from our notebook · Light meals
Croissant
There's nothing like the smell of fresh baked croissants coming out of a French bakery. In the attempt of recreating this experience, I have made several tries. I used a traditional croissant recipe but the dough was not easy to manage. I then used margarine instead of butter, but the croissants were not as tasty. Finally, I used a traditional puff pastry. The croissants were just delicious!
Jump to the methodAdded August 2011
You'll need
- 250g flour
- 125ml cold water
- 40g melted butter
- 1tsp salt
- 150g unsalted butter
- 1 egg slightly beaten
Method
Making the detrempe: Put the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the water, melted butter and salt.
Work the flour and butter mixture until it forms a ball. If the dough becomes too dry, add more water.
work the dough 
Cut cross shape in dough and chill Shape the dough into a ball. Cut an ‘X’ on top to prevent shrinkage. Wrap the dough in a floured parchment and chill for 30 minutes.
Flatten the 150g of butter to a 2 cm thick square under a sheet of baking parchment, using a rolling pin.
Flatten out the butter 
Roll out dough and add butter Adding butter and folding the dough: On a floured surface, flatten the ‘detrempe’ then roll it out to a form of a cross, leaving a mound in the centre.
Place the butter in the centre of the cross. Fold over each section, pulling the dough slightly to completely enclose the butter.
Enclose butter 
The first rolling process Roll over the top of the dough to seal the edges.
Then roll the dough in a 20*45cm rectangle.
Dough ready for folding 
Ready for turning Fold the bottom third up towards the middle. Bring the top third over the folded third. The dough should be a rough square, have 3 layers and the edges should roughly align.
Turning the dough: At this stage the dough needs turning. Give the square a quarter turn. The dough will look like a book. Gently press the edges to seal. Roll out the dough into a 20*45cm rectangle. Fold it again into thirds; seal edge. Mark the dough with your finger to record the number of turns made. You must turn the dough another three times. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes.
Repeat the rolling and folding process 
Cut into triangles Making Croissants: On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a 20*45cm rectangle. Cut the triangles as shown on the picture.
Make an incision in the base of the triangle and roll them to shape your croissants.
Make small cut in base 
Brush with egg wash Brush some egg wash and bake the croissants for 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 200 degrees.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool before serving while still warm.
