Croissants

Oh my goodness, what an adventure! Made croissants for the first time.

I’ve always wanted to make them, but then I’d remember my dad. When I was younger, I remember my dad trying to make croissants. Twice. Both times were a huge failure. He told me that they were way beyond him, and will try again..some day. But that day never came. So I decided to take up the feat.

And they turned out great! I was amazed when I took them out of the oven. They were flaky and delicious. I actually bought some croissants at my grocery store to compare. No comparison. At all. The ones from the grocery store tasted stale and bland.

These took me three days to make. And it was well worth it. They will definitely make an encore appearance in my house.

Maybe I’ll make them with chocolate next time. Chocolate makes everything better. I tried them with nutella spread inside, and they were to DIE for! I can’t believe I didn’t make this sooner!

I was going to do a step by step with photos, but forgot because I was so excited about actually being able to make these croissants.

Croissants
printable recipe

What you’ll need:

Dough:
-4 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons cold water
-1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
-1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar
-3 tablespoons cold butter
-3 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
-2 1/4 teaspoons salt

Butter Layer:
–1 1/4 cups cold butter

Egg Wash:
-1 large egg
-1 teaspoon water

Directions:

Day 1:
    1.   Mix all the dough ingredients together using an electric mixer with a dough hook. Mix on low speed for 3 minutes, then mix on medium speed for 3 minutes. Transfer dough to a lightly floured bowl and lightly flour the top. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
Day 2:
    2.   Cut the butter into 1/2 inch thick slabs. Arrange the butter into a 5 to 6 inch square. Place another piece of parchment paper on top, and roll out with a rolling pan until the square of butter is a 7-1/2inch square. trim the edges of the square and place on top of the square. Pat down with the rolling pan. Refrigerate the butter layer.
    3.   Take the dough out of the refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll it out into a 10-1/2 inch square. Remove the butter layer from the refrigerator. Unwrap and place the butter on the dough so that the points of the butter are centred on the sides of the dough. Like this handy picture I drew on paint:

    4.   Fold over the edges of the dough until the dough is completely covering the butter layer. Lightly flour the top and the bottom of the dough, and roll out with a rolling pin into a 8 by 24 inch rectangle. Fold the long side of the rectangle 2/3rds of the way over, and fold the other 1/3 end over it. Put the dough on a baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 20 minutes.
    5.   Repeat the rolling and folding process in the direction of the open end of the folds. Place in the freezer for an additional 20 minutes.
    6.   Repeat this process a third time, then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.
Day 3:
    7.   Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll the dough out into a 8 by 44 inch rectangle. Trim the long ends of the dough until it is 40 inches long.
    8.   Along the bottom of the long side of the rectangle, measure 5 inch long intervals (you should have 7 of them) Along the top of the long side of the rectangle, make a 2-1/2 inch mark away from both ends of the rectangle and 5 inch intervals between. Cut the dough according to the marks along the sides as in the following picture:

    9.   Shape the croissants by rolling the long ends into the smaller end. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
    10.  In a small bowl, mix together the egg wash ingredients, and lightly brush over each croissant.
    11.  Refrigerate the remaining egg wash and let the croissants stand in a warm location for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
    12.  Place the racks of the oven on the top and bottom of the oven, and preheat the oven to 400˚F.
    13.  Lightly brush the croissants a second time with the egg wash. Place one baking sheet on the top rack, and one on the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes, and rotate the baking sheets and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes, or until golden. Let cool on baking sheets.

Recipe from Fine Cooking