Laminated dough has always been the pinnacle of baking to me, which is probably why I've been scared to try it. But when I came across a 20 minute croissant dough from The Boy Who Bakes, I figured I put it off long enough.
The traditional way to make croissants is to make a yeast dough, roll it out, and place a butter slab thing on top. It's then covered with the dough, rolled, and turned multiple times to create the thin, flaky layers.
Edd's version can be made in a food processor. Chilled butter is pulsed into the flour mixture and refrigerated overnight before beginning the rolling and turning process. Easy enough, right?
It certainly was easy. Between turning, I refrigerated the dough 25 minutes to keep it chilled. This also seemed to relax the gluten, making it easier to roll the dough out. After the third turn, the dough lost its raggedy edges and was pretty smooth with visible butter chunks remaining.
Then, my lack of technique came into play. I didn't roll the dough out wide and long enough, so the croissant triangles were smaller and didn't have as many rolls when shaped. I think that's why my croissants puffed out too much. Also, instead of leaving them plain, I brushed each piece of dough with a butter cinnamon-sugar filling left the insides a little soggy.
As Edd noted in his recipe, the croissants don't appear to proof very much, but they do expand while baking.
While I didn't miserably fail my first attempt, my croissants leave much to be desired. They're a little flaky but nothing like a real croissant. Armed with just a little bit of experience, I hope my next attempt is a little better.
Until then, I'm off to meet up with Emily from Sugar Plum Blog.
