Croissants & Pains au Chocolat

Submitted by DonD on August 4, 2009 - 1:23pm

Croissants & Pains au Chocolat

Does the taste of a favorite food evoke in you indelible memories of time and places where the pleasure it has given you has put a mark on you for life?

For me, a bite into a buttery and flaky croissant and my taste memory takes me back to my childhood in Saigon where every morning, I would look forward to the familiar sound of the horn announcing the arrival of the "Bread Man" riding on his scooter with twin canvas trunks full of goodies straddling the rear seat to deliver fresh baguettes and croissants to the neighborhood houses.

The sweet smell of baking croissants always reminds me of the time when I was a student in Geneva, walking by a bakery at 6:00 am, suddenly being overwhelmed by the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked croissants, summoning enough nerve to knock on the door to convince the owner to sell me a couple before the store was open and walking home in the snowy winter dawn, enjoying the best croissants I ever had in my life.

A croissant with cafe au lait for breakfast always transports me back to my first visit to Paris in the spring, sitting at a sidewalk table at the Cafe "La Rotonde" in the Montparnasse area, sipping a cafe creme and eating a croissant with confiture, watching the morning bustle and hustle of Parisian life just like Hemingway, Picasso, Nijinsky, Gershwin and other luminaries had done at the same spot so many years ago.

I have been baking Croissants and Pains au Chocolat on and off for over 20 years and until recently, my favorite recipe was from Jacques Pepin's "The Art of Cooking". It is a foolproof recipe where you can follow the instructions verbatim and end up with great results.

Last year I discovered the Esther McManus recipe from the PBS "Baking with Julia" TV Series. I have tried this recipe about half a dozen times, tweaking it along the way to suit my taste and baking techniques. It has become my favorite recipe as I find that it comes closest to the Croissants and Pains au Lait that you can only find in Europe.

This past weekend, I made a batch of Croissants and Pain au Chocolat and following are my notes and recommendations:

1- I basically followed the step by step instructions in the video which are excellent. The link is www.pbs.org/juliachild/meet/mcmanus.html

2- It is not mandatory to have the companion book " Baking with Julia" but it is nice to have as a back-up.

3- I use pretty much the same formulation except for the following variations:

A- I use 1 1/4 cup of milk. I find the little extra milk makes the dough more pliable and easier to work with.

B- I use 2 1/2 tsp Instant Yeast. I converted the amount into Instant Yeast because I prefer it over Cake or Dry Yeast.

C- I use only 3-1/2 sticks of butter. More butter would only leak out during baking. I have tried different unsalted butters including imported "Le President", "Plugra"European Style and found that old "Land o' Lakes" works just as well.

D- I use two 3 inch long "Valrhona" Chocolate Batons for each Pain of Chocolat. I splurge on a box of 350 pieces and they are disappearing fast as they are good to snack on as well.

4- I do not put a hot water pan in the turned off oven while proofing as recommended. I found out the hard way that it melts the butter in the dough.

5- I bake the Croissants in a preheated 425 degrees F oven with steam for 5 mins , then without steam at 400 degrees for 5 more mins and finally at 375 degrees for 5 mins. I find it gives me better oven spring and a flakier crust than a longer bake with dry heat at 350 degrees.

6- The recipe should yield a dozen each Croissants and Pains au Chocolat.

Dough cut into triangles with a Croissant Cutter, not an essential tool but a nice gadget.

Shaped, proofed and egg washed Croissants ready for the oven.

Baked Croissants cooling on the rack.

The ultimate Continental Breakfast with Croissant and Pain au Chocolat

The mandatory crumb shot.

Happy Baking!

Don

Filed under:

Submitted by gcook17 on August 4, 2009 - 3:22pm.

How many turns?

Thank you for all the detail you provided, Don. Your croissants look great! I've never used this recipe but I'd like to try it. I have two questions, though:

1) I watched the videos and after the first turn, Esther said she was going to give the dough 1 more single turn and 1 double turn (for a total of 2 single and 1 double turn). But she only gave it 1 single and 1 double turn in the video. How many turns to you do when you make them?

2) Whenever I make croissants I find the dough becomes so so elastic that when rolling it out the last time before cutting I can hardly roll it out at all. Has this been your experience? Any advice?

Submitted by DonD on August 4, 2009 - 4:17pm.

