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Conference turris::cooks

Title:	How to Make them Goodies
Notice:	Please Don't Start New Notes for Old Topics! Check 5.*
Moderator:	FUTURE::DDESMAISONSec.com::winalski

Created:	Tue Feb 18 1986
Last Modified:	Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	4127
Total number of notes:	31160

352.0. "CROISSANTS" by CADSYS::RICHARDSON () Mon Sep 29 1986 12:51

    CROISSANTS
    
    There seem to be two theories of croissants: the warm dough/cold
    butter theory (like puff pastry) and the cold dough/warm butter
    theory, like this recipe.  The former is very hard to get right,
    but this recipe works and produces nice croissants.  It helps if
    you havbe a marble rolling pin, both because you can roll the dough
    much faster with the heavy rolling pin and because you can chill
    it in the refrigerator so that it will help to keep the dough cold
    while you work it.
    
    2 packages active dry yeast
    1/2 c warm water (105 - 115 oF)
    2/3 lukewarm milk, scalded and then cooled
    1/4 c salad oil
    3 T sugar
    (2 t salt - I don't use salt)
    2 eggs and 1 egg yolk (save white for later)
    3 1/2 - 4 c unbleached or white flour (I use unbleached)
    1 c softened butter (leave it out on the counter while dough rises)
    1 egg white
    1 T water
    
    Dissolve yeast in warm water in lrage mixing bowl.
    Stir in milk, oil, sugar, (salt,) eggs, egg yolk, and 2 c flour.
    Beat until smooth.
    Stir in enough remining flour to make dough easy to handle.
    I usually mix it in the food processor using the steel blade.
    
    Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and
    elastic (5 minutes or so, less if you use food processor).
    Place in greased bowl and turn over once.
    Cover and let rise until double.
    
    Go do something else for a while...
    
    Punch down dough.
    Cover and refrigerate one hour.
    Go do something else again...
    
    Punch down dough.
    Work fast here!  If the dough warms up, the butter will melt into
    it and you won't get nice, flaky layers.
    Roll into rectangel about 25x10 inches.
    Spread with 1/34 of the butter.
    Fold crosswise into thrids, overlapping the sides to make three
    layers.
    Repeat twice.
    Divide dough in half, wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
    I usually refrigerate it overnight.     
    
    Shape half the dough at a time (keep the other half refrigerated).
    Roll into rectangle 12 x 8 inches.
    Cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise into three squares.
    Cut each squre diagonally into two triangles, making one dozen pieces.
    Roll up each triangle, beginning at the long side.
    Place rolls with points underneath on ungreased baking sheet.
    Curve to form crescents.
    Refrigerate 30 minutes.
    
    Heat oven to 425 oF.
    BEat egg white and 1T water and brush over croissants.
    Bake until croissants are brown and crisp, 14-16 minutes.
    
    Makes 2 dozen.
    
