alexandra neznamy

Croissants

Croissants are delicious, butter and flaky pastry invented in France. They are typically eaten for breakfast but can pair well with certain sandwich insides like ham and cheese, chicken salad, egg salad, shrimp salad, egg and bacon or sausage. They can be versatile when used or eaten on their own. 

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I will just give a warning, as delicious as they are, making them from scratch is a pain. It is not instant gratification here. You can absolutely buy croissant dough in grocery stores like BJ’s, Price Chopper or a local market, but it won’t necessarily taste the same. When you make croissants, well it gives you a great workout beating the butter into the dough during the lamination process. It also takes a long time because of the Proof time.

Proof: is a step in the preparation of yeast bread and other baked goods where the dough is allowed to rest and rise a final time before baking. During this rest period, yeast ferments the dough and produces gases, thereby leavening the dough.

Laminated dough: is a culinary preparation consisting of many thin layers of dough separated by butter, produced by repeated folding and rolling. Such doughs may contain more than eighty layers. During baking, water in the butter vaporizes and expands, causing the dough to puff up and separate, while the lipids in the butter essentially fry the dough, resulting in a light, flaky product.

Now you will need a food scale. This is not something you can get away with when measuring with cups and Teaspoon or Tablespoons.

Croissants

a delicious french pastry that is perfect for breakfast or dessert
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 25 mins
Rest Time 1 d
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine French
Servings 26

Equipment

  • Bowl
  • Mixer with dough hook
  • Food Scale
  • Parchment Paper
  • Knife
  • rolling pan
  • sheet pan

Ingredients
  

  • 350 grams Water
  • 300 grams Milk
  • 15 grams SAF yeast
  • 25 grams salt
  • 100 grams Sugar
  • 1100 grams All purpose Flour
  • 484 grams butter

Instructions
 

Croissant Dough

  • Add all ingredients except butter together in bowl
  • Mix on low speed with dough hook attachment until it all comes together.
  • Knead on floured table a little but not too much. Shape into square roughly 8 X 8 and wrap in plastic
  • Let rest in refrigerator.

Butter for Laminating

  • Flour parchment paper
  • Chop butter lengthwise into roughly 115 gram (4 ounce) pieces
  • Flour the butter lightly and cover with paper
  • Beat with rolling pin to soften and flatten. Try to shape it into rectangle.
  • Make sure the butter is roughly 2/3 the size of the dough

Laminating Croissant Dough

  •  Roll out dough to form rectangle. Don’t let the dough get too wide, no
    more than 10-12 inches wide.
  • Brush off excess flour with a brush and mark about 2/3 of the dough.
    Place the butter on the 2/3 portion of the dough and trim any edges. The
    butter should be cold but malleable.
  • Fold 1/3 of the dough over. Brush off flour and fold the other 1/3 over
    keeping the edges neat and tight. See diagram below.
  • Rotate the dough 90° and flour it up. Hit the ends to seal the dough and
    bang it down. Roll the dough out, keeping the edges neat, tight and not
    too long or thin. The dough should be about 3 ½ feel long.
  • Brush off the flour and double turn. Sealing the two ends when you bring
    them to the middle.
  • Roll it out a little and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest in fridge between
    turns if needed.
  • Repeat the double turn. Flour the dough and triple wrap in plastic. Let
    dough rest overnight in refrigerator.
  • Cut dough in half, approximately 2 pounds 8 ounces for each half.

Shaping First Half of Dough

  • Roll out so that the width is 11 inches and the length is about 26 inches.
    The dough should be 1/8 of an inch thick (not too thick, not too thin)
  • Trim 3 edges so that they are straight.
  • Mark alongside the dough every 4 inches at the bottom. At the top, mark 2
    inches in, then every 4 inches. Then form zig zag cuts to make triangles.
    Discard ends. See diagram below:
  • Take each triangle and cut 2 cuts ¼ inch deep in the middle between 10
    and 12 inches.
  • Pick up and pull open, forming a batman shape with the cuts and run your
    thumb down the middle, stretching out the dough.
  • 1-2 seal, roll down dough holding bottom with your finger, stretching
    slightly and keeping elbows out. Roll the dough down until the end.
  • Line a sheet tray with parchment paper and place each rolled croissant on
    the pan, ends underneath and tips facedown. Cover and let proof.
  • Egg wash tops and place into 350°F oven for 25 minutes. Rotate tray
    about halfway through.

Shaping Second Half of the Dough

  • Roll out to 1/4 -1/8 inch thick, about 14 inches wide and about 24 inches
    long.
  • Cut off two sides straight with a right angle.
  • Mark along width every 4 inches and along length every 3 ½ inches. Cut
    across to make rectangles like below.
  • Egg wash bottom of inch of each rectangle. Lay two chocolate batons
    down lengthwise on dough above egg wash.
  • Fold over top third. Then fold over again sealing with egg wash
    ress down slightly and place on sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
    Cover and proof.
  • Egg wash tops and place into 350°F oven for 25 minutes. Rotate tray
    about halfway through.
Keyword Croissants, french food

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