Croissant Dough& Croissants-Julia Childs

* Exported from MasterCook *

Croissant Dough & Croissants-Julia Childs

Recipe By : Washington Post-4/9/97-Baking with Julia
Serving Size : 24 Preparation Time :36:00
Categories : Pastry Roll

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 ounce fresh yeast
3 1/2 cups flour, unbleached all purpose+
1/3 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Salt
1 cup Milk +/-
FOR THE BUTTER
4 1/2 sticks unsalted butter-1 lb 2 oz -- cold-cut into 1/2 in
2 tablespoons flour, unbleached all purpose
CROISSANTS
1 recipe-croissant dough -- well chilled
Flour -- for rolling dough
1 large egg

FOR THE DOUGH: Put the yeast, flour sugar, salt and 1 cup of milk into
the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. With the machine on its
lowest speed, mix for 1 to 2 minutes, until a soft, moist dough forms on
the hook. If the dough is to dry, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time.
In most cases if the dough does need more liquid, it won't need more than
about 3 tablespoons, but check carefully as you want all the flour to be
moistened. Stop the mixer and look into the bowl. If the hook has not
picked up all the flour from the bottom af the bowl, add a few more drops
of milk.
Set ther mixer to its highest speed and work the dough until it is
smooth and elastic, no longer sticky and close to the consistancy of soft
butter, about 4 minutes. To make certain that all the ingredients are
perfectly blendedyou can remove the dough from the mixer after 3 minutes,
and then with the mixer on high speed, return plum size pieces to the
bowl. The pieces will remain seperate for a short while, then come
together, at which time the dough is ready.
Remove the dough from the mixer, wrap it in plastic and put it in a
plastic bag, leaving a little room for expansion. Keep the dough at room
temperature for 30 minutes to give the gluten time to relax; then
refrigerate the dough for 8 hours or ovenight.
FOR THE BUTTER: Attach the paddle to your mixer and beat the butter
and flour on the highest speed until smooth and the same consistency as
the croissant dough, about 2 minutes. Reach into the bowl and poke around
in the butter to make sure that its evenly blended-if you find any lumps,
just squeeze them between your fingers. Scrape the butter onto a large
piece of plastic wrap and give it a few slaps to knock the air out of it.
Mold it into an oval 5 to 6 inches long and 1 inch thick, Wrap it tightly
and refrigerate until needed.
At this point the dough and the butter can be frozen; defrost
overnight in the refrigerator before preceeding with the recipe.
INCORPORATING THE BUTTER: Place the croissant doughon a generously
floured large work surface (marble is ideal(sure!!!)) and sprinkle the top
of the dough lightly with flour. Using a long rolling pin, roll the dough
into an oval approximately 10 inches wide and 17 inches long. Brush the
excess flour from the dough. Center the oval of chilled butter across
the oval of dough and fold the top and bottom of the dough over the butter
to make a tidy package. Gently and evenly stretch the folded layers of
dough out to ther sides and press the edges down firmly with your
fingertips to create a neatly sealed rectangle.
If you own a French rolling pin (one without handles)now's the time
to use it. Hold one side of the doughsteady with your hand and strike the
other side gently but firmly with the rolling pin to distribute the butter
evenly. As you hit the doough you will see the butter moving out into the
crevises. Strike the other side of the dough the same way. After
pounding you should have a 1 inch thick rectangle about about 14 inches
long and 6 inches wide.
Keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured, roll
out the dough. If this your first time working with croissant dough, you
may want to roll out the dough just a little to distribute the butter, put
it on a baking sheet lined with flour-dusted parchment paper, cover it
with plastic and chill it for 1 to 2 hoours first; this way you won't risk
having the dough go soft or the butter seep out. (Each time you wrap the
dough, make sure it's well covered-even a little air will cause the dought
to form an unwanted skin.) If your experienced, feeling courageous or
have dough that is still well chilled, go on to make your first turn.
ROLLING AND FOLDING: Roll the dough into a rectangle 24 to 26
inches long and about 14 inches wide, with the long side facing you. (You
may feel as though your rolling the dough sideways-and you are.) Brush
off the excess flourand, working from the left and right sides, fold the
dough inward into thirds, as you would a brochure, so that you have a
package that's about 8 inches wide by 14 inches long. Carefully transfer
the dough to a parchment- lined baking sheet, mark the parchment "1 turn"
so you'll know what you've done, cover and refrigerate for at least 2
hours.
You can frereze the dough after this ar any other turn. Thaw
overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.
FOR THE SECOND TURN: Place the dough so that the 14 inch side runs
left to right. (The dough needs 2 more turns; you've given it one
quarter-turn already.) Making sure the work surface is well floured at
