The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Croissant help and results

fupjack's picture
fupjack

Croissant help and results

I posted some time back about croissant troubles.  After multiple tries and advice here, I am getting the results I want.  So, thank you - this forum has helped me immensely.

Filomatic's picture
Filomatic

Hard to imagine much better.  Nicely done.

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Do you attribute the improvement to formula, process, or skill enhancements?

paul

fupjack's picture
fupjack

Using the Weekend Bakery recipe that was recommended here helps; I had no luck with the Tartine croissant recipe, which I think is in part because it makes a larger volume of dough and I couldn't chill it enough, and in part because it doesn't have any fat in the dough.

I also repeated doing the recipe multiple times and paid attention to the dough warming up, how hard I was rolling it out, and other things people mentioned.  It all paid off, after burning through more european-style butter than I care to admit.

albacore's picture
albacore

Great looking croissants! For some unknown reason I never have much success with Weekend Bakery recipes. Just a pointer for any prospective croissant makers to also check out Ananda's method posted on TFL. I've just followed it to make my first batch of croissants and am pretty pleased with the results.

Lance

 

fupjack's picture
fupjack

I'm interested in getting a croissant working that contains fat only in the butter layers, not worked into the dough.  So, Ananda's recipe looks interesting.  The milk powder works as a substitute, I would guess.

kendalm's picture
kendalm

Just read Amanda's method - is this correct ? That seems extreme more puff pastry than a typical viennoise which I always thought was around 24-30 layers ?

kendalm's picture
kendalm

Must mean through the entire croissant

albacore's picture
albacore

Nice theory about the milk powder, but I imagine Andy is using bakers' milk powder, which is a skimmed milk, heat treated product. ie 0% fat.

I just used supermarket skimmed milk powder and it was fine. He says you can use liquid milk too (obviously with water adjustment). I'd probably heat it up to near boiling and cool, if I was using that.

I think the truth is, you just don't need any fat in the dough. There's plenty in the butter layers!

I think it's important to use a suitable flour, as Andy says. In the UK I'd use a good bread flour, about 12% protein. I've seen recipes on the net using all sorts - even cake flour! What a joke - no way will that hold the layers together.

Anyway, here's how mine turned out:

 

 

Not perfect, but not bad for a first go!

Lance

fupjack's picture
fupjack

I thought that milk powder has a softening effect, so it would make the dough more extensible.  That's just a theory, though, not something I've tested.  Is that little braid what you do with the not-quite-big-enough pieces off the ends?  

albacore's picture
albacore

Yes, I'm sure you're right about the milk powder. Well spotted about the braid! It was indeed some scraps from cutting the triangles. Shame to waste them. Incidentally, I made a cardboard triangle template which made cutting out easy with a plasterers filling knife.

Lance

fupjack's picture
fupjack

I'm totally going to steal that idea; a constant size on the croissant cuts would help me out.  Unless I measure each, I always end up too narrow.

albacore's picture
albacore