My Journey to Great Croissants - Need Help Please
Hello Everyone,
I posted once on one of the very old thread and I think its better that I start a blog on my croissant adventure as I think I need to note down what works and what not works. I too hope that I will be able to get some tips and advice from all the experts too.
My first attempt in making croissant at home. Used 100% bread flour and I think my laminating skill with a rolling pin wasn't great. Secondly, I think I didn't proof enough even though it was more than 2 hours. I used the recipe from Yuval Ayalon. The outcome was breadlike.
On my 2nd attempt, I changed the flour by using 80% bread flour and 20% AP flour. I also use put the dough in the freezer after every turn. Next, I try to proved it longer, more than 2 hours before I baked it. I can see the potential of the honeycomb texture but still, it was NOT really a croissant which one will buy in the bakery.
My 3rd attempt...changed the ratio of the flour to 50%-50%. Stretched the freezing a little longer (30 mins) after every turn. I also proved it longer (nearly 31/2 hours) and finally I could see the honeycomb texure. I am so happy and excited but of course, I still have a long way to go. But right now, I am just so happy.
Any tips and advice from you guys would be appreciated.
Next, I will try bicolor croissants as suggested by my hubby.
Wish me good luck!!!
Cheers,
ketupat
Comments
Hello Everyone,
I have been reading the 26 pages of croissant making and I am wondering once we have done the 3 turns, do we rest it for an hour before cutting and shaping it or put it in the freezer for 15 mins before cutting and shaping it?
Thank you.
Have a wonderful day :)
Hello Everyone,
A nice day to make croissants, I will say. I decided to try again and learn from all my mistakes. I also ensured that I only roll it out to 7mm for each turn and not lesser than that and prove it a little longer.
Here's the results....
Croissant No4b.jpg
Any tips or pointers will be greatly appreciated. I just hope that I am heading towards the right direction.
Thank you and have a wonderful day :)
You say you proved it for longer - how long did you prove them in total for? Thanks!
Hi Lady_C,
Sorry I didn't reply asap. Been offline for awhile. With regards to the time, its 2 1/2 hours. Hope this helps!
Cheers!
It's beautiful! Is this done by mixing 50% pastry flour and 50% bread flour?
I wish to learn how to make this ^^
No tips but plenty of admiration for a lovely batch of croissants.
Paul
Thank you Paul for your post :)
I will be making about batch of croissant dough soon and this time I will make choc croissants, almond croissants, plain croissants, etc.
Have a wonderful weekend :)
Good Morning,
As I was watching the videos, I came across the Croissant & Pains au Chocolat - Bruno Albouze - THE REAL DEAL where he shows how he freeze them and how he leaves the frozen croissants on the countertop overnight and baked them in the morning.
I did just that. Took out my frozen croissants at night and left it covered on my countertop overnight. It was nearly 10 hours before I egg washed it and put it into the oven.
When it came out from the oven, I was disappointed and when I cut the croissant, I knew I won't be finding the beautiful honeycomb texture. It didn't puff-up like the last round, light and airy :(
IMG_20180315_111124-800x600.jpg
Back to the drawing board as they say...
....should I increase the yeast?
...should I place the frozen croissants into the refrigerator overnight and proof it in my proofing cabinet the next morning?
What to do? What to do?
Before you go to bed, take out the frozen croissants, leave them in the refrigerator until your ready to shape, proof and bake them.
Hi again, ketupat007
Try following this video and proof the crossiant as Bruno did:
https://youtu.be/SAI8OJputnw
Thank you for the link :)
I used the refrigeration method (overnight) and then place it into my prover box the next morning till its fully proved and baked it accordingly.
I am quite happy with the results, puffed up a little better than proving it overnight on the countertop, crispy when you cut into it and the honeycomb texture is much better. However, comparing this with the freshly made and bake ones, its still lacking.
FrozenFridgeCroissant.jpg
Hmmm...may be I should increase the yeast portion since I want to freeze them. I am wondering how much should I increase? Going back to research more.
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!
Cheers!
in the video it says to use 50-100% more yeast to your recipe and not to ferment will help the yeast. I would think 100% is a tat too much for the amount a home cook is making, so mabey go 50 or even 55-60% since more yeast will also need less fermentation and that was also going to help the yeast when it’s frozen. I watch a video by a website and youtube called ChefSteps where they made laminated dough and he said adding more yeast will help with flavor without needing to ferment a long time. Mabey also try and do the 12% protein content flour or so and not do the 50-50 method of it then makes the protein content lower. I don’t really know what the protein content says on your AP or bread flour.
Hope me that help :)
I was thinking about the % of yeast too. 100% would really be too much. Here's a photo of frozen croissants with an increase of 30% yeast.
croissants05.jpg
What do you think? It puffed up more with more oven spring. When I cut it, I can heard the crispiness of the layers. The honeycomb texture has improved too.
How is your croissants journey going?
Good luck and have a wonderful weekend :)
To be honest, I was waiting for you to post your attempt ;)
I talked to a French pâtisserie ( also the guy in the video I sent) and he said that you should just go for 1% yeast as flour weight and adding more yeast will still lose volume after baking when freezing. No matter how much yeast you use. I asked about getting the shaped croissants into the freezer as fast as you can. One of the things that makes frozen croissants lack volume is fermentation, so you want to make dough, chill, fold while cold, shape and freeze. So no proofing or fermenting in between. That’s seem even better then what before. The extra yeast should work as a shortcut to less fermenting to no fermenting or proofing at all. The recipe you used the first couple of times from the isrealien guy also has some tips. Mabey having more rolling layers will help it stand up more.
