Croissants Made With Pastry Flour
I have been tweaking my croissant recipe for some time now (as shown--sorry, the photo isn't the highest quality) and have almost got it where I want it. My one issue is that the croissants are not as tender and flaky as I would like them to be. I am confident that I am not overworking the dough by kneading, and as I laminate the dough it is easy to work with and doesn't contract as I roll it. My only guess is that the protein content of the all-purpose flour I'm using is too high.
Has anyone tried using part all-purpose flour and part pastry flour? If so, what percentage of each do you use?
Further information about my recipe: I use 55% butter (baker's percentage)--the butter is not European-style, unfortunately. I'm making these for the restaurant I work at and no one has been willing to spring for high-quality butter...yet ;). I'm not exactly sure what the protein percentage of our AP flour is--I know it's Shepherd's Grain. I do 3 turns and am very happy with the flavor and appearance of the croissants--I just wish they were a bit more tender.
Thanks in advance!
.... and got decent results using the Bertinet formula (in my case, 40% baker's percentage of bread flour, 40% pastry flour and 20% stone-ground whole wheat, with 50% butter). Here's some photos:
Good luck, and let us know how your experiment works out.
Tony
There was a topic about croissants made with pastry flour on here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34079/confused-about-pastry-flour
I'm not sure if the link helps though.
I think I know there is a way to make the croissants tender without having to resort to changing flours. In the dough, try incorporating the flour with some chilled butter, probably like a pound of flour with 4 tablespoons of cold butter. Mix the flour and butter until you get a cornmeal texture. Then pour in your liquid ingredients to make a dough. The butter coating the flour will help make the dough tender.
They come out very flaky. You can take a look here. I also linked the original recipe.
http://teresal.proboards.com/thread/1608/sourdough-croissant
I remember from watching Julia Child's episode on croissants that she recommended using 2 parts All Purpose flour to 1 part cake flour. I have never tried this, but it would probably cut the gluten down to the point that the dough would be easier to roll out by hand. I'm not sure that it would result in flakier croissants. I follow the recommendation of Cook's Country on croissants which said to use all King Arthur All Purpose flour. That recommendation has worked well for me. At least I enjoy the results I get when I have the time and wherewithall to make croissants. The King Arthur AP flour has higher gluten content than most AP flours but it is lower than the typical bread flour making the croissants easier to roll out by hand.