CROISSANTS - makes 6

EQUIPMENT

●  1large parchment paper, enough to cover a 5 x 6.5 inch block (1st parchmentpaper for the butter block)

●  1large parchment paper, about 14 x 10 inches, folded in half to form a 7 x

10 inch paper(2nd parchment paper for the dough)

●  Plasticwrap

●  Heavyrolling pin

●  1quarter sheet pan

●  1half sheet pan

●  Aruler with cm and inch markings. I like to use a heavy steel ruler with clean,precise edges.

●  Asharp paring knife

●  Asharp knife or pizza cutter

● Pastry brush (preferably one large, one small)

INGREDIENTS

DÉTREMPE

●  85g milk (⅓ cup) lukewarm

●  60g water (¼ cup) lukewarm

●  6g active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)

●  5g honey (1 tsp) malt syrup, OR use sugar if you have neither

●  25g butter (1 ½ tbsp) melted and cooled

●  20g white sugar (generous 1 ½ tbsp)

●  250g AP flour (2 cups, spoon and leveled)

●  5g salt (about 1 tsp)

TOURRAGE

●  140g butter (10 tbsp)

EGG WASH - WHISK THESE INGREDIENTS UNTIL VERYSMOOTH

●  1egg yolk

● 2 tbsp milk and/or cream

INSTRUCTIONS

DÉTREMPE

●  Dissolvethe honey in the milk in a mixing bowl, and then whisk in the yeast. Set asidefor the yeast to activate for about 10 - 20 minutes. 85 g milk (⅓ cup), 5 ghoney (1 tsp), 6 g active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)

●  Addthe rest of the ingredients into the bowl in the order listed in theingredients list. Stir with a spatula or spoon to mix it into a scraggly dough.

60 g water (¼cup), 25 g butter (1 ½ tbsp), 20 g white sugar (generous 1

½ tbsp), 250 g AP flour (2 cups, spoon and leveled), 5 g salt (about 1tsp)

● Using your hand, knead the dough for about 1 - 2minutes until a scraggly dough is formed.

●  Takethe dough out of the bowl and knead it on a work surface until smooth - about 4minutes. You shouldn’t have to put too much effort into kneading here becauseit isn’t a very stiff dough. Place the dough back in the mixing bowl and coverwith plastic wrap.

●  Keepthe bowl in a warm place, and proof until at least doubled in size (this cantake about 1 hour).

● After the first proof, turn the dough out onto alightly floured surface and flatten it to knock out the air. Transfer the doughonto the second (larger) parchment paper and shape it into a rectangle. Foldthe other half of the parchment paper over the dough, forming a 7 x 10 inchcase. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to fit the 7 x 10 inch rectangle.(It doesn’t have to fill the 7 x 10 inch rectangle perfectly, just as closelyas possible).

● Cover the parchment paper encased dough well inplastic wrap, and place it in a quarter sheet pan. Freeze for at least a fewhours, or overnight.

TOURRAGE (BUTTER BLOCK)

●  Slicethe cold butter into thin slices.

140 g butter (10tbsp)

● Arrange them on the 1st parchment paper (thesmaller one), within the 5 x 6.5 inch marked rectangle. Fold the parchmentpaper over to enclose the butter.

● Using a rolling pin, firmly hit the butter tomake it more pliable. Then, using the rolling pin, roll out/spread the butterinside the parchment paper.

● Make sure to roll the butter out into thecorners, but also keep the butter evenly thick.

● Transfer this butter block into the fridge untilcompletely hardened (or overnight).

ENCLOSING THE BUTTER

● IMPORTANT - when laminating the butter anddough, it’s REALLY crucial that they both have similar pliability and are cold.If my dough is frozen solid, I keep it at room temp. for about 30 minutes tolet it soften slightly, before starting the lamination process.

● The butter block is removed from the fridge justbefore lamination, but made pliable by knocking a rolling pin against itrepeatedly. It should remain cold.

● Remove the parchment paper from the dough andplace it on an unfloured (or very lightly floured) work surface. If it’s notquite a 7 x 10 inch rectangle, roll it out to the correct size, making sureit’s still evenly thick.