    Shape half of the dough at a time

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
352.1	Croissants	DPDMAI::RESENDEP	following the yellow brick road...	`Tue Mar 08 1988 09:49`	22
	Allow about 5 - 6 hours for these, from start to finish... Croissants 1 package dry yeast 1 tablespoon shortening 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt (do NOT omit!!) 3/4 cup scalded milk 1 egg 2-1/2 cups flour butter (about 1-1/4 sticks) Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Combine shortening, sugar, salt, and scalded milk. Cool to lukewarm. Blend in well-beaten egg and yeast; add flour. Cover and refrigerate one hour. Roll out to 1/4" thickness, spread with soft butter, fold up, and refrigerate 1/2 hour. Repeat process two more times. Divide into two parts. Roll in circular shape and cut in wedges as for pie. Roll each wedge from wide end to point, curve slightly, and place on greased sheet point down. Let rise 1-1/2 hours. Bake at 400 degrees 10 - 12 minutes.
352.2	Bon Appetit!	CADSYS::RICHARDSON		`Tue Mar 08 1988 12:25`	25
	The previous reply looks a lot like the recipe I use, except I don't know why it said to NOT omit the salt - I haven't put salt in anything in years, and my croissants come out just fine. You can roll stuff up inside them if you like - almond paste with some sliced almonds is one good idea. If you are putting something messy inside (like jam), you might have to fold the edges over to keep the filling from leaking out when you bake them - that is why you see filled croissants that are not the classical shape. There is an alternative method that has you freeze the butter and keep the dough warm when you first roll them out - that may even be more authentic, but I have never gotten that to work very well (you need a really heavy rolling pin, either way). So, I always use the cold-dough/warm-butter method. One secret, especially if it is pretty warm in your kitchen and you do have a heavy marble rolling pin (yeah, I thought they were just a gimmick too until I bought one!) is to put it in the frig when you are colling the dough. You have to work fast because you do not want the dough to warm up so that the butter melts into the dough - if this happens, you will still produce a tasty roll, but it won't be a croissant because it won't have all the nice buttery layers. So a heavy and cold rolling pin helps. I don't even try to make them in the summer because the dough gets too warm too fast, but then I don't have air conditionning.
352.3	About the salt...	DPDMAI::RESENDEP	following the yellow brick road...	`Wed Mar 09 1988 19:11`	19
	Sorry for my editorial on not omitting the salt from croissants. Let me explain why I said what I did. I have experienced a great deal of variety between brands of butter: some are quite salty (Land O' Lakes seems to have the most), while others aren't nearly as salty. I tend to prefer using the less salty brands, or unsalted. I personally do not like bread without salt. I would imagine that the salt in the butter might be plenty to flavor the rolls, but didn't want someone to try this recipe without the added salt, inadvertantly use a less- or non-salty butter, and invest 6 hours in a product that didn't taste good. Hence my caviat about not omitting the salt. Let it suffice to say if you use Land O' Lakes or a comparably salty butter, you could probably omit the salt without appreciably affecting the taste of the end product. Pat
352.4	I use UNSALTED butter in the croissants	CADSYS::RICHARDSON		`Thu Mar 10 1988 12:52`	15
	I use UNSALTED butter in my croissants. We quit eating salt several years ago. You get used to the difference in taste in about three weeks. These days, most commerical and bakery breads taste over-salted to us. I do wonder sometimes if we are getting enough iodine now, since most people don't get enough of it, which is why there is iodized salt - we do eat a lot of ocean fish, however. I am actually ALLERGIC to iodine, and my skin breaks out if I eat too much ocena fish, like I did not too long ago on a vacation in Nova Scotia (the problem runs in my mother's family - my aunt, who was along on that trip, had the same problem, and my mother also did to a lesser extent, and the doctor traced it back to the high-iodine diet for those couple of weeks).
352.5	croissants are some chef's practical joke	SUBWAY::MAXSON	Repeal Gravity	`Sat Nov 02 1991 00:37`	18
	A friend and I decided to make croissants from scratch one weekend long ago. The process involves making a dough, rolling it out, buttering it, folding it, rolling it out, buttering it, folding it, rolling it out, buttering it, folding it, rolling it out, buttering it, folding it, rolling it out, buttering it, folding it, rolling it out, butering it, folding it, rolling it out, and so on a GREAT MANY NUMBER OF TIMES. When you are done, you have a circle - cut it in quarters, and roll them from the inner corner out. Yield: 4 croissants. So as not to be vague, let me point out that this is a TREMENDOUS amount of work for an excruciatingly small yield. I can find no earthly purpose in doing this when you can BUY croissants for a couple of bucks apiece. If they were ten bucks apiece, they'd still be a bargain over the homemade edition. My recommendation: don't do it.
352.6		ENABLE::glantz	Mike @TAY 227-4299 TP Eng Littleton	`Mon Nov 04 1991 11:04`	18
	They are a lot of work, and unless you get lucky, you'll waste a lot of ingredients before you get good at it. What .1 described was the classic puff pastry recipe. If you can tolerate a mediocre version made without butter, buy some Pepperidge Farm puff pastry in the freezer section of your local supermarket, and make croissants with that. They're surprisingly good for the negligible effort involved. If you have the time and patience to learn, try the real thing a few times. This is a good time of year to do it (in the northeast), because the heat and humidity are low. Don't get discouraged if the first two tries are disasters. Some people use tricks, with varying success, like rolling the butter into thin layers between sheets of wax paper. Your mileage may vary. There's no guaranteed easy way to do it. For those interested, real Danish pastry dough is basically the same recipe, but with crushed cardamon seed and orange zest added. It's so delicious you just can't imagine.