Hey all! I was just wondering if anyone would have advice on how to make croissants. I've read a few tutorials online about how to make them but I've never really succeeded. I always end up getting small condensed bread-like croissants and not puffy pastry-like croissants. Any tips? Also curious on how those delicious flavored croissants are made. Do they just roll up some jam or chocolates when rolling the croissant shape or do they mix it into the dough?
Croissants
- Thread starter Inkling
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I don't know about flavored croissants, but I'm told the secret to getting puffy, flaky croissants is to have your hands and work surface as cold as possible. That is, some people will use a chilled marble board to work on, and place their hands in ice water periodically. (Or maybe somebody should invent insulated gloves for this!) This prevents the butter in the recipe from getting soft or melty. You want cold, hard flakes of butter in the dough so it keeps the rest of the dough separated until it hits the oven.
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I've made croissants once and I am not sure if I will attempt again. They were delicious, but it is not something for amateurs. I'd rather leave it to the professionals. Fortunately, we live in croissant capital of the world, so no shortage here. Where do you live, if you don't mind my asking? I know it takes a lot of physical effort to make the dough, as the butter has to be cold, but pliable enough. Also you have work the dough in such a way that you need to incorporate everything well, but without over mixing. Can be a little tricky without a lot of practice. Also, you have to use the best quality flour and butter that is available. I am not sure about flavored croissants, as I only know croissants, and pain au chocolat, which is a croissant dough with 2 strips of dark chocolate rolled into it, and shaped into a wide log, and almond croissant, wherein bakeries make use of their left over croissants from the day before, slice it in have, fill it with almond paste inside and a little bit in top, sprinkle it with slivered almonds, and baked.
Oh so sorry for the ultra late reply. I haven't really had much time with my school load and work to check my forums. However I live in WI, USA and that isn't much of a baking location. We have lots of cheese, but sadly no great bakeries near my location. I've been practicing more and I do agree that it's much better to work with it cold. Usually it ends up taking me upwards of 7 hours to make it now since I chill it for about 45 minutes in the freezer and try to work on it as fast as possible and get it back in the freezer again. It is a lot of hard work though but at the end it's always worth it. As far as flavored croissants go, I tried them in a Vietnamese pastry shop in Minneapolis, MN which sort of started this whole baking shenanigan. I have tried to make it myself a few times but alas it was not as successful in the crescent shape. Like Pain au Chocolat though it's worked by using a bit of jam/preserves and rolling it up into a log shape. I've been thinking of coating it lightly with some jams or preserves instead a few minutes before baking it but have yet to get around to it.