Croissant Success
Well, it took four batches over the span of about 2 weeks. But, I have finally produced a half decent homemade croissant.
I like a chance to learn something new. Anything new. And I've always enjoyed cooking. But, my wife does most of the cooking these days. So, my opportunities are rare. I had a go at lemon meringue pies, and it turned out OK. But it is a tad more expensive and the ingredients didn't have the shelf life to do a bunch of experiments over the period of time it takes to perfect.
Then I watched this series. The same one where I got the pie idea from. And I sat there and watched it. And I thought; "wow, croissants are conceptually easy to make". Pretty much all of the ingredients are things we regularly have and which hold up for weeks if not more. And better yet, it is a lot easier to eat through several batches of failed croissants than lemon meringue pies.
And tonight, I believe I hit the pinnacle more or less.
The journey? Well it started with a recipe. Amusingly, just a picture of a poster of a recipe. But, it was from the same source as the videos, and it provided measurements. So, here is how it went.
Batch #1
The first batch I was most judicious about shaping my dough. In the videos he even cuts off the rogue edges. But, I wasn't sure about whether I was supposed to use salted butter or unsalted. And I didn't pay much attention to the rise and whatnot.
And what I got was a satisfactory, if a big sweet, croissant. They were definitely on the dense side as well. And the color was lame.
Batch #2
This batch ended up SALTY. Still good. A bit more doughy than desired. But, since I wasn't aiming for sugary croissants this was an improvement. I got a bit more aggressive on my egg wash, and the color started looking nicer on some.
Batch #3
Solid. The flavor wasn't perfectly balanced. Can't really describe it other than that it was a bit off. And they were a bit less flaky than I'd like. One of them looked pretty close to perfect on the coloring in the middle. So, definite improvement
Batch #4
Ahh. Near perfection. The flavor is probably the best I can get with the ingredients I have. There was no pronounced salt, or butter or sugar taste. It was just croissant taste. The shape of nearly all of them was perfect. And the color was much better across the board.
I'm not going to call it perfect. But, it is damn close.
So what did I learn?
I also need to learn patience on the second rise. This seems, more than anything to affect how fluffy it is.
And one of these days I need to get a proper basting brush. My egg wash is still pathetic. It just looks a lot better than it did.
I'll also need to try a real french croissant one day to see how mine stacks up. The ones I see in the stores and restaurants have none of the physical qualities of those mentioned in the videos.
I like a chance to learn something new. Anything new. And I've always enjoyed cooking. But, my wife does most of the cooking these days. So, my opportunities are rare. I had a go at lemon meringue pies, and it turned out OK. But it is a tad more expensive and the ingredients didn't have the shelf life to do a bunch of experiments over the period of time it takes to perfect.
Then I watched this series. The same one where I got the pie idea from. And I sat there and watched it. And I thought; "wow, croissants are conceptually easy to make". Pretty much all of the ingredients are things we regularly have and which hold up for weeks if not more. And better yet, it is a lot easier to eat through several batches of failed croissants than lemon meringue pies.
And tonight, I believe I hit the pinnacle more or less.
The journey? Well it started with a recipe. Amusingly, just a picture of a poster of a recipe. But, it was from the same source as the videos, and it provided measurements. So, here is how it went.
Batch #1
The first batch I was most judicious about shaping my dough. In the videos he even cuts off the rogue edges. But, I wasn't sure about whether I was supposed to use salted butter or unsalted. And I didn't pay much attention to the rise and whatnot.
And what I got was a satisfactory, if a big sweet, croissant. They were definitely on the dense side as well. And the color was lame.
Batch #2
This batch ended up SALTY. Still good. A bit more doughy than desired. But, since I wasn't aiming for sugary croissants this was an improvement. I got a bit more aggressive on my egg wash, and the color started looking nicer on some.
Batch #3
Solid. The flavor wasn't perfectly balanced. Can't really describe it other than that it was a bit off. And they were a bit less flaky than I'd like. One of them looked pretty close to perfect on the coloring in the middle. So, definite improvement
Batch #4
Ahh. Near perfection. The flavor is probably the best I can get with the ingredients I have. There was no pronounced salt, or butter or sugar taste. It was just croissant taste. The shape of nearly all of them was perfect. And the color was much better across the board.
I'm not going to call it perfect. But, it is damn close.
So what did I learn?
- Shape is irrelevant. It will still be a croissant. The most important thing is really that the butter stays encased in the dough. I even saw some suggesting to just break slivers of butter and fold them into the dough at the end and fold it in the same fashion. Having gone through this, I can agree. This should work. In fact, it might even produce a better looking interior. Haven't tried, but yeah should be fine.
- Cooling is important more for your sanity. My second batch, the butter got too warm and oozed out the sides. But, it still did the whole croissant layer job. I think the doughy-ness in that batch was more caused by my poor mixing skills.
- The recipe calls for unsalted butter. Also, the sugar is for the yeast. So, if you've activated your yeast with sugar already, don't add more. That is why my first batch was sweet. And because it was so sweet, I didn't realize that it was salty. Also, the volumes of water include the water you need to activate the yeast with if you're using dry yeast, though you may need to either increase volumes of liquid a bit to compensate for the dry yeast or reserve some of the flour.
- Rising is important. Especially the second rise.
- Butter is important. My first two batches both tasted sugary, even when I cut the sugar out of the second batch. Whereas my last two batches weren't sugary in the slightest despite, if anything, activating the yeast with more sugar. My second batches used something that touted itself as "European Style" butter. Whatever that is. And it was good.
- Getting the crunch and color right? LOTS of egg wash. And make sure not to dilute the egg too much.
- Integrate the dough initially by hand, but then let a machine take over. My last two batches were also superior in dough texture and how it held up to the laminating process.
I also need to learn patience on the second rise. This seems, more than anything to affect how fluffy it is.
And one of these days I need to get a proper basting brush. My egg wash is still pathetic. It just looks a lot better than it did.
I'll also need to try a real french croissant one day to see how mine stacks up. The ones I see in the stores and restaurants have none of the physical qualities of those mentioned in the videos.
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