Croissants

By Janet-2

natural leaven - aka sourdough starter. A dough made from flour, water, and wild yeasts. The yeasts occur naturally on the flour or in the air.

Poolish - (French) - a dough made from equal parts of bread flour and water and tiniest amount of fresh yeast. It ferments over a long period of time and provides mild fruity flavor and enhances the extensibility of the main dough.

Fermentation - the process by which the yeast feeds on sugars and damaged starches to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. It is also the time the dough rests after mixing and before dividing and shaping.

Laminating - to layer dough with fat, usually butter, by enclosing the fat into the main dough through a series of rolling and folding. The process produces hundreds of flaky layers. Proofing - the final rise of the shaped loaves or dough before baking.

Ingredients

• 170 grams sour dough starter
• 340 grams poolish
• 537 grams milk, lukewarm
• 17 grams fresh yeast or 5 grams dry yeast
• 550 grams all-purpose flour
• 25 grams all purpose flour (for butter block)
• 295 gram bread flour
• 25 grams salt
• 70 grams sugar
• 500 grams (1 lb) butter
• 60 grams all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• water
• parchment paper

Preparation

Step 1

Pre-ferment step:

Prepare poolish 12 hours ahead of making the main dough. To create poolish, mix 200 grams bread flour with 100 grams of water and a pinch of dry yeast. The poolish is ready when bubbles form on top and if you pinch a small bit and this bit floats on water.

Preparing Main Dough:

Using large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in the milk. If using dry yeast, use lukewarm milk. Add 170 grams of the sour dough starter. Then add 340 grams of poolish. Add the 550 grams all-purpose flour. Add 295 grams of bread flour. Then add salt and sugar. Mix thoroughly with rubber spatula at first.Then use your hands after to incorporate all the ingredients.

Cover with plastic wrap. Let dough ferment for about 1-1 1/2 hours. Fold over after first half hour. Let rise. Fold it over again. Let rise. Chill dough for half hour.

Building the Butter block:

While fermenting the dough, build the butter block. Cut the cold butter in cubes. Let rest out at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

Cut two rectangles of parchment paper - about 2'x 1'. Place cubes of butter on top of one paper. Sprinkle with 25 grams all-purpose flour. Cover with second parchment paper. Pound down with rolling pin until combined. Remove top paper. Push the butter mixture towards the middle. Put paper on top again and pound down again. Repeat until the flour and butter are thoroughly incorporated and softened.

Shape the butter until it is in a 6" x 12" rectangle. Cover with parchment paper and chill until the dough is ready.

Laminating the Dough:

Remove dough from the fridge. Flour work area (wood block or metal surface). Place dough on the surface and roll out a rectangle until it is 7"x20" (or length of rolling pin). Place the butter rectangle on the lower two-thirds of the dough rectangle. The top third should not have butter. Take this top third and fold over the butter. Then take the bottom third and fold it over this. This is the first fold.

Rotate the dough 90 degrees (so that you can see the folder layers close to you). Push down gently with the rolling pin until it stretches out to a rectangle (by pushing down with the pin instead of rolling it, this prevents the butter from being pushed out to the edges). Then roll the dough out with the pin until the length of the long side of the rolling pin. Fold top third down and the bottom third up. This is the second fold. Let dough rest for 20 minutes.

Rotate the dough 90 degrees again. Push down with the pin until a rectangle is formed. Finish by rolling with the pin until a long rectangle is formed. Fold top third down again and bottom third up. This is the third fold. Let dough rest for 20 minutes. Rotate 90 degrees and push down with pin and roll out again and fold for the fourth and final time.

Chill the dough between the laminations. May be frozen overnight.

Shaping the Croissants:

Flour board and prepare to shape the croissants. Take out chilled dough and roll out to a rectangle 9" wide by 24" long. Take out a ruler and measure 4" wide triangles. Cut triangles within the rectangle.

Starting from the wide end, roll triangle inward. You should have 5 or 7 layers. After finishing the rolling, in a small bowl, crack an egg and add 2 tbsp. water to create an egg wash. Take a pastry brush and brush only a little of the egg wash over each croissant.

In a pre-heated oven, bake croissants at a 400 degree oven for about 7 minutes. Then turn stove down to 350 degrees and bake until brown evenly - another 9-12 minutes.