Croissants, Take Two

Croissants. Here we go again! Since I baked my first batch on Sunday, I started to be obsessed with the idea of baking the perfect croissant at home. These posts should be little stops on the way there, and mementos from this little adventure.

I baked my second batch today. I started working on it already Sunday evening by preparing a poolish for Monday's dough. The recipe, somewhat different from the first one, also comes from Michel Suas' book, one that he adapted for hand-mixed and hand-laminated croissants. While folding the butter into the dough, a little disaster happened. Being a little bit impatient, I didn't wait enough for the dough and the butter to reach the same consistency. The butter was still a little bit too firm and it broke in a thousand little pieces. I was pretty close to throwing the whole mess into the garbage, but I took a deep breath and kept going. And sure enough, in the end the results were not too shabby; in fact they were a lot better than the first time around!

I'm sure it wasn't the shattered butter that caused those results, but rather giving the dough enough time between each step. Also, last time I froze the shaped croissants, and baked them the next morning after proofing them overnight. This time, I decided to rather retard the croissants after shaping, got up in the middle of the night to take them out of the fridge, and let them proof at room temp till the morning. Despite the butter disaster, we had some pretty decent croissants for breakfast.

I dropped some off at our neighbours', since we are only a two-person household. They might have to eat a lot of croissants in the upcoming weeks, while I perfect the whole process.

I really liked the recipe I used this time, so I might stick with it for a little while and hopefully improve my technique further. Once I'm completely satisfied with the outcome, I will write it all down and share it in a final croissant-post!

For now, we decided we are so happy and proud with the results that we should submit our post to the Wild Yeast blog for their weekly YeastSpotting feature.

Cheers, Lisa

Oh, là, là!

I've experimented with laminated dough for the first time this past week. I was so looking forward to freshly baked croissants for Sunday morning. And that's exactly what we had. For a very first try, I found the results quite alright, but there is definitely a lot more practicing to be done, and a lot more to learn to achieve the perfect crumb. Making croissants might turn now into a project for the upcoming weeks (or month?). It should give me something to play with, and I will keep you posted about the journey.

The formula I used was taken from Michel Suas' Advanced Bread and Pastry; there are a number of interesting croissant recipes in his book. I chose the most basic one for the time being.

Hope all of you had a great Sunday!

Lisa

Raspberries

We feel a little bit guilty to be so far ahead of the season, but yesterday we just couldn't resist and we bought a little box of (imported) raspberries. In sweet anticipation of the summer days we pictured those delicious, red, little fruit as filling for yummy rustic tarts, complete with extra-flaky crust. So we satisfied our longing and made them into dessert.

The Crust:

115 gr butter, frozen

156 gr flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons water, ice cold

The Filling:

42 Raspberries + one for the baker

For the crust make sure that both the butter and the water are ice cold. Having butter cubes available in the freezer is very convenient, and ensures that you'll be able to make a super nice and flaky pie crust anytime. If that is not the case, just cut your butter into smallish cubes before you start the dough, and freeze them for at least 15 minutes. The colder your butter and water are, the better your chances to achieve a flaky crust.

Put the flour and the salt into a food processor and add half the butter. Pulse a number of times to chop the butter cubes into crumbs, then add the other half of the butter and proceed in the same way. Once your mixture resembles coarse meal, you can start adding some of your ice cold water. Pulse in between and then add a little bit more water. Be sure to keep the amount of water in the dough to a minimum, since too much water will create a tough crust. Stop adding water once the crumbles hold together when you pinch them with your fingers.

Place the crumbly mixture on a clean and smooth surface. Press the heel of your palm into the crumbles, smoothing them into the work surface. Repeat that a number of times, then press the crumbles together and work the dough just enough so that it holds together. Over-kneading and too much gluten development will result in a tough crust. The little bits of butter that are dotting the dough will melt during the baking process and help to create the flaky layers of the crust. Wrap the dough in clear plastic film and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Take the dough out of the fridge 10 minutes before you want to work with it. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut the dough into three equal pieces and roll them out to 5 inch circles, to a thickness of about one eighth of an inch. Place the circles on a baking sheet and put the raspberries in the middle, leaving about a three quarter inch edge to fold it over. 

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the crust browns nicely.

By the way: you can be as creative with your filling as you wish. Anything goes; sweet or savory.