Croissants

I am back at making croissants again. We have consumed all of the croissants in the freezer and I have a hankering.

I have used the America’s Test Kitchen recipe from 2012 before. The recipe can be found on the America’s Test Kitchen site. You do need a subscription, but there are recipes all over the internet.

I don’t follow the recipe faithfully. I have made them several times so I have gotten comfortable where I can make changes. The main change I make is rolling out the dough. This go around, I try some of the techniques demonstrated by Master Baker Scott Megee.

You’ll notice I don’t have many pictures for this bake, I didn’t start taking them until I was ready for the final rollout of the laminated dough. So we join our story after we make and knead the dough, with it resting in the fridge. I am beating the crap out of some Kerrygold butter to create the butter packet. Once the butter packet is create, it goes back in the fridge.

I follow the directions to freeze the dough. The key is that the dough and the butter need to be the same consistency. I pull the dough and the butter out. I have learned to run the rolling pin over the butter to get it pliable. I roll out the dough to twice the size of the butter packet, place the butter in the center, and fold over the ends to cover the butter. I follow Scott Megee’s example and cut the dough at the ends so it looks like a dough and butter sandwich.

Here’s where I make my first mistake. I got a manual dough sheeter for Christmas (thank you hubby!) and I am still learning how to adapt recipes to it. In my eagerness to get the dough on the sheeter, I only pressed my fingers on the side to lock the dough and butter together. I should have used the rolling pin to strategically press down on the dough sandwich to lock them together. Instead, the dough rolls out and the butter sticks out in places, but I will make it work. I roll out the dough, fold it, roll it out again, and fold it, fighting the butter that is peeking out on the edges with flour. Once it is rested and put in the freezer, I do the final lamination rollout and fold it. Into the fridge it goes for an overnight rest. I then follow with two more batches, making the same mistake with each one!

This is the final rollout before cutting. The blue side of the board is for cutting, I learned that the hard way last time!

And now divvied up. This is the first time I tried 4” wide triangles at the base. My portions are getting more consistent, but I think there is still too much tension in the dough based on the shrinkage. I will let it rest longer next time. Ha! Next time…

I am making almond croissants, so I wrap homemade almond paste in the center. I stretch and roll the dough into crescents and sprinkle sanding sugar on top so I know they are almond croissants in the freezer. I made that mistake once and couldn’t tell the plain from the almond ones.

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