Flat croissants
Good Morning,
Since I started baking, I have been able to get quite satisfactory results for differnt types of breads, however each time I tried my hands on croissants it's a complete disaster, the recipe I used did not require bulk fermentation at room temperature, the detrempe is just kneaded and placed in the fridge for at least one hour before lamination, the result was a dense croissant. More recently, I came across Bruno Albouze's recipe which calls for a bulk fermentation of about 2 hours before an overnight rest in the fridge, unfortunatlely I ended with croissants which rather flattened when proofing instead of puffing up, and of course the final outcome was also very flat croissants from the oven
By the way I have been using anchor instant yeast and an important fact to be noted is that my yeast works well with other recipes which calls for warm water but when it comes to room temperature liquids like for Bruno Albouze's recipe it seems to weaken.
Could this be the reason for my failures please?
Ooof, it’s hard to say honestly. I would definitely use a recipe that allows for some amount of room temp bulk before the retard. But tbh, there are so many factors that could lead to subpar croissants. It’s one of the trickiest things for a home baker.
I’ve had success using TXFarmer’s poolish croissants in the past (search this forum). There are so many things to learn when you’re doing home lamination without a sheeter.
I always used instant yeast- although I think I might’ve used osmotolerant yeast (which is better for doughs with sugar in them, although my guess is there isn’t enough sugar in the dough for this to be hugely important)
Other basic tips off the top of my head:
You have to find a balance in dough strength and extensibility. Ideally you’d use bread flour, buuuut that can be terrible to roll out (this is where a poolish helps though!)
Everyone underproofs croissants! They have to be sooooooo jiggly and puffy before they get to the oven. Not unusual for the final proof to be 1 to.. 3 or 4 hours!
best of luck! You picked a helluva thing to tackle :D
Good Morning,
Many thanks for your help, I came across a recipe using a poolish and was wondering if I could use it and your post just convinced me to try.
Thanks again
Bruno's recipes are spot on. He is a professionally trained pastry chef. Read about DDT - desired dough temperature. Temperatures are rising in the northern hemisphere, and this wreaks havoc on baking, especially when fat is involved such as with croissants.
Take care to control the temperature of your ingredients so that the yeast is not over active. This could mean refrigerating all of the ingredients to compensate for a warm kitchen. The butter and dough need to be pliable and the same consistency when laminating. It's a balancing act.
dry yeast has no place in croissant except for super market quality.
If thats what you want, dry yeast will ensure the mediocre result. I worked in french bakeries where they did exactly that because they baked from the freezer, croissants were laid out frozen the night before and left in the refrigerator/proofer. in the morning they were ready to bake, they were doomed from the get go because the bakers were lazy and didn't want to roll dough every morning.
to me, suggesting you can use dry or fresh is like saying you can use ground burger meat or filet mignon in beef wellington.