●  Unwrapthe parchment paper from the butter block, but keep the butter still attachedto the parchment paper.

●  Placethe butter block on one half of the dough. There should be a very small borderaround the butter block and it should still have the parchment paper on top.Once the butter is correctly in place, pat it onto the dough to let it “bind”to the dough. Carefully peel off the parchment paper.

●  Foldthe dough over the butter, end to end, completely enclosing the butter. Pressthe edges to seal the butter inside the dough. Pat the dough again to help thebutter “bind” to the dough.

● The dough should still be very cold. If itisn’t, wrap it and put it back in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

FIRST LAMINATION - DOUBLE FOLD

●  Generouslyflour your work surface and dough. Place the dough on the work surface andusing the rolling pin, gently press, along the length of the dough, to makesure the butter is pliable.

●  Whilemaintaining the 5 inch (12.7 cm) width (short end), roll out the dough to alength of approximately 16 inches (40 cm).

●  Useflour as needed to make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the counter, and useyour hands to keep the width even and straight. (You can also gently lift thedough as you roll to make sure it isn’t sticking to the countertop).

●  Workquickly to keep the dough and butter cold. If the butter softens too much,return the dough to the fridge or freezer.

●  Brushoff excess flour on the work surface using a large pastry brush. Trim just alittle piece of dough along the edges, to make the width straight.

●  Foldin about 1/8th of the dough towards the middle (about 2 - 3 inches). Bring theother end to meet the folded end. Make sure the two ends are as close togetheras possible with no gaps.

Brush off excessflour on the surface of the dough. Now, fold the dough in half. Firmly tap thedough to keep the shape.

● Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and refrigeratefor at least 30 minutes (60 minutes is even better).

SECOND LAMINATION - SINGLE FOLD

● Generously flour the work surface and place thedough on it. Gently press into the dough with a rolling pin along the length ofit to make sure the butter inside is pliable.

● Keeping the short end as the width (4 inches /10 cm), roll out the dough to 15 inches (38 cm). As you roll out the dough,make sure the final width is kept to about 5 inches. Also make sure the doughisn’t sticking to the work surface, and the width is straight and even.

●  Brushoff excess flour from the surface of the dough using a pastry brush.

● Fold in ⅓ of the dough towards the center (about5 inches / 12.7 cm).

●  Brushoff excess flour again, and fold the other edge of the dough OVER the firstfold.

● Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigeratefor another 30 minutes (preferably 60 minutes).

SHEETING THE DOUGH

●  Placethe dough on a well-floured surface - the edge where you can see all the foldsshould be facing you.

●  Gentlypress the dough with a rolling pin along the length of it to make the dough andbutter pliable.

● Roll out the dough to about a 1 cm thickness(with an 8 - 9 inch width at the edge facing you).

●  Wrapthe dough and refrigerate for about 30 - 45 minutes to allow the gluten torest.

● Roll out the rested dough to about a 4 - 5 mmthickness. Use flour to make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the surface.

●  Ilike to keep a width of about 9.5 - 10 inches (23 - 24 cm) and roll it out to a4 - 5 mm thickness. Again, make sure the dough isn’t sticking to the worksurface BEFORE you starting cutting the dough in the next step.

If, at any point, the dough becomes toosoft or starts to shrink, wrap it and return it to the fridge for at least 30minutes.

CUTTING THE DOUGH

●  Cuta very thin strip along the long edges of the dough to have a width of 9 inches/ 23 cm. Make sure the edges are straight and even. Use a pizza cutter or asharp knife. Avoid dragging the knife along the dough as you cut it, as thiscan distort the dough. Simply press the knife or pizza cutter straight down tocut.

● Along one of the long edges, make 3.5 inch / 9cm markings. Then make 9 cm markings on the opposite edge as well, BUT thesemarkings will be halfway between the markings along the first edge.

● Use the ruler and a small sharp knife to connectthe markings on the two sides with straight lines.

● Using the marked lines as a guide, cut the doughwith a pizza cutter or a sharp, long knife. You should end up with about 6triangles, and a leftover piece.

