A Loose How-To on Croissants

Its up to your own discretion whether you take my word on this post or not....but I'm working my way through as best as I can. There are tweaks I will continue to make, but what I can guarantee is a great tasting thing that resembles a croissant.

I'm following Pardon Your French's post on 2 day croissants - recipe is listed in this link!

Now I'm fully aware that I care about the parts that no one else cares about. The layers, the swirl, all of the technical stuff. From that, I become my own worst critic over a small flaky breakfast pastry. Wouldn't be the first time.

The first step is activating the yeast in the poolish.

Then you'll mix the dry ingredients, milk and poolish together to create the dough.

Once the dough is combined, it needs to sit in the fridge for at least an hour. When you take it out, roll it into a 12in x 12in square - the butter block will go at a 90 degree angle in the middle.

Fold up each corner into a square - then roll it out into a 8in x 24in rectangle. The key is in the book folds, or the tri-folds. Rolling it out each time in the opposite direction is what creates alllll the layers.

Repeat this process 3 more times! The dough has to sit in the fridge for 30-60 minutes between each roll out. 

When it's ready, roll it out one last time to an 8 in x 24 in rectangle - I've found this kept the dough thick enough but the amount it makes varies. I've had anywhere between 9 and 15 croissants come out of this recipe. 

The triangles get cut and slightly stretched before you roll into the croissant shape. This is where I've had trouble with the dough breaking and just not acting the way it should. Once I figure this out I'll make an update here.

Arrange the croissants on a pan, cover with Saran Wrap and pop in the fridge overnight! The next morning is where the action really happens.

*As you can see, I wrapped a few croissants with a chocolate dough layer (just cocoa powder mixed with the other dough). I really wanted to see if I could create the multi-colored effect that I've seen great pastry chefs achieve. It was cool, a solid 6/10.

In the morning, take the croissants out of the fridge and coat with an egg wash. Let them sit out for 2 hours while you preheat the oven to 370 F and do a final egg wash right before they go in. First, bake them for 7 minutes at 370 F and then raise the temp to 400 F where they'll bake for another 12-14 mins. We prefer ours extra crispy and golden.

Now, every batch has been different for me so far. It's hard to tell exactly where I'm at on my journey to a perfect croissant, but I have learned quite a lot. I was actually going to remake this post because this batch in particular had dough that kept breaking as I rolled them. Unfortunately, the new yeast I bought was accidentally thrown away....so I'm sticking with this!

As I keep going and singlehandedly raise my family's electric bill, I'm sure I'll revisit this post and make updates as the weeks go on.