2 singles + 1 double

Thanks gcook17,

1- I follow her verbal instructions and did the 2 singles and 1 double folds.

2- I usually do the whole process over 2 days i.e. mix the dough in the evening, incorporate the butter the next morning and then do the foldings over the course of the whole day with plenty of rest in between. I then shape, proof and bake the following day. I found the dough somewhat elastic but not terribly difficult to roll out.

Don

Submitted by dmsnyder on August 4, 2009 - 3:40pm.

Gorgeous croissants and pains au chocolat, Don!

Davi

Submitted by DonD on August 4, 2009 - 4:22pm.

Thanks David

I find that with Viennoiserie, there are less variables to deal with than with bread making, once you get the right recipe.

Don

Submitted by althetrainer on August 4, 2009 - 5:15pm.

Beautiful

Makes me mouth water!

Submitted by audra36274 on August 4, 2009 - 7:09pm.

Wow, Don those are awsome,

You outdid your self.

Audra

Submitted by DonD on August 5, 2009 - 8:07am.

Thank you

Thanks to both Althetrainer and Audra for your kind words.

Submitted by chouette22 on August 4, 2009 - 7:25pm.

Absolument magnifique!

Your croissants and pains au chocolat look wonderful! And I have never seen a croissant cutter before, an intriguing tool.

Your evocations of your croissant memories take me back to Paris (I got my M.A. degree there) and many street cafe settings just as you describe. Ahh, those good old times!

I sometimes buy the pains au chocolat at Trader Joe, in the frozen section (to be baked after leaving them out over night). My kids love those. But why not make them at home? I'll have to give this a try. Do you freeze the ones that are not eaten right away?

And one more question: where do you order/buy the Valrhona chocolate batons in such quantities? I should probably use Lindt (being Swiss...), but I do love Valrhona.

Submitted by DonD on August 5, 2009 - 8:22am.

Nothing like a good croissant

There are very good frozen croissants that Williams Sonoma carries but only during the holiday I think. The dough is pre-shaped and frozen and you have to thaw and proof it before baking. I have had them a couple of times and they are delicious but quite pricy.

I do freeze my croissants and pains au chocolat. I reheat them in a preheated 300 degrees oven for about 8-10 mins and they taste great.

I get the Valrhona batons online at www.chocosphere.com

They carry all kinds of Lindt products also but not batons.

Submitted by hansjoakim on August 4, 2009 - 9:22pm.

Those look dangerous...

Picture perfect croissants, Don!

Submitted by DonD on August 5, 2009 - 8:23am.

Thanks hansjoakim!

That's a nice compliment coming from an accomplished baker like yourself.

Don

Submitted by SylviaH on August 4, 2009 - 11:12pm.

Don, great looking

Don, great looking croissants! You have shaped them beautifully. I like your croissant roller. I wouldn't even consider it a gadget if I had one...It sure helps to have the right tools!

I love the plain and the chocolate. You have rolled them very nicely! I have to say my very favorite croissant is the 'Almond Croissant'. A little bakery here called 'A Delight of France' sells out of them everyday! They are made from the day old croissants, split in half, filled with the most incrediable paste and topped with powdered sugar and slivered almonds. They melt in your mouth! After seeing your great photos. All of the above are definately moving up on the to do list!

Sylvia

Submitted by DonD on August 5, 2009 - 8:33am.

Thanks Sylvia

If you look closely, you will notice that the cutter makes elongated triangles with a slit at the base. That couple with stretching the dough while rolling will give you multiple tight rolls which add layers to the crumb. I like the traditional crescent shape with the turned down ends (they don't call them croissants for nothing...) unlike the straight shape that some bakers prefer.

Don

Submitted by apprentice on August 9, 2009 - 6:15pm.

Beautiful work, Don! Re: the

Beautiful work, Don! Re: the straight vs. crescent shape, thought you might be interested in the explanation I heard at a workshop with Ciril Hitz. He said the straight shape is used in Europe to indicate an all-butter croissant. The crescent shape is to indicate other fats have been used, whether alone or in combination with butter.

Submitted by DonD on August 10, 2009 - 10:47am.

Thanks for the info,

Thanks for the info, Apprentice. I guess it makes sense if they are selling two different types of croissants, although most of the ones I see in France are all butter.

Don

Submitted by SusanWozniak on August 9, 2009 - 5:39pm.

