25pm - finally time to eat! enjoy the fruits of your labour and package the up the leftovers to hand off to lucky neighbours or make hazelnut & orange twice-baked croissants with
variations
I will be promptly repeating this recipe and making some of the following:
pain au chocolate (classic!)
ham, cheese and mustard (savoury? on this blog?)
pain au marmalade (this will be an experimental flavour, with marmalade pieces taking the place of raisins in the classic pain au raisin as I have about 3kg of marmalade to get through!)
other rough ideas - pain suisse? kouign-amann? danishes? keep an eye out!