Cook or Starve: March 2014

For our second meetup, we tackled Croissants. For the first 1/2 an hour, all you hear is pounding as everybody was pounding the butter. We made ham and cheese, chocolate, kouign amine, and plain.

First step: Rolling out the butter.

Second step: Roll out the dough

Third: Shape the croissants

Fourth: Bake

Croissant Recipe

(adapted from The French Cooking school)

Poolish
180 g of Water (Lukewarm)
13.5 g of Dry Yeast
133 g of Bread Flour

Bread dough
53 g of Sugar
16 g of salt
233 g of Milk
73 g of Soft Butter
600 g of Bread Flour
462 g of Butter for the lamination

Direction

1. Take the water and sprinkle the yeast and then lightly sprinkle the flour on top in a large mixing bowl. Let it bloom.

2. Take the butter for the lamination and place it in between two pieces of saran wrap.

3. Pound the butter into a large rectangle and place it back into the fridge to firm.

4. When you see cracks in the flour, add the bread dough. Layer the ingredients in this order: the milk, sugar, flour, and then the salt (so it wouldn’t kill the yeast). Then add the butter.

5. Set the mixer on low. Watch it carefully and do not over work the dough. Once it creates a ball, remove from the mixer.

6. Cover and let it rise for 1/2 an hour.

7. When the dough doubles, remove it from the bowl and carefully roll out the dough into a thin layer (about 1/4 inch thick the most).

8. Take the butter out of the fridge and place it on top of the rolled out dough. Fold over the edges until it covers the butter.

9. Fold the dough into thirds by the longest part and then roll out the dough to flatten slightly.

10. Repeat this step until it forms a medium square (about 6x6).

11. Place in a zip lock bag and place it in the fridge to let it rest.

12. Chill for 2 hours at least. Remove from the fridge and roll out the dough until it is is a very thin rectangle (about 1/8th of an inch). I wouldn’t make the width no longer than 3 inches.

13. Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Cut long triangles out of the dough and slowly roll up the dough until it forms a croissant. Place in a baking sheet and let it rest for it to rise.

14. Let it double in size. Brush with an egg wash and bake for 15 minutes until it is golden brown.

15. Serve.