all times, roll the dough as you did before into a rectangle 24 to 26
inches long by about 14 inches wide . (When doing the second and third
turns, you may find that the dough has cracked a little. That's natural;
it's a result of the yeast. Don't worry, just flour the dough and work
surface and keep going.) As you did before fold the dough in thirds.
Place it on the parchment, mark the paper "2 turns", cover and refrigerate
for at least 2 hours.
FOR THE THIRD TURN: Start agian with a 14 inch side running from
your left side ti your right. Roll the dough into a rectangle 24 to 26
inches long by 14 inches wide. Fold the left and right sides of the dough
into the center, leaving a little space in the centrer, and then fold one
side over the other as though you were closing a book. This is the
famouse double turn, also known as "the wallet".
Chilling the dough: Brush off the flour, wrap the dough in plastic
and refrigerate for 2 hours.
At this point the dough is ready to be rolled, cut and shaped into
croissants.
Storring: The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw
overnight, still wrapped, in the refrigerator.
CROISSANTS
ROLLING THE DOUGH: Generously flour a work surface. Position the
dough so that it resembles a book, with the spine to your left and the
opening to your right. For easy handling, cut the dough in half
horizontally so that you have two pieces about 7 inches long and about 6
1/2 inches wide: wrap and chill one half while you work with the other
half. Flour the dough and roll it into a rectangle that's 24 to 26 inches
long and 15 to 18 inches wide. This takes a lot of rolling. Keep the
work surface and the dough well floured and have patience.
If necessary turn the dough so that the long side runs from left to
right along the counter. Carefully fold the top half of the dough down to
the bottom. The dough is now ready for cutting.
CUTTING THE DOUGH: Working with a pizza cutter or a large, very
sharp knife, cut triangles from the dough. This is done most easily by
making a diagonal cut on the left hand side to geet the pattern started;
save the uneven piece of dough. MEasure off a 3 to 4 inch base and begin
cutting the triangles, always cutting from bottom to top. You'll have
another scrap when you reach the other end-you'll use these scraps when
you shape the croissants. Unfold each pair of triangles and cut them in
half to seperate. You should have 10 to 12 maybe 14 triangles; set them
aside while you clear the work surface of all flour. Line two large
baking sheets with parchment paper.
SHAPING THE CROISSANTS: Moisten your hands with a wet towel. Working
with one triangle at a time, gently stretch the base to widen it slightly,
then, holding the base of the triangle in one hand, run the fingers of the
other hand down to the point of the triangle. Use your thumb to pull and
stretch the dough until it's almos twice the original length-have courage
and tug; the extra length is what allows you to make a large croissant
with sufficient rolls to show off it's layers of dough.
Place the treiangle, point toward you, at arm distance on the work
table this will give enough space to roll the croissant into shape
with-out having to lift it in mid-roll) Pull off a little piece of the
reserved scrap dough, mold it into a small football shape and center it on
the wide top part of the triangle-this will help make the "belly" of the
croissant plump. Fold about 1/2 inch of this wide end over itself and
press the ends down once to secure. With you palms and fingers positioned
over the flattened ends of the croissant and the heels of your hands on
the flat work surface, roll the croissant toward you-try to keep your
hands moving down and out to the sides as you roll- ending with the point
of the triangle tucked under the croissant. A well shaped croissant-and
it takes practice to achieve one-will sport at least six clearly
accountable sections, or ridges, from rolling. Place the croissants on
one of the baking sheets, leaving room for them to triple in size without
touching one another. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
Glazing and rising: Give the croiossants a last gentle plumping,
carrefully turning the ends down and toward the center to produce the
classic croissant shape. Brush the croissants with egg wash and allow
them to rise, uncovered, at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours, until
tripled in size and spongy. (Reserve egg wash, covered in the
refrigerator.) The ideal place for rising is a turned off oven (one with
a pilot light is fine) containing a pan of hot steamy water. To test that
they are properly risen, wet your fingers and squeeze the end of a
croissant:It should offer no resistance and feel almost hollow.
Baking the croissants: Arrange the oven racks to divide the oven
into thirds, and preheat the oven to 350 f.
Brush the croissants once again with egg wash and bake for 12
minutes. Rotate front to back and bake another 4 to 6 minutes, until the
croissants are deeply bronzed. Cool on racks. As tempting as they are
croissants should not be eaten as soon as they come from the oven. The
dough-and the layers within need time to set.



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