Croissants

By norsegal8

Unless you've had a homemade croissant handcrafted by a patient, gifted baker, you may not recognize the real thing from the overblown confection you're accustomed to -- the difference is that dramatic. Most croissants from bakeries and restaurants and bakeries are more like cake than bread, more sweet than buttery, more shapely than flavorful. The real thing, a concoction that falls in the delicious middle ground between bread and pastry, is made with butter and lots of it. It is light but not airy, a yeasted puff pastry that is one of the great glories of French bakers, although France is not where it was created. The croissant or crescent, was invented to celebrate the Austrian's turning back of the Turkish siege of 1686 -- the shape of the multi-layered roll mirrors the crescent on the Ottoman flag.
These directions for making croissants are long and detailed enough so that first-timers can be successful, but it is a dough that takes practice to perfect. Get it right and you will produce croissants of a quality rarely found in the United States and rapidly disappearing in France. Make a good croissant and you'll know why it has been celebrated for more than three hundred years.

Ingredients

• THE DOUGH
• 1 ounce compressed (fresh) yeast
• 3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• THE BUTTER
• 4 1/2 sticks (1 pound 2 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preparation

Step 1

Put the yeast, flour, sugar, salt and 1 cup of the milk into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. With the machine on its lowest speed, mix for 1 to 2 minutes until a soft, moist dough forms on the hook. If the dough is too dry, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. In most cases, if the dough needs more liquid, it won’t need more than about 3 tablespoons, but check carefully, as you want all of the flour to be moistened. Stop the mixer and look into the bowl: If the hook has not picked up all of the flour from the bottom of the bowl, add a few more drops milk.
Set the mixer to its highest speed and work the dough until it is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky, and close to the consistency of soft butter, about 4 minutes. To make sure that the ingredients are perfectly blended, you can remove the dough from the mixer after 3 minutes and then, with the mixer on high speed, return plum-sized pieces of the dough to the bowl. The pieces will remain separate for a while, then come together, at which time the dough is ready.
Remove the dough from the mixer, wrap in plastic, and put the plastic in a plastic bag, leaving a little room for expansion. Keep the dough at room temperature for 30 minutes to give the gluten a chance to relax, then refrigerate the dough for 8 hours, or overnight.
Attach the paddle to the mixer and beat the butter and flour on the highest speed until the butter is smooth and the same consistency as the croissant dough, about 2 minutes. Reach into the bowl and poke around in the butter to make sure that it is evenly blended – if you find any lumps, just squeeze them between your fingers. Scrape the butter onto a large piece of plastic wrap and give it a few slaps to knock the air out of it. Mold into an oval 5 to 6 inches long and 1 inch thick, wrap tightly and refrigerate until needed. At this point, the dough and the butter can be frozen; defrost overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding to the recipe.
INCORPORATING THE BUTTER Place the croissant dough on a generously floured large work surface (marble is ideal) and sprinkle the top of the dough lightly with flour. Using a long rolling pin, roll the dough into an oval approximately 10 inches wide and 17 inches long. Brush the excess flour from the dough. Center the oval of chilled butter across the oval of dough and fold the top and bottom of the dough over the butter to make a tidy package. Gently and evenly stretch the folded layers of dough out to the sides and press the edges down firmly to create a neatly sealed rectangle.
If you have a French rolling pin (one without handles), now’s the time to use it. Hold one side of the dough steady with your hand and strike the other side gently but firmly with the rolling pin to distribute the butter evenly. As you hit the dough, you will see the butter moving out into the crevices. Strike the other side of the dough in the same way. After pounding, you should have a 1-inch thick rectangle about 14 inches long and 6 inches wide.
Keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well-floured, roll out the dough. If this your first time working with croissant dough, you might want to roll out the dough just a little to distribute the butter, put it on a baking sheet lined with flour-dusted parchment paper, cover it with plastic , and chill for 1 to 2 hours; this way you won’t risk having the dough go soft or the butter seeping out. (Each time you wrap the dough, make sure it is well-covered – even a little air will cause the dough to form an unwanted skin.) If you are experienced, feeling courageous, or have dough that is still well-chilled, go on to make the first turn.