As I can see in the video and by your picture, the extra yeast certainly help a lot, which is a bit weird by what he told me when I spoke to him. Do you think 50% would help even more without being too much?
i will see what I can do as soon as I have the time, but yours looks like your actually getting there.
Thanks for the info, Thenameisjeff! I am going to try it out and will post the updates. I spoke to some of the "professional bakers" and they felt that 50% may be a bit too much and I should stick to 30%. I will try to laminate and shape the croissants as fast as possible without resting. So, no proofing or fermenting in between. I will see how it goes and update here.
Thank you and wish me luck! :)
I will go and do my attempt and update with photos.
And also good luck to you! :)
Hi there,
I went to Paris last year and I spent the last several months trying to perfect my baguette recipe but now I want to take another stab at croissants. Can you tell me what kind of flour you’re using? Als are you using like a slap and fold technique for mixing the croissant dough before encasing? Here is my old recipe... not quite sure of all the details since its been a while.
Croissant recipe
Poolish
50g flour ap
.05g yeast
50g water 75f crystal geyser water
Sit 24 hrs covered
Butter
165g
5.5 x 4.5 square in parchment packet
Dough
275g flour french type 45, 55 or Flour around 11 percent gluten or mixed with pastry flour. Not sure here what is best.
37.5g sugar
5g instant yeast SAF
75g water.
50g butter
10g kosher salt
Mix dry ingredients with hook and add poolish for 1min. Sprinkle salt and mix for 4min. Form ball and Relax for 2 hrs in fridge. Take out and Do 2 slap n folds at 30 min and 60 min.
Butter - 5.5x 4.5 rectangle in parchment and let chill in fridge.
Encase butter and turn 1
9x5.5 rectangle and freeze for 30min. Fold and pinch to seal over butter block. Roll out to 12.3 x 5.5 and do book fold. Rest for 1 hr
Turn 2
Roll out to 12.3 and do left over right fold and roll out again to 12.3 if possible. Rest for an hour. Work fast.
Turn 3
Freeze for 20 min and do left over right fold. Roll out to Cool counter with ice if possible. put back into freezer if there is too much resistance to rest. Roll out to 4mm and return to fridge. Make it 10 inches wide and roll to 3-4mm thick.
Proof 1.5 hrs under plastic with egg wash. Only egg wash horizontal layers.
Bake at 410 and drop to 335 after 7min.
Bake for 20 min or golden. Try using steam in the oven for first 7 min.
Never open first 10 to 15 min or baking
There should be 7 layers and the tip is always tucked under.
https://www.bakersjournal.com/pastries/quintessential-croissants-4586 is a good read
Use Artists paintbrush for egg wash
I love Paris and when I was there, I didn't want to come home :)
I am using Bread Flour & All Purpose Flour for my croissants. Oh, I didn't use the slap & fold method. Thank you for your recipe. I will try it out soon. Am going to read the link which you have given to me, thank you for that too.
Good luck with your croissants! I am sure yours will be awesome!
Thanks again :)
By the way I love the crumb structure on your last batch.. that honeycomb structure you cant even buy that here... It honestly makes me hungry!
Thank you Druchyun!
i just tried my recipe again and both my technique and maybe the recipe need work... bakers beware!
IMG_5154.jpg
Happy so far :)
Congrats Thenameisjeff! That's honeycomb texture is beautiful! :) I think the bread flour ration to AP Flour should be higher if we are going to freeze these babies. I am currently not able to do much I am a little under the weather. So, I will just relax and do more research online. Hopefully, in these few days I will be able to do another batch.
Good luck Thenameisjeff!!! We are getting there!!!
Have a wonderful week ahead!
So I tried again with more frozen croissant I had by preheating the oven to 230 C fan oven (250 C normal oven) put the croissants in and cranked the heat down to 170 C fan oven (190 C normal oven) and baked for 22 minutes. This is the result:
235925A3-1F23-4E62-BE2E-6772FB71C64D.jpeg
You did it, Thenameisjeff! :) That's amazing!!! I will have to give your method a try. Crank the oven up to 230 degrees C and then turn it down to 170 degrees C. Going to try that next week. Thank you for your amazing post! Have a wonderful weekend! :)
Wow, thank you very much :)
I dont know if this is how far we can get with frozen viennoiseries, but i sure am happy with how they came out.
I hope you get the resultat you want. Remember to add 20 degress C if not using fanoven, so its 250 and 190.
Good Luck!
At the pastry school I attended we added a .3% to weight of flour to the frozen croissant recipe.
http://bakerpedia.com/ingredients/ascorbic-acid/
Also, have you tried one book and one single fold? Personally that works for me the best. I don't like the structure of my croissant with three single folds.
I have a lot of disasters still, but today was a good day...though I rushed the proof. And you see that in the irregularity of the internal structure.. I am a perfectionist.
judging from most the pics that you are overproofing. The crumb is improving but the shape of your profile cuts ahows that they a bit deflated. Then suddenly the last picture less folds but awesome rise. Then you mentioned you rushed the proof. Willing to bet that this last pic is the ideal proofing time. Too long a proof and your croissants will deflate. You can evaluate bu the shape of the cross-section. the more oval shaped usually means it deflated to a degree. The more circular the more you maxed the rise (they work like bread and require very specific proofing times)
Hi julie99nl,
Thanks for the tip! I think all of us are perfectionists as croissants are just so hard to do and we keep looking into the honeycomb crumb texture and its driving me nuts. For me, now I just do 3 single folds and I keep trying till I get is perfect! I am not very good in giving advice as I am still learning. I really hope that your next batch will turn out to be AWESOME!
Good luck!
Hi
i too keep trying different ways to perfect the croissants, would you please send me your recipe that made these wonderful looking ones? Thanks in advance