Baking with Julia

I love that book! My daughter was married five years ago and wanted the wedding cake described in the book. . . the one that took both Martha Stewart and Julia Child on PBS to describe! Well, we did a dry run, cutting down the ingredients to a standard, two layer 9 inch cake. Exquisite!

I warned my daughter that while my cakes taste delicious, I am a failure at frosting. Just can not make it look pretty. And, I had to drive from Boston to Worcester with the cake in a 15-year old Volvo without air conditioning on August 1. Bad idea!

She knew of a wonderful bakery in Worcester, MA where she lives and they agreed to make the cake without the almond meringue layer for $125! We went with the bakery but that cake . . . and the book it comes from . . . are both winners!

Submitted by DonD on August 10, 2009 - 11:00am.

I agree Susan,

Baking with Julia is a great book to complement the TV shows. Another of my favorite is the Brioche recipe from Nancy Silverton.

Your experience about transporting a wedding cake in a car during the summer is one that I have experienced before except mine was 3 layers and 2 tiers with the top standing on 4 inverted champagne flutes. It was years ago when my wife and I were doing catering as a hobby. The cake was safe and sound but after an all nighter to finish it and the hearburns to transport and deliver it, I promptly retired!

Don

Submitted by Laralou on August 22, 2009 - 7:03am.

Don, I had to sign up here so

Don, I had to sign up here so I could post a reply complimenting your beautiful croissants. I'm a novice home baker and the idea of trying to make croissants scares me senseless! But I, too, had stumbled on the videos of Esther McManus after reading this blog: http://cafefernando.com/the-croissant-challenge/

I'm very tempted to try to make my own and I'm slowly psyching myself up for the challenge and trying to glean little bits of info from talented bakers. I'm not sure whether to try Esther's recipe or try this one which I found on google from Bernard Clayton: http://www.ochef.com/r203.htm

The Clayton recipe is attractive because it doesn't call for pounding the dough itself with the rolling pin (I wonder if this wouldn't toughen it?) and it also allows for the final dough to be chilled overnight, which would make it easier for me to make, I feel. I think the timing of 22 minutes at 425 sounds like a recipe for incineration, though!

After seeing your wonderful results I think I may try Esther's recipe. Do you think I could half the quantities and just work with a smaller amount? Also, I'm in the UK and I'm not sure if the plain flour we have over here is similar to American all-purpose - I was wondering if I'd maybe get better results with a standard strong bread flour? Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated, and many congratulations on your lovely creations!

Submitted by DonD on August 23, 2009 - 4:44pm.

Thanks, Laralou

I think you should give it a go. You can certainly halve the recipe but as long as you are going to do it why not do a full recipe? I use half the recipe to make 12 croissants and the other half to make 12 pains au chocolat. I look at Bernard Clayton's recipe and it is similar to Jacques Pepin's recipe except that if you bake them at 425 degrees for 22 minutes you certainly will nuke them!

If you use the Esther McManus recipe, I would suggest you follow the deviations that I have outlined as I have learned through trials and errors.

I would recommend using the plain flour instead of the bread flour because you do not want a high gluten flour. It would make the dough too elastic instead of extensible. When you roll out the dough, you do not want it to be elastic and shrink back.

There is no problem keeping the chilled dough overnight. My routine is to mix the dough and the butter on Friday night, incorporate and fold the butter in on Saturday with long rest periods in between and do the final rolling, shaping and baking on Sunday.

Good luck and let me know how they turn out.

Don

Submitted by Laralou on August 24, 2009 - 3:47am.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for the kind advice, Don. I think I will try Esther's recipe with your suggested modifications. It makes sense to me to cut the amount of butter listed in the original recipe - I tried making brioche with a 1:1 ratio of flour to butter and a fair bit seemed to leak out during baking. And I'm so pleased I can spread out the process over a couple of days, I was worried the dough would suffer, but if you do it, then it must be okay!

I've tried making brioche and challah with both strong bread flour and plain flour, and I seemed to get good results for them both with the stronger flour - when I tried challah with all-purpose plain flour, it was a pretty tragic result. But I think you're right that elasticity and gluten development maybe aren't as important in a flakier pastry like a croissant, I was just worried that a plain flour wouldn't stand up to the rigours of all the rolling and turning, but I'll give it a try. Maybe a mix of the two flours.

Many thanks again, I'll be making them this weekend and I'll let you know how it goes!