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My croissants are collapsing!

frajasago's picture
frajasago

My croissants are collapsing!

Hi All,

I've been perfecting my croissant recipe but started having issues when baking. This recipe is from Bruno Alzone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OAUM0MRgQw&t=181s

but I changed it to replace the yeast for a 100% hydration starter. Did shape them last night and let them proof all night in the kitchen, for 10 hours (quite cold, it's winter here and my kitchen is like Winterfell) - around 53ºF.

Put them to bake for 20' @ 365ºF and everything was perfect until I turned off the oven and partially opened the door to let them cool slowly...10' later they looked like this:

I'm going nuts here. What do you think was the issue? Been unable to pinpoint the error.

Thanks!

Korja's picture
Korja

1. Did you adjust the dries to account for additional hydration? A wet starter is going to affect the consistency and strength of the dough vs just using yeast.

2. 10 hours is a very long proof time, even in cold temps. I would try and see if you can get it to be warmer and shorten the proof. The thing is you don't want the croissants to dry out while proofing, which they almost certainly will just sitting out in the open air. And the window between proofed and over proofed for croissants is pretty small - 10-15 minutes in a normal proofing scenario (80F), perhaps closer to 30-45 if cooler.

3. They don't look well rolled - you want at least 5 "peaks", yours have 3. Traditional croissants shoot for 7, but this can be hard to achieve without a sheeter and a strong high gluten flour. The roll adds strength because it is literally what makes the crumb and honeycomb texture. With 3 peaks, I have to imagine the inside is going to be so open that it just collapses.

If you have trouble rolling out the triangles to be big enough when you shape, consider using a lower gluten flour like all purpose. Croissants greatly benefit from having a high gluten flour, but it gets very hard to roll by hand to properly laminate and properly shape. You'll get better results from a lower gluten that lets you handle it better than a high gluten you have to fight.

I suggest looking up txfarmer's sourdough croissants from here - she's pretty much perfected the art of hand rolled croissants IMO!

frajasago's picture
frajasago
  1. Yes I did. I accounted for the extra water and flour.
  2. Could be. Will try again.
  3. Did not know that! Thanks!

I really don't have issues with the rolling though...

 

Thanks again!