Croissants and pains au chocolat: is there anything more thrilling to conquer?
Being something of a croissant and pain au chocolat addict, in terms of both eating and making, I make a batch at least fortnightly. Is there much more thrilling in baking than when all that careful and loving work yields those magical layers as they bake?
I am sure I am not alone in that I could happily sit and watch them flake up through the oven door?
I made this batch the other day and took most of them into work: mercifully they were devoured, with just a few stray flakes remaining!
Over the years I have tried every croissant recipe out there to get the one that works best for me: each time I start with a very soft, unkneaded initial dough that has been chilled for a few hours, followed by 3 standard envelope turns, with at least an hour's chilling after each, and an overnight chilling prior to rolling out for the final time and shaping/proving.
Plus about 30mins chilling for the proved croissants/pains au choc: the chilling always seems to enhance the level of flake and gives a more honeycombed, open interior. And a highish bake initially (200C, fan) for about 10 mins, before turning down to 175C to finish. (full recipe is as a blog post [1].)