January 28, 2013 - 4:44am
Croissant from Advanced Bread and Pastry, Michel Suas
This is my go at the basic croissant from the Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas and baked in my wood fired oven. The only changes to the formula was a change in yeast type. The formula called for osmotolerant yeast and all that I have is active dry so I made the conversion even though it felt like a heap of yeast. The book also did not call for any egg wash. I don't know if that was because it was an advanced book and the egg wash was expected without mention or an egg wash was not required. None the less I liked the end results.
Think I will work through his other croissant formulas.
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Wow!
I tried croissants many years ago and it was an epic failure.. Those are spectacular.. It's great to see the oven is back up and running..
Chris
Yes the oven is doing well. Unfortunately it's a bit small it just won't handle 2 full sized sheet pans, short by an inch. Yesterday I figured out a way and took some spare fire brick and set them on the floor to set the second pan on. So one pan sits a bit higher then the other.
The other nice thing is I got to work in my new kitchen. Just before I started this time sucking project I finished my kitchen dedicated to baking. This weekend I really got to work/ play in it.
Friday (snow day): 4 loaves Banana walnut bread.
Saturday: 2 loaves of the Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid and mixed the croissant and challah dough.
Sunday: took the 8# of Challah dough and turned them into 120g braided rolls and 8# of croissant dough and 2# of butter for the Croissants.
Oven management was a learning curve for me this time. I did not want to start the oven too hot (burnt outside and dough inside) yet to bake closer to desired temp you loose temperature quickly. So even with my extra oven mass I sucked out a bunch of my heat for the final pans.
With that said...It is motivation to build my twins with 12" thermal mass and large enough for multiple pans.
It sounds like you had a very good weekend!
I continue to work on my sourdough boules adding rye and either spelt or kamut, fresh from my little Hawo mill. I like the quality of the loaves but I'm feeling the need to revisit some loaves from the past, for reference. I also want to test soakers made with fresh milled and see where those can take the breads.
Best to you!
Chris
Faith -
Those are beautiful croissants! Light, airy puffs of dough, what could be better? And the outer crust is so nicely browned. I have yet to muster the courage to try croissants, but when I do I will try the formula from Adv. Bread and Pastry, it looks like a winner(of course you brought your skill to the party too). Well done!
Happy Baking
Linda
Trust me you don't need to "muster the courage" to make croissants. They do have that air of complication about the process but the reality is they are not difficult. I do think one needs to develop the knack for doing them and develop tricks for success like keeping the dough cold and when to roll and when to refrigerate.
The good thing is even if you don't have success the first time (de-laminated dough) they still are tasty. Family and friends have devoured my failures and did not blink an eye that the crumb looked like wonder bread.
Just go for it.
Faith
Brilliant!
Wingnut