Hi,

after reading Dimuzio's book cover to cover i had to try something from it; i really liked the book and i suppose i'll like the recipies too.

Today i finally baked the croissants (started 2 days ago) and the double raisin bread.

It was the very first time for me trying to make laminated dough, plus we're having the first serious heat wave of the year (in Andalucia, Spain...).

Overall i'm pleased with the result, but i'll like someone to try help me out troubleshoot some problems i've had.

Here's a picture of 3 of them, obviously the best looking ones :-)

I followed pretty much all the procedure outlined in the book, but for the final part (rolling it out, proofing...) i used some of the procedures from Hitz book, that is, resting the dough in the freezer 30 min. before rolling it out, and proofing for 2+ hours before baking. I proofed them at 70º, pans in food grade plastic bags, in my climate controlled workshop.

I like the dough taste, not too sweet, but i think i'll like to get a 'stronger' dough, one that you could almost 'de-roll' the finished croissant. I used a somewhat weak flour, for i read extensibility is important, and did not develop it strongly in mixing. Maybe, having a liquid levain also, i could use a stronger flour, since the levain helps with extensibility? I have a professional pizza flour, W270 but with good extensibility, for obvious reasons, so could this be a good candidate next time? Also, with such a weak dough, when taking it out to roll it to final thickness, when first starting with the rolling pin and degassing it, it looked like it wanted to break, lacking 'fiber', so i was very careful to be gentle, but at the same time i had to be quick, the day being VERY hot. No problems with extensibility, of course; not a sign of the dough wanting to spring back when rolling it out.

This is a clear defect i got in some (not all) of the croissants; is it the weak dough, underproofing, eggwash or what else could it be? BTW, on the parchment under them i see they have fat in them, it got shiny; but the bottom of the croissants is clean, so i hope the lamination itself was ok, especially for being my 1st try:

As for the double raisin bread, i got my WFO a little too hot and it's darker than the book's sample picture, but the inside is basically identical, and soooooooooo good! Plus i live surrounded by a small family run vineyard where they produce the raisins i used; hard to get more local than this :-)

Thanks for all the suggestions and tips,

Daniele.