June 3, 2015 - 9:09am
Croissants, Al dente
Until lately, my croissants come out with a bread resistance so to speak.
I get very good separation of layers so it is not the consistency of bread but the bite is not as good as Shop Rite croissants.
For al-dente, I want to bite into the croissant and have it soft and mostly unbroken until the last moment
when many layers break.
Is it just fine tuning of my technique or am I missing a step or two? The best bite I have found so far is to defrost the croissants covered overnight, place them onto a cold counter-top convection and bake at 400d for 20 minutes. Fresh out of the oven is not good enough but thoroughly cooled improves it.
I tried many pre-heated oven techniques but this seems to be the best.
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What kind of butter are you using? If you are not using a European style butter which has a higher fat content I suggest you give it a try. It does make a difference.
It seemed to get closer in texture but the butter taste was overpowering. I want more of a bread flavor. My latest batch was made with 2 sticks of "normal" butter and 1 stick of lard. The flavor has improved. I squeezed out 30 croissants and froze them. They defrost/rise overnight and I cook them for breakfast.
I am now experimenting with cook time and temperature in a digitally controlled counter-top convection oven. The first batch was undercooked but the texture was vastly improved. The second batch was over cooked and flavorful. IT looks as if they have to be thoroughly cooled for the texture to develop.
Hot croissants out of the oven and leave them until they cool.
Yea, right....
Oh so close....
---Butter/Lard Ratio is 2:1---Place frozen croissants on parchment in a toaster oven.
(I am using a Breville "Smart Oven" digitally controlled convection oven)
---Cover with another piece of parchment lightly coated with cooking spray.
(This it to prevent sticking as they thaw and rise. It also slows down drying out.
---Allow to sit 6 - 8 hours in the oven.
---Remove the top parchment and lightly spray with water.
---Set oven to 325 for 20 minutes and leave them in the oven until cooled.
(No preheat, they start cooking as the oven warms)
My oven will start counting down when the temperature is up to the setting then cook for the set time and turn off automatically so if you don't have a fancy schmancy toy like mine, then start your timer when the oven reaches temperature. I am not sure how this varies with a full size oven but my method is better because I freeze the entire batch and take out only 4 - 8 at a time depending on how much I want to pig out on these morsels.