May 2, 2015 - 7:36am
KA: AP versus Bread flour for croissants
This question is in this section rather than in 'Ingredients' because it concerns croissant baking more than baking in general.
Baking the near-perfect croissant is still a challenge for me. Recipes for croissants are quite different and one of the differences is the development of gluten. This relates to the use of AP flour, 100% bread flour, or a mixture and the subsequent gluten development that each flour requires.
When I shop for KA AP or KA bread flour, the protein content for each flour is listed as 4 gm. per oz. - no difference. The KA bakers hotline is said to describe dinner rolls made with AP flour as light and tender and with bread flour as crusty and chewy.
So what else is the difference, besides protein concentration?
BB
Share
The AP is around 11.5% and the Bread upwards of 13% if memory serves correct. I look at KA Bread Flour as very close to high gluten flour. For croissants I would use the AP flour myself. But a blend of the two would probably be quite good too.
There are many differences in croissant formula. Too strong a flour will make handling a little easier (to an extent, as if the flour gets too strong it becomes hard to laminate). To soft and it won't hold the layers.
Type of butter and it's butterfat makes a great difference. Many baker's prefer a European style butter with higher butterfat as it one tastes better in most cases and has better pliability. Then the percentage of butter in the dough and rollin butter varies as well.
The types, amount of, and timing of folds during lamination is also varied. If done properly the more folds the more layers. I've seen as little as two letter folds and as much as 1 letter fold and two book folds.
Some doughs are made with eggs, some without, some with milk and water, some just water. Some as straight yeasted doughs, some with preferments (biga, poolish) and even naturally levained (using an italian starter to decrease acid build).
In the end quite of few of these varieties make a great product and the real trial comes in good lamination, proofing, and baking. More so than the dough making I'd say the finesse within a croissant. Not to discount the dough of course which needs to be sound but is a simpler phase if the formula is proper.
Josh