The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

We 3 gmas Baked differently!

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

We 3 gmas Baked differently!

This post is featuring our lead baker Barb... She overcame her fear of laminated dough and made awesome croissants... that fear was scary... had to leave lights on and everything.
Here is Barb's email quote:
"Today I made Classic Croissants, from a Jeffrey Hamelman recipe found on the Fine Cooking web site:http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/classic-croissants.aspx   I recently baked the Italian Cornetti and everyone loved them. Micol Nigren's recipe was the first I'd tried, made me want to drive to New York and take classes at Rustico: http://www.rusticocooking.com/bread.htm .
Hamelman's recipe seemed easier to follow than Negrin's, but that well could be because hers was the first time I had ventured into the laminated dough field."       Aren't these creat looking croissants... I think she not only overcame her fear but excelled at making some awesome croissants... Go Barby, Go Barby!!!I made white wheat sourdough waffles with fresh bananas!
and Helen made English Muffins with Turkey bacon and her daughter Hillory added some scrambled eggs with veggies!!! What an awesome breakfast! 
We all baked together but we all baked something different! The real fun is the doing it all together and talking about how good it all tastes... oh yeah... and tasting it all!
Happy Baking, Diane
 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

of my favorite things in this post.  Bacon, eggs, veggies, waffles, EM's and ........one sister is hanging out there .......with her secret croissants!  Thankfully that are fine looking ones too....... so make it 6 things ;-)  Looks like you made a fine brunch between you.   Throw in some butter, jam, grits and fried chicken and I'm there in a flash..... I'll bring the hot sauce. 

Nicely done all the way around and happy baking GMA's

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

I notice from the pictures that on both adventures, I have an air pocket. Is that from not rolling them tightly enough or maybe from working so slowly in figuring out the triangle pattern that the dough warmed up?

The lower picture is the Italian version. I think I like it best but you know how those old memories are and its been a month or so!

Glad that we fixed brunch with your favorites. Funny that we all decided to do a breakfast type bake this week. Nothing to rival your chacon, good thing its all good and we don't compete!

Happy Baking

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

to ask about croissants, yours are already way better than any of mine.   I rarely hang with the upper crust and my croissant adventures are just one disaster after another.  So I asked my apprentice and she gave me that Grandma look saying "Do I look French to you".   So I have to tell you that  we have no idea why or how the pockets got there other than those holes are supposedly the most fattening parts by far and should be eaten first.   At least that's the way it would have been with my homemade mincemeat croissants if they would have had any holes of any size in them.  But we love mincemeat so all was not lost..... if you are a an optimist, legally blind and ignore obvious facts completely.

I would hope some expert like Ying, other croissant experts on TFL,  will see the post and know right off what made the holes but, all in all, your croissants are keepers and first rate.

We use half the butter called for, roll them out twice as thin as you are supposed to and then fold it two times more than called for - all trying to set the record of the most layers that can't be seen after baking -  even with a microscope.  Now I know that my apprentices technique is way too German for croissants and we will follow your lead and go by the book next time.   Luckily for us,  we don't have any books with how to make croissants in them:-)

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

I think the holes are where larger spots of butter melted during baking... Isn't that what the butter is in there for? Besides the heavenly taste, for sure? I know nothing, I am only guessing... they look light and lovely to me.

Diane