Oh my, croissants aren't simple to make at all. Here's a recipe, but it's certainly not simple:
Croissants
1 ounce fresh yeast
3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/4 cup white or packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk, or more
1 pound unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour, for dusting
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
In a mixer with a dough hook, place the yeast, flour, sugar, salt and the milk and mix for 2 minutes until a soft moist dough forms on the hook. If most of the flour isn't moistened with this quantity of milk, add more, a tablespoon at a time until it is moistened and smooth, using up to 4 tablespoons. Turn mixer on high and mix for another 4 minutes until very smooth and elastic.
Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured board, cover with a damp tea towel and allow it to rest for 15 minutes to relax the gluten. Remove the towel and, using a French rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10 by 9-inch rectangle 5/8-inch thick. Wrap in plastic then chill for 1 hour and up to overnight.
Ten minutes before the dough is done resting in the refrigerator, prepare the butter. Beat it with your rolling pin on a floured surface to soften it and form a rectangle 6 by 8 1/2 inches. Place it between parchment paper or plastic wrap and set aside.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it on a floured work surface into a 10 by 15-inch and 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Brush any excess flour off the dough. Place the shorter side of the dough parallel to the front of your body on the work surface. Place the butter in the middle, long-ways. Fold the bottom up over the butter and brush off any excess flour and then fold the top down over the butter to overlap and encase the butter. Press down lightly with the rolling pin to push all the layers together and make sure they have contact.
Continue rolling the laminated (layered) dough to form a new 10 by 15-inch rectangle, patching any holes with a dusting of flour where butter may have popped through. Fold into thirds, like a letter, brush off any excess flour and mark it with an indentation made by poking your finger once at the corner of the dough meaning you have completed the first ';turn';.
Wrap well in plastic and chill 1 hour and up to overnight. Do this again three more times (some people only do 3 turns total, some do 6, some do 3 plus what's called a ';wallet'; turn for the last one which is a 4 fold turn that's folded into itself like a book jacket) marking it accordingly each time and chilling in between each turn.
After the fourth turn, you can let the dough chill overnight, or, for 1 hour, or, roll it out to a 13 by 24-inch square that is a little less than 1/4-inch thick and cut out your croissants and shape them.
I roll out the dough and cut it with a sharp large knife into 6-inch strips then cut them into triangles, 4 inches wide at the base of the triangle (or for a more curved croissant cut the triangles 6 inches wide). Stretch these triangles again 9 inches long, then place on the work surface and put a piece of scrap dough in the center of the wide end to enclose, which will plump up the center. Roll the triangles up towards you starting at the wide end and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment lined sheet pan with the tip tucked under and the ends slightly curved in to make a crescent shape. You may freeze the croissants at this point, or, in a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk and brush the croissants with this egg wash.
To proof the croissants, place them in an oven that is warm but not turned on, with a pan of hot water in the bottom to create a moist environment like a proof box. Set aside to proof for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours until puffed up and spongy to the touch. Remove from the oven.
Spritz a preheated 425 degree F oven with water, close the door, and get the croissants. Place the croissants in the oven and spritz again, close the door and turn the oven down to 400 degrees F. After 10 minutes, rotate your pan if they are cooking unevenly and turn the oven down to 375 degrees F. Bake another 5 to 8 minutes until golden brown.Simple Croissant recipe?
My suggestion to you is to buy a box of puff pastry, cut into triangles, and roll into a croissant. You can put your own fillings in, such as almond filling or chocolate and nuts. The can of pillsbury crescent rolls are the next best thing...they can be filled in a silmilar manner.
I love to bake... I use it as a way to relax, but I wouldn't think of attempting a croissant. When you break apart a croissant, and you see all those layers of dough, that's from rolling it out, lying in butter, folding, chilling, and then repeating the process, over and over. It's about a 12 hour project from start to finish, including chilling time. Just buy them at the bakery...they're good, but not that good.
