croisssssssants!

[asakiyume]

osprey_archer has been visiting, and together we embarked on an epic task: baking croissants from scratch. This truly is an epic task as you need to roll out the dough multiple times, and in between, it should rest in the fridge for eight hours (you can shorten this, but the longer the better, say the experts. Or at least one expert. This is the video we used for instruction.)

We documented the last rolling out, cutting into triangles, forming into the proper croissant shape, final rising, and emergence from the oven. All but the last two photos are below the cut.



We used a ruler to make sure we rolled the dough out big enough:



You can see the CHUNKS OF BUTTER right in there:



osprey_archer applies pressure to the rolling pin





Then we cut the dough into triangles and rolled them up:



Some rolled but as yet unrisen croissants. Some of these look a little funky at this stage.



We put them to rest under this wonderful tea towel of narrowboat-worthy canals in Merrie England.



Behold! The croissants have risen!



The first couple of batches that we baked, we forgot to brush with diluted egg, but we remembered for the last batch, and Oh My Goodness, how beautiful that last batch looked. If you decide to bake croissants, don't skip the egg wash!

Here they are, fresh from the oven:



And here's the inside of one. Déliceu!



Making croissants was one of two New Year's resolutions I had this year, so I'm very grateful that osprey_archer helped me fulfill it! I doubt I would have done it without her visit, and I certainly would have gone astray in following the directions correctly.

Comments

[asakiyume]

I know exactly what you mean: I had it the first time we boiled down maple sap for maple syrup. Will it really, truly work? Will this slightly sweet water turn into syrup? And then it does!

You do this strange thing, and suddenly you have a familiar object --absolutely the perfect words for it.

Wontons and spring rolls--you are giving me future projects!

[pameladean]

I thought you'd know what I meant!

Wontons and spring rolls are much easier than croissants, though there are tricky bits.

P.