This "Swiss" traditions are very diffcult to forget, even after 14 years in the U.S.

And I guess why should we!

Happy Baking

Thomas

Hello fellow bakers! 

Ive been a fan on The Fresh Loaf for quite some time, and finally have decided to start posting some stuff!

I have been working in restaurants the last 2 1/2 years, the last year in pastry/bakeries. I currently work at a small startup bakery in San Francisco.  we are working on croissants at the moment, ive been practicing given that they are one of my favorite things to eat! I am relatively new to yeasted doughs, so here are some of the test runs so far!  

Ive started with the Pierre Herme base recipe and have been playing around with it.

the recipe calls for fresh yeast and ive been currently playing with fresh yeast vs osmotolerant yeast. The recipe also calls for the dough to be mixed, then left to rest for 24 hours in the fridge. I am currently trying to do bulk fermentation in hopes to avoid the 24 hours in the fridge enabling me to produce the croissants from mix to shape within a 8-10 hour shift.

here are the results between 2 of my recent batches. 

My current issues are that im looking for more of a crack and flake  as well as a bit more volume. ill be sure and snap some more pictures, i just mixed 2 batches earlier today which i am going to laminate and shape tonight! results to be posted soon! 

heres a picture of fresh yeast. the dough was mixed just to combine, then left to rest for 24 hours in the fridge before starting lamination.

here are pics from a batch which i used osmotolerant yeast , did a bulk fermentation for 1 hour, till the dough was about double in size, then punched it down, let chill in fridge then started lamination. 

Hello fellow bakers! 

Ive been a fan on The Fresh Loaf for quite some time, and finally have decided to start posting some stuff!

I have been working in restaurants the last 2 1/2 years, the last year in pastry/bakeries. I currently work at a small startup bakery in San Francisco. Currently one of the things we are working on is croissants. 

Ive started with the Pierre Herme base recipe and have been playing around with it.

the recipe calls for fresh yeast and ive been currently playing with fresh yeast vs osmotolerant yeast. The recipe also calls for the dough to be mixed, then left to rest for 24 hours in the fridge. I am currently trying to do bulk fermentation in hopes to avoid the 24 hours in the fridge enabling me to produce the croissants from mix to shape within a 8-10 hour shift.

here are the results between 2 of my recent batches. 

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LoNX3vdFS3B2RK2B_mb9i_QPzKwtmnNXUyHCYq75zMc?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hQ832IsknS0/TyXq2Y-Q97I/AAAAAAAABbg/AEGwrm9iBpw/s144/DSC00735.JPG" height="144" width="96" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/Jshelsta/Crx?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPLL15yC7vasHg&feat=embedwebsite">crx</a></td></tr></table>

Today was my first attempt at croissant making.  I was looking for something that was flaky, but could be used as a sandwich.  While mine turned out kind of small, I'm very pleased with my first try. 

I found this recipe on TFL, then changed it up.  This is what I did:

Mix 1/2 cup of starter, 1 3/4 c all purpose flour, 2 T oil (I used olive oil), 1/2 c warm milk together.  Add 1 1/2 t noniodized salt.  Knead LIGHTLY, for only a few minutes.  Place in oiled bowl with plastic wrap, and put in fridge over night.

Next day: 

--Beat out butter in sheets.  I beat out enough butter to cover the surface of the dough when rolled out.  Chill butter.  Roll out dough as flat as possible, chill

--Take dough sheet in squarish shape, place the butter sheet on the dough in a diamond (points hitting the middle of the dough's sides).  Wrap the dough around the butter like an envelope, making a smaller square.

--Roll out into long rectangle, using water for the rolling pin and hands to assist.  Fold the dough over into thirds--you should have three layers on top of each other.  Roll out.  Repeat folding and rolling again, then put in fridge.

--Repeat the folding and rolling twice, then put in fridge.

--Roll out dough again.  Cut into long triangles, making a wide bottom and a point at the top in the middle of the other two (help me here...what kind of triangle is this).  Roll up the triangle with the flat, two-pointed side first, ending with the top middle point.  Use light flour to help.

--Let them proof.

--Bake 10-15 minutes in preheated 475 degrees Fahrenheit oven.

crumb view (sorry, poor camera)

constructive comments welcome

Sometimes you just get lucky. I don't even remember what it was I was looking for, when I stumbled upon these two babies... Gottahave it!

Especially the croissant roller will come in very handy on my croissant-project!

Happy Baking every one.

Freerk

P.S. You would do me a big favor endorsing my BreadLab iniative. Every "like" will get me closer to realizing a 6 episode documentary/road movie; chasing the best bread Europe has to offer. Thanks in advance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hhpxkGB1OyY

Commercial baking to a rock and roll beat.

It might makes you feel less guilty eating croissant. These croissants were made with 20% whole wheat flour.

Would it be classified as wholegrain croissants:P?

I used the recipe from Michel Suas's Advance Bread and Pastry. The recipe used preferment. The dough was quite soft and pliable and was relatively easy to work with when it came to rolling and lamination. 

These were great tasting croissants and full of flavours. It had subtle nuttiness from whole wheat, great sweetness from malt and preferment. And whole wheat was hardly noticeable in the baked croissants. It was a good alternative to traditional croissant and it was sort of comforting to, at least, have a healthy wholegrain croissant.

Full post and recipe is here (http://youcandoitathome.blogspot.com/2011/05/whole-wheat-croissant-not-as-indulgent.html).

Sue

http://youcandoitathome.blogspot.com 

After thinking about doing this for a while, I decided since it was gloomy and raining all day to give it a shot.  I saw a post from another member and decided to use Bertinet's CRUST version.  I like that the recipe calls for bread flour and 1/2 the butter of a normal croissant (1/2 pound vs 1 pound).

Whew!  It was a workout considering it took 4 roll outs.  But, I'd do it again for the sheer exquisite flavor.

Yum!

Hi,

I am in discussions with 2 French importers about bringing organic French T65 flour to the U.S. Assuming I can get some (a big "if") and the price is acceptable, I could personally commit to 10kg/month of T65 and 10kg/month of the French equivalent of cake flour (BTW, does anyone know what that would be?) Getting any would become more feasible the more that gets ordered. That's where you come in.

If you could get it at a reasonable price, how much of which organic French flours (T55, T65, etc.) would you want one-time, and how much on an ongoing basis? Perhaps with my order there would be enough demand to motivate an importer to get some.

I hope I can get this thing off the ground, and will keep you posted. Please post her how much you need. Thanks!

Chris

I'm pretty satisfied with these- the lamination worked better than last time I tried - I think I was keeping the dough too cold last time around.