Here's a recipe using puff pastry by Nigella Lawson...they sound more fun to make, and less exhausting:
***Chocolate Croissants***
First let me say to you that if I can do this, you can. As I have never tried to hide, I have no patience and even less dexterity. But this is child's play: indeed, you could consider getting children to make them. They certainly like eating them, and they tend to like eating what they make themselves even more.
1 (13-ounce) packet ready rolled butter puff pastry
1 (100-gram) chocolate bar (milk or dark depending on taste)
1 egg beaten
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Unfurl the sheet of pastry and then cut it into 6 squares.
Cut each square diagonally to give 2 triangles (they will appear quite small). Put the triangle with the wider part facing you and the point away from you.
Break off small pieces of chocolate (approx.1cm/half inch) to place about 2cm/3/4-inch up from the wide end nearest you.
Then carefully roll from that chocolate loaded end towards the point of the triangle.
You should now have something resembling a straight croissant, seal it slightly with your fingertips and curl it around into a crescent.
Place the chocolate croissants on a lined baking tray and paint with the beaten egg. Bake for 15 minutes until golden and puffy and exuberantly, if miniaturely, croissant-like.
PILLSBURY!
you can use pilbary croissants. make it your own. i put choclate inside. and on to. so that it make it a choclate croissant
Caramel Croissant Pudding Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson,
2 stale croissants
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 cup whole milk
2 eggs, beaten
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a small gratin dish; I use a cast iron oval with a capacity of about 500ml/ 2 cups for this.
Put the sugar and water into a saucepan, and swirl around to help dissolve the sugar before putting the saucepan on the hob over medium to high heat. Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away until it all turns a deep amber colour; this will take 3 to 5 minutes. Keep looking but don't be too timid.
Take the pan off the heat and add the cream - ignoring all spluttering - followed by the bourbon and milk. Whisk to mix, then still whisking add the beaten eggs. Pour this quickly over the croissants and leave to steep for 10 minutes.
Place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes and prepare to swoon.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AXaovJPSS5E%26amp;f鈥?/a>
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/鈥?/a>
Doughnut French Toast Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson,
2 eggs
1/2 cup full fat milk
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 slices from a small white loaf or 2 slices from a large white loaf, each large slice cut in half
1-ounce butter, plus a drop flavourless oil, for frying
1/4 cup sugar
Beat the eggs with the milk and vanilla in a wide shallow bowl.
Soak the bread halves in the eggy mixture for 5 minutes a side.
Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan/skillet, fry the egg-soaked bread until golden and scorched in parts on both sides.
Put the sugar onto a plate and then dredge the cooked bread until coated like a sugared doughnut.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=StTdrqJBRMg
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/鈥?/a>
I tried Nigella' recipe and, to be honest, it works much better with savoury fillings. The pastry just doesn't feel right for croissants, and I tried adding some extra butter.
If you want to make your own, I'd go with the first recipe, long I know, but much, much better!
Use Nigella's recipe to make cheese and ham, or chorizo pastries
Easy Croissants
Ingredients:
1 c Warm milk
1 ts Sugar
1 tb Yeast
1 c Flour
3/4 c Milk, room temperature
1 1/2 ts Salt
1/4 c Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 c Butter melted and cooled
4 c Flour
1 c Cold butter
1 Egg, beaten with cold water
Instructions:
Stir warm milk and sugar together. Add yeast. Let stand 10 minutes. Stir
well. Add flour; beat well. Add milk, sugar and egg. Beat until smooth.
Add butter; beat and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, place the 4 cups of
flour and the chilled butter. Cut butter into flour until pieces are the
size of beans (not too small). Pour the liquid batter into the flour
mixture; stir until moistened. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove from refrigerator.
Press into a compact ball on a floured board and divide into 4 parts. Roll
each into a circle 12'; or 16';. Cut each circle into 6 or 8 pie-shaped
wedges. For each croissant roll a wedge towards the point. Shape into a
crescent and place on ungreased baking sheet. Let rise at room temperature
until doubled. (May take 2 hours or more). Brush each with egg beaten with
cold water. Preheat oven to 400 F. Place croissants in oven. Lower
temperature to 350 F and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden. Makes 24 -
32.
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