ROLLING AND FOLDING Roll the dough into a rectangle 24 to 26 inches long by 14 inches wide, with the long side facing you. (You may feel as if you’re rolling the dough sideways and you are.) Brush off the excess flour and, working from the left and right sides, fold the dough in thirds, as you would a brochure, so that you have a package about 8 inches wide by 14 inches long. Carefully transfer the dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet, mark the parchment “1 turn” so you’ll know what you’ve done, cover the dough with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can freeze the dough after this or any other turn. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.
The dough needs 2 more turns. For the second turn, place the dough so that a 14-inch side runs from left to right. Making sure that the dough and the work surface are well-floured at all times, roll the dough as you did before into a rectangle 24 to 26 inches long by 14 inches wide.
(When doing the second and third turns, you may find that the dough has cracked a little – that’s natural – it’s a result of the yeast; don’t worry, just flour the dough and work surface and keep going.) As you did before, fold the dough in thirds. Place it on the parchment, mark the paper “2 turns”, cover the dough with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
For the third turn, again start with a 14-inch side running from your left to your right. Roll the dough into a rectangle 24 to 26 inches long by 14 inches wide. Fold the left and right sides of the dough into the center, leaving a little more space in the center, then fold one side over the other as though you were closing a book. This is the famous double turn, also known as “the wallet”.
CHILLING THE DOUGH Brush off the flour, wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours. At this point, the dough is ready to be rolled, cut and shaped into croissants.
STORING The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight, still wrapped, in the refrigerator.

ROLLING THE DOUGH Generously flour a work surface. Position the dough so that it resembles a book, with the spine to your left and the opening to your right. For easy handling, cut the dough in half horizontally so that you have 2 pieces about 7 inches long and 6 ½ inches wide; wrap and chill one half while you work with the other half. Flour the dough and roll it into a rectangle that’s 20 to 24 inches long and 15 to 18 inches wide. This takes a LOT of rolling. Keep the work surface and the dough well-floured, and have patience.
If necessary, turn the dough so that the long side runs from left to right along the counter. Carefully fold the top half of the dough down to the bottom. The dough is now ready for cutting.

CUTTING THE DOUGH Working with a pizza cutter or a large, very sharp knife, cut triangles from the dough. This is done most easily by making a diagonal cut on the lefthand side to get the pattern started; save the uneven pieces of dough. Measure off a 3- to 4-inch base and begin cutting the triangles, always cutting from the bottom to top. You’ll have another scrap when you reach the other end – you’ll use these scraps when you shape the croissants. Unfold each pair of triangles and cut them in half to separate. You should have 10 to 12 (maybe 14) triangles; set them aside while you clear your work surface of all flour. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

SHAPING THE CROISSANTS Moisten your hands with a wet towel. Working with one triangle at a time, gently stretch the base to widen it slightly, then, holding the base of the triangle firmly in one hand, run the fingers of your other hand down to the point of the triangle. Use your thumb to help you pull and stretch the dough until it is almost twice its original length – have courage and tug; the extra length is what will allow you to make a large croissant with sufficient rolls to show off its layers of dough.
Place the triangle, point toward you, at arm’s distance on the work table (this will give you enough space to roll the croissant into shape without having to lift it in mid-roll). Pull off a little piece of the reserved scraps and mold it into a football shape, and center it on the wide top part of the triangle – this will help make the “belly” of the croissant plump. Fold about ½-inch of the wide end over itself and press the ends down to secure. With your palms and fingers positioned over the flattened ends of the croissant and the heels of your hands flat on the work surface, roll the croissant down toward you – try to keep your hands moving down and out to the sides as you roll – ending with the point of the triangle tucked under the croissant. A well-shaped croissant – and it takes practice to achieve one – will sport at least six clearly countable
Sections, or ridges, from rolling. Place the croissants on one of the baking sheets, leaving space for them to triple in size without touching one another. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

GLAZING AND RISING Give the croissants a last gentle plumping, carefully turning their ends down and toward the center in the classic crescent shape. Beat 1 large egg with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash. Brush the croissants with egg wash and allow them to rise, uncovered, at room temperature, for 3 to 4 hours, until tripled in size and spongy. (Reserve the egg wash, covered, in the refrigerator.) The ideal place for rising is a turned-off oven containing a pan of hot, steamy water. To test that they are properly risen, wet your fingers and squeeze the end of a croissant: It should offer no resistance and feel almost hollow.

BAKING Arrange the oven racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°F.
Brush the croissants once again with egg wash and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom and bake another 4 to 6 minutes, until the croissants are deeply bronzed. Cool on racks. As tempting as they are, croissants should not be eaten as soon as they come out of the oven. The dough and the layers need time to set.