I Almost Got It

The other weekend prior getting sick, I had a spurt of energy and I decided to tackle croissants.   I have always been intimidated with laminated doughs like puff pastry and croissants.   The thought of having to pound butter and bread dough into submission until it creates layers got me tired before I even started the recipe.  I finally decided to try it.  My main motivator was that I was craving croissants, Danishes, or anything with buttery layers almost everyday.  I just got sick of paying 2 or 3 dollars for one croissant (I went to Starbucks a little too much in the last couple of months).  I researched quite a bit of recipes and even tried a “cheater” recipe but instead I used a recipe I have been avoiding to use.  The recipe I used had a little back story to it. 
If you remember the back in July I took a pastry boot camp.  Everyday we looked forward to our break time, which meant a very butter and crispy croissant with a side of raspberry jam or butter.  And everyday, it was pointed out how messy I was when I ate it.  If you were looking for me just follow the trail of crumbs, I had to create a Hansel and Gretel path back to my work station.  When our week ended, I was still craving those croissants.  I were given the opportunity to have the delicious pastry when the school hosted a short cooking demo.  As I was waiting for the demo to start, I had the opportunity to look through the text book the students used.  I was just flipping through the book and I found the croissant recipe.  I looked around and asked my friend to cover me as I whipped (yes whipped) out my phone and took pictures of each section of the recipe.
If The Husband was there, he would have just giggled the whole time and gave me away.  When we talked again the following Monday, I emailed her the images from my phone.  I figured I was going to use the pictures as my guide but she was nice enough to type out the whole recipe.  We did learn from our week at the school, the directions are not always how it appears.  If you saw my recipe book there was scratch outs, arrows, and notes everywhere on each page.   When I looked at this recipe, I knew I had to use it as a base and researched other techniques.  I did rush it a little just because the butter started to leak out all over my counter.  I also had to battle the Daughter from attacking the dough.  She kept on trying to touch it as I was rolling it out.  Ok, I’m going to quit talking and give you the recipe.
Croissant Recipe
(adapted from The French Cooking school)
Poolish
180 g of Water (Lukewarm)
13.5 g of Dry Yeast
133 g of Bread Flour
Bread dough
53 g of Sugar
16 g of salt
233 g of Milk
73 g of Soft Butter
600 g of Bread Flour
462 g of Butter for the lamination
Direction

1. Take the water and sprinkle the yeast and than lightly sprinkle the flour on top in a large mixing bowl.  Let it bloom.
2. Take the butter for the lamination and place it in between two pieces of saran wrap. 
3. Pound the butter into a large rectangle and place it back into the fridge to firm.
4. When you see cracks in the flour, add the bread dough.  Layer the ingredients in this order: the milk, sugar, flour, and than the salt (so it wouldn’t kill the yeast).  Than add the butter. 
5. Set the mixer on low.  Watch it carefully and do not over work the dough.  Once it creates a ball, remove from the mixer. 
6. Cover and let it rise for 1/2 an hour.
7. When the dough doubles, remove it from the bowl and carefully roll out the dough into a thin layer (about 1/4 inch thick the most).
8. Take the butter out of the fridge and place it on top of the rolled out dough.  Fold over the edges until it covers the butter.
9. Fold the dough into thirds by the longest part and than roll out the dough to flatten slightly. 
10. Repeat this step until it forms a medium square (about 6x6). 
11. Place in a zip lock bag and place it in the fridge to let it rest.
12. Chill for 2 hours at least.  Remove from the fridge and roll out the dough until it is is a very thin rectangle (about 1/8th of an inch).  I wouldn’t make the width no longer than 3 inches.
13. Pre-heat the oven to 350F.  Cut long triangles out of the dough and slowly roll up the dough until it forms a croissant.  Place in a baking sheet and let it rest for it to rise.
14. Let it double in size.  Brush with an egg wash and bake for 15 minutes until it is golden brown.
15. Serve.

When it was baking, I didn’t realize how big the croissants would get.  They ended up as large as The Daughter.  I am still working on the procedure and I think I’m really close.  I will be testing the recipe to get it exactly how I like it. 

This is how I constructed the layers.

Here is my finish product.  The layers are almost there.  It is just not as thin as I would like. 

Look it is as big as her Head!

This was breakfast for The Husband and myself.