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My first entry to Bread Baking Day a great monthly event aiming to challenge bloggers in their bread baking abilities. The current theme is hosted by Baking A Sweet Life and is focussed on breakfast breads, and what could be better than croissants?

I just love croissants for breakfast or a mid morning snack, with a latte to dunk them into.  No jam or other adulterations required, thank you

As everyone knows the croissant, is the esteemed Parisian pastry that has seen different guises. It could be filled with chocolate, ham and cheese, to name just a few. Well it’s not actually of French origin, according to Larousse Gastronomique: The World’s Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia (Prosper Montagne):

“Croissant…This delicious pastry originated in Budapest in 1686, when the Turks were besieging the city. To reach the centre of the town, they dug underground passages. Bakers, working during the night, heard the noise made by the Turks and gave the alarm. The assailants were repulsed and the bakers who had saved the city were granted the privilege of making a special pastry which had to take the form of a crescent in memory of the emblem on the Ottoman flag.”

Croissant are actually look quite straightforward, just time consuming as it is two day job, but they’re actually rather tricky to get right.  As Dan Leapard points out in Exceptional Breads: Baker & Spice they were once considered the gold standard when checking out a pastry chefs abilities.

Considering this was my first attempt at baking them and I can’t believe how well they turned out.  They’re so crisp, feather light and flakey. Not too bad looking either eh? Although I do feel the layers are a little too distinct and should be more evenly blended; a good enough reason to practice more croissant baking and eating too I reckon

A diagramatic method can be seen here, although I used the recipe from Exceptional Breads: Baker & Spice (Dan Lepard & Richard Whittington). 

The Recipe:

• 1 sachet fast action yeast
• 500g strong white flour
• 110ml warm bottled spring water
• 110ml cold milk
• 20g Maldon salt, ground finely
• 70g caster sugar
• 250g unsalted butter

Glaze:

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon milk

1. Make a sponge: in a bowl, whisk together the yeast, 100g of the flour and the warm water. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a warm place for two hours or until the sponge has risen by at least one third and is clearly active with lots of bubbles.
2. Put the remaining flour, milk, salt and sugar in the bowl of a free standing electric mixer and add the sponge. Work the dough for six minutes by which time the dough will be soft and sticky and coming away from the sides of the bowl. Put the dough in a polythene bag and leave overnight in the fridge.
3. The following day, put a sheet of cling film over your work top and dredge with flour. Lay the cool butter on top, sprinkle with a little more flour and roll it into a rough rectangle about 1cm thick. Wrap with cling film and set aside.
4. Take the dough out of the fridge and bag, put it on a floured surface and knock back. Scatter with flour, then roll out, turning frequently to get a rectangle about 1cm thick. Brush off the excess flour then put the unwrapped butter in the centre.
5. Fold the dough over the butter so that they slightly overlap at the top and the butter is enclosed completely.
6. Scatter with more flour, and roll (always away from you) out into a long rectangle, about 67 x 40cm.
7. Fold one end in by a sixth and then the other end in by a sixth. Fold both ends over again by a sixth so they meet in the centre. Now fold the two together as if closing a book.
8. Turn the dough so that the fold is to the side.
9. Roll out to the same size as before.
10. Fold each end of the dough in by a quarter, so they meet in the middle, then fold to close the book. Seal the edges and wrap in cling film; refrigerate for an hour.
11. Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a neat rectangle, 75 x 30 x 0.4cm and cut into two pieces lengthwise.
12. Cut eight triangles from each piece of dough.
13. Lay the triangles one at a time on the surface point in away from you, and roll up finishing with the point underneath and central. Repeat with all the dough.
14. Place on a baking sheet, allowing room for spread and cover with cling film and leave to double in size for 1-2 hours.
15. Preheat the oven to 200C.
16. Make the glaze, whisk the egg and milk together. Carefully brush this over the croissant, brushing from the middle out to avoid the glaze getting into the dough layers.
17. Bake in two batches, in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes at 200C, then reduce the temperature to 150C and bake for another 20-25 minutes when they will have expanded and be golden in colour.
18. Cool on a wire rack.

N.B:

• They are best eaten warm.
• Can be frozen and/or reheated successfully.

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Pretty As A Picture
• In Another Lifetime
• Danish Delight
• Chat Noir & Croissants

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Filed under Bread, Bread Baking Day, Challenges, Vegetarian