ROLLING UP THE CROISSANT + PROOFING

● Brush off excess flour from both sides of thedough triangle and keep it on the work surface.

● Make a 1 cm cut at the mid point along the baseof the triangle. Roll up the base, while gently pulling at the two corners tomake the base slightly wider. (The cut that was made along the middle of thebase helps with this.)

● Once you have rolled up the base once, then youcan roll up the croissant the rest of the way more easily. Make sure the tip ofthe triangle is properly centered the whole way.

● Also make sure not to roll out the croissant tootightly or too loosely.

● Place the rolled up croissant dough on the linedhalf sheet baking pan (6 on a tray), while making sure the tip of the croissanttriangle is placed under the croissant. Gently press on the croissant to sealthe tip at the bottom into the dough (take care not to squash the croissant!).

●  Coverwith plastic wrap.

Proof the croissants (somewhere that isabout 25°C / 77°F) until doubled in size. The time can vary depending on theweather. I proof mine inside an oven with just the light turned on, and itstill takes me between 2 - 3 hours.

● The croissants have proofed if they have doubledin size, look very pillowy, and will jiggle a little when you give the sheetpan a shake.

● Preheat the oven to 350-375°F /190°C, at least30 minutes before baking the croissants.

BAKING THE CROISSANTS

● Mix the egg yolk and milk together to form theegg wash.

1 egg yolk, 2tbsp milk and/or cream

● Brush with an egg wash (use a soft, small pastrybrush, because the croissants are very delicate at this stage). Bake at350-375°F / 190°C (conventional oven) for about 15-20 minutes until goldenbrown. Turn the tray once halfway through the baking time, if needed.

● Remove from the oven and let them cool for a fewminutes before transferring the croissants onto a cooling wire rack. Then letthem cool down further to allow the insides to set (otherwise the croissantswill be too soft)

The 3 Day Process

● Day one – afternoon / evening

●  Makethe dough, and let it proof for about 1 hour. Then deflate it, shape it, andkeep in the freezer (wrapped).

●  Whilethe dough is proofing, shape the butter block (tourrage), wrap it, and keep inthe fridge.

● Day two – morning

●  Removethe dough from the freezer and let it defrost, until it’s pliable but stillcold.

●  Removethe butter block from the fridge and hit it with a rolling pin until it’spliable, while still being cold.

●  Enclosethe butter in the dough. With the short side facing you, roll the dough out forthe first time, and then do a double fold. Wrap and let it rest in the fridgefor at least 30 minutes (60 minutes if the dough softened too much).

●  Againwith the short side facing you, roll out the dough and do a single

fold. Wrap andlet it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (60 minutes if the dough wastoo soft).

●  Turnthe dough 90 degrees again, and roll it out until you have a dough that isabout 1 cm thick and about 9 inches wide. If the dough resists even a littlebit, wrap and put it back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes again.

●  Next,wrap the dough and store in the fridge overnight.

● Day 3 – early morning

●  Rollthe dough out to a thickness of 0.5 cm, with a width of about 9.5 – 10 inches.

●  Cutthe dough to croissant shapes. Roll up the cut dough into croissants and placethem on baking trays.

●  Letthem proof until doubled in size.

●  Preheatoven at least 30 minutes before baking. Brush the croissants with an egg washand bake in preheated oven until the croissants are done.

● However, if you have room in your fridge to keepan undisturbed half sheet pan,

● Day 2

● On day 2, after you let the dough rest foranother 30 – 60 minutes, roll it out until 1/2 cm thick. Then cut the dough andshape the croissants as well.

●  Placethe croissants on a baking tray, and wrap it REALLY well with plastic wrap,without crushing the croissants. You don’t want the croissants to be exposed toair because they will dry out.

●  Letthe croissants rest in the fridge overnight. It’s important that NOTHING canfall onto the croissants while they in the fridge.

● Day 3

●  Removethe croissants from the fridge and let them come to room temperature, and thenproof in a warm place until doubled in size.

●  Preheatoven as recommended and bake the egg washed croissants in the oven until theyare done.

●  Thismethod cuts down on active time on the third day, but you have to make sure youhave enough room in the fridge to store the shaped croissants.

‍