Day 1: Make the dough.
Ingredients for the croissant dough
500 g French Type 55 flour or unbleached all-purpose flour / plain flour (extra for dusting)
-Replace 37 grams of the flour with corn starch to make Pastry Flour 140 g water 140 g whole milk (you can take it straight from the fridge) 55 g sugar 40 g soft unsalted butter 11 g instant yeast 12 g salt
Mix in stand mixer, then kneed for a few minutes until the dough is smooth. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Butter Slab
280 g cold unsalted butter
Cut butter into 1/4 inch slices, place them on parchment paper, and press together. Use your palms, then a roller to get the square to 7in x 7in. You can do this on the same day as making the dough. Just refrigerate it until Day 2.
Day 2: Rolling
Take dough out of the refrigerator, roll it to an 11in x 11in square. Place the butter slab in the center diagonally, then fold the dough around the butter to make an envelope.
Roll the dough, with the butter inside, out to 24in x 8in. Then fold the dough into 3rds, and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Repeat this step 3 times. Then place the dough in the fridge again. For the next 3 days, we will flip the dough over once a day.
Day 5: Shaping, Proofing, and Baking
Take the dough, and roll it to 44in x 8in. Be gentle. Then cut the small slits in the dough every 7in on one side, then stagger the cuts on the other side. Then cut between the slits to make triangles. Stretch them out a little, and roll them to the correct croissant shape.
Create an egg wash with 1 egg and 1 tbs of water. Whisk until you see lots of bubbles. Then brush the egg wash onto the shaped croissants.
Let them proof for 2 hours in a room with a temperature of between 74f-76f. If proof them at too high a temp, the butter will melt out of the dough, and you will be sad. Egg wash once more directly before baking.
Preheat the oven to 385f, then lower it to 350 when you put the croissants in the oven. After about 10 minutes, I lower the heat to about 315f, but that is because my oven cooks a bit hot. You will want to play with the temperature.
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