I decided to make up yet another a recipe. I knew it would take all day so I wrote and took pictures while I did it. It didn't turn out nearly as I had wanted BUT I've left it here anyway. So, for those who have time to kill and wondered how often I blow it, (often!) Here is my ode on how not to make croissants.
ADDENDUM (AGAIN!) I let the dough rest overnight and cooked the second half. SUCCESS! I'm thinking this is going to be a keeper. I'll try to repeat it in the week and if it works the second time, I'll do a recipe.
I'm all about old fashioned, high maintenance, food. I try to alter the recipes a little bit to fit into my current lifestyle and on the whole have been relatively successful. I'll be honest, I have very few failures. However, there are a few things that vex me. I have two main nemesis'. Pastry is one, I'm truly inconsistent and frequently frustrated with pastry. There other is croissants... I've tried about a million (that is not an exaggeration) croissant recipes. I haven't been delighted with any of their outcomes.
I can whip up loaves of bread with the best of them, I know how it's supposed to look, to feel, to taste. I know how it's supposed to move in my hands and on the board. Breads love me. Croissants, not so much.
I have been researching and reading copious numbers of cookbooks and websites for a good, (easy hahaha) croissant recipe that doesn't require me thinking about it days ahead of time.
I'm home today, writing, if there's any day that seems the best for working through a recipe then dough that needs more attention than a newborn, today is the day.
There is yeast doing yeasty things in my Ninja, fitted with the "dough" blade. I'm going to blog this in real time. You might need to go get a glass of wine, this may be a long one. I will add the photographs in sections throughout my day.
Oh and yes, I'm making it up as I go along. I will have a final recipe at the end of this post.
10:15am
Into the mixer, I threw some milk, a spoonful of sugar and a half spoonful of yeast. (I can't find my measuring spoons *so sad* so am using a regular tablespoon "soup spoon" to measure. I have mixed it and am letting it sit for 10 minutes.
I added some all purpose flour, salt, a little more sugar and some butter, a little blob of it.
Mix to a soft dough. Knead for a moment (the machine, afterall is on kneading duty) so you feel truly involved, coat the smooth, soft, dough ball with a little knob of butter, put it in a clean bowl and cover tightly with cling wrap. Put in the oven with the light on and set the timer for 1 hour, we'll check it later. The dough is a little knobbly coming out of the mixer but a quick knead for a moment brought it together and smoothed it out beautifully.
On a piece of parchment paper, dust some flour and put a stick of butter on it. Flatten the butter with your fingers to a 6x4 rectangle. Add flour so it doesn't stick. Flip it over a few times to get it smooth and be sure you're not sticking to it! Wrap it loosely in the parchment and pop it in the fridge to cool.
See how we're doing double rising/cooling duty. We have an hour to ourselves, off you go and do something fun. I'm going to go write about food for a bit.
sprinkle parchment with flour, coat lightly and flatten the butter, wrap and toss it in the fridge
11:30am
Ok, it's about an hour later, let's see what we have...ok, that looks doubled.
fold the butter inside the dough, turn like a book and roll it out again, fold in thirds again, square it all up, wrap it in plastic and shove it back in the fridge to get firm and cold.
it's already starting to warm up and loosen...I was trying to be fast. I have a feeling this isn't going to work, I think I broke the butter but I am forging bravely ahead, this is an experiment afterall.
A quick repeat of the roll out and fold then quickly into the plastic wrap and into the fridge. You can see how it's starting to soften! EEEK
Ah, folded, wrapped and back into the fridge.
We'll revisit in a couple of hours, I have shopping to do, we'll regroup in 2.
2:pm
Okie dokie, it looks well rested and its definitely cold. Still pliable but definitely well chilled
4:30 ish
On a lightly floured surface, press it out and roll it into a rectangle. It's lovely to work with and doesn't stick at all.
when it's flat and about 3 times the size of the very solid piece of butter, place the butter on the bottom third and fold over like a letter
fold the butter inside the dough, turn like a book and roll it out again, fold in thirds again, square it all up, wrap it in plastic and shove it back in the fridge to get firm and cold.
it's already starting to warm up and loosen...I was trying to be fast. I have a feeling this isn't going to work, I think I broke the butter but I am forging bravely ahead, this is an experiment afterall.
A quick repeat of the roll out and fold then quickly into the plastic wrap and into the fridge. You can see how it's starting to soften! EEEK
Ah, folded, wrapped and back into the fridge.
We'll revisit in a couple of hours, I have shopping to do, we'll regroup in 2.
2:pm
Okie dokie, it looks well rested and its definitely cold. Still pliable but definitely well chilled
Again, I rolled it into a rectangle, folded it in thirds, turned it like a book and repeated. BACK into the fridge for another hour.
3 PM (ish)
I've removed the dough, cut it in half, rolled it out into a really bad circle and cut it into 6 triangles. I rolled them (again, badly) and put them on a sheetpan, covered. Time to let them rise, we'll peek in about an hour and see how they're doing. They are funny looking because I made them straight and as I was taking their picture, it occurred to me I should do them crescent shaped, for effect, so I tried to reshape them with one hand so I wouldn't gum up my camera. See, all in the name of science. We'll see how they are in a hour, or so. I need a drink anyway
4:30 ish
Ok, this is exhausting. After an hour to rise, they really didn't rise much. I egg washed them and threw them into a 375 oven.
Well well well. I don't think I'd call this a rousing success but also it's not a complete and epic fail. They are miles too small. The flavor is fabulous, absolutely fabulous. The texture is a little too bready but it's tender and there are about a zillion layers in there. The crust is pretty nice but could be much flakier. You bet I'm making these again, I am already making alchemy notes. I'll nail it. I'll let you know when I do.
In the meantime, go buy some croissants and we'll meet back another day.
NEXT DAY!
I rolled out the second half of the dough, cut it into 4, rolled them, put them on a pan, sprayed them with a little water, covered them loosely and left them for 2 hours. *I went to the store and sort of forgot about them to be honest*
I sprayed them again with water and threw them into a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes. Spun them and cooked them for another 3.
Oh, look at them! I just might be delighted:
After a 90 minute rise, much puffier than yesterdays version! Oh yes, these are working nicely!
I squealed with delight... I'm working the recipe details and if I can recreate this, I'll post it! YAY!
NEXT DAY!
I rolled out the second half of the dough, cut it into 4, rolled them, put them on a pan, sprayed them with a little water, covered them loosely and left them for 2 hours. *I went to the store and sort of forgot about them to be honest*
I sprayed them again with water and threw them into a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes. Spun them and cooked them for another 3.
Oh, look at them! I just might be delighted:
After a 90 minute rise, much puffier than yesterdays version! Oh yes, these are working nicely!
I squealed with delight... I'm working the recipe details and if I can recreate this, I'll post it! YAY!
/Tracy
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