May 13, 2014 - 7:51am
Croissants are bread like and dense! What am I doing wrong?
Hello all,
A while ago, I thought I'd try my hand at croissants. I used the recipe from here which is from EvillyChic, a member here, because the steps and especially the folds are demonstrated extremely well.
I doubled the recipe and the results were disappointing. The dough turned out bread like and dense, not at all the honey comb structure I expected.
I thought perhaps I had done something wrong. My initial thought was that I underproofed them since I got butter leak in the oven so I tried again and got the same result.
What's gone wrong here? Am I laminating this wrong? Or do the results indicate some other problem. Any help greatly appreciated.
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My first thought is that there's probably something off with your lamination process, but it's hard to say without knowing how you went about it.
Posting a link to the recipe you used is a good start, but that doesn't tell us what your actual process was. More information would make it easier to figure out.
I would guess that the dough is warming up too much while you're doing your folds, and the butter is being incorporated into the dough rather than remaining as distinct layers. Also, you need a cool final proof (about 68-70F) or the butter will start to melt and you'll lose your layers.
I followed the recipe as closely as I could. The only modification I made was doubling the recipe initially.
The devil is in the details, they say. I agree with what the others have said; the lack of separation of layers strongly suggests that the dough and butter temperatures were incorrect (too warm) when doing the folds. This would cause the dough to absorb the butter rather than the butter acting as a buffer between the layers of dough, which is what causes the flakiness.
Looks like the temp was too high when folding, and the dough underproofed post-shaping to me, watch the dough not the clock.
The fact that you got butter leakage concretes this in my mind. Try proofing the final shaped croissants untill they feel spongey and sort of like gelatin when poked.
Also note that 1) your initial dough should be a bit under-kneaded, as it will be worked further and 2) when laminating, the butter and dough should have the same consistency; the butter should be neither harder nor softer than the dough.
So with the temperature being too warm, do you mean the environmental temperature or the dough temp? The environmental temp was 69 at the time but perhaps I didn't refrigerate the dough long enough (generally waited at least 30 minutes between turns). How does one ensure the correct temperature before laminating?
Well the dough will dictate that. If it resists rolling, then you need to rest it more refrigerated. If the butter starts to melt between the layers and ooze out, then you have to let it rest refrigerated. Both ambient temperature and dough temperature should be somewhat low, or you'll have to work on some really freezing work surface and roll with a cold pin.
Best,
Khalid
I have to say had the same exact problem with my croissants when I started making them. They were not distinctly layered as they should be all fluffed up and flaky.
My first sign was that I was using cold milk, which I thought would be fine though dough did not rise overnight in the fridge, which it should nicely double. Second my lamination was not done properly, you have to be very careful and not press too hard. Very imporatant once you have worked the gluten. more resting more accepting of the dough to expand with final roll.
Also with butter leaking, you are shaping too tightly. This is what ive learned. here is the recipe I use :
500g strong white flour
10g salt
60g sugar
175ml warm milk
175ml warm water
5g intant yeast (I use less about 2g)
Put all the ingrediants into you machine and let knead for about 10 min making sure to scrape the dough in the beginning to make sure no flour lumps on bottom. When the wet dough is shiny and comes off from the sides its done. A little more kneading is good to get airiness
From into tight ball and put in fridge overnight
Next morning take 250g butter and form into a square about 1cm thick, try and get as even as possible .
Put in fridge to get same temp as your dough
When ready take out your dough and roll to twice size of your butter, lay butter on one half and fold other on toptop to seal. Roll to about twice its length and fold the top and bottom edges in by 1/6th, again by another 6th so folds meet in the middle and then one on top of another.
give the dough a quarter turn and roll to about same size as before and fold top and bottom edges to meet in middle then on top of each other. roll out slightly and put in fridge to relax for few hours. or overnight
Resume as usual to roll out the dough for you croissants . This recipe has been a miracle for me, I have tried so many times and this finally worked. I hope it works for you, nothing like a crusty croissant out of the oven.
Ghazi
Basically you want the dough to be airy with air bubbles in it, this is a good sign of lightness
p.s if you can shape and let rise in fridge overnight even better, cold butter hot oven = winner
Thanks all for the great feedback. I'm off to try it again. Also, thanks Rose for the encouragement.
Hello there,
I am currently trying to make croissants at home. My first attempt, my croissants turned out to be bread-like but the bread tasted like enriched bread and it was yummy with jam. Thank goodness the family enjoyed that :)
croissant 1.jpg
On my 2nd attempt, the croissants turned out to be a little better. But I think I still have a long way to go.
croissant 2.jpg
Any tips or advise on how I can improve please?
Thank you and happy baking :)
Cheers,
ketupat
Hello everyone,
Finally, on my 3rd attempt, I managed to bake some nice croissants with honeycomb texture. I know I still have a long way to go but I am just over the moon right now.
croissants02.jpg
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Cheers,
ketupat007
Hello Ketupat007,
really jealous about that you only try 3 times to get hang of it....
i am kind of stuck where you were in your second attempt...so what is the difference between your second and third attemp?
Thanks
Hi Rogery,
My apologies for the late reply...have not been online lately. I learn a lot from my trials & errors. I ensure that I waited longer between turns so that the butter will NOT melt into the dough. Once the butter is melted in, then it will surely turn into enriched bread. I also ensure that I fully proof the croissants. Sometimes, I will take me 2 1/2 - 3 hours...no rushing for these little babies.
Hope this helps. I am still learning.
Good luck!
i see. it takes time and patience.
i will try your suggestion this weekend.
Thank you!