Croissant made with butter and pain au chocolat

Name: Croissant made with butter and pain au chocolat
Prep time: 55 min
Total time: 13 h

January 26, 2011

Prep 55 min Total 13 hr

Croissants and pain au chocolat © kvalifood.com

Video recipe - Some of the most difficult types of bread to bake are those made of laminated dough. Also called a viennese dough here in Denmark. Amusingly it is called “Danish pastry” in most of the rest of the world. The ultimate challenge is the croissant. It is very honest and has no filling, no remonce, no glaze or other things that can hide one’s flaws. There are many ways of doing it, with different amounts of “rolling-butter”, number of butter layers etc. This recipe is the one I think is the best version for beginners and experienced bakers alike.

Ingredients

2 dl cold milk
1 oz (25 g) fresh yeast (or ½ oz dry yeast)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
375 g flour
50 g soft butter

rolling butter

250 g cold butter

egg wash

1 egg
1 tbsp cream, milk or water

for pain au chocolat

160 g dark chocolate (1/3 oz per piece)

Directions

To make the dough

Dissolve the yeast in the milk.

Add sugar, salt and egg.

Add the flour.

When the flour is almost kneaded into the liquid, then add the soft butter.

Collect it into a ball, cover, and let it rise until doubled in size for approx. ½ -1 hour.

If you have the time you should then cover it with something airtight and put it into the refrigerator for at least an hour. But overnight is even better. It will make the dough more pliable when rolling the layers.

Make the rolling layers (the English method)

In the video on this recipe I use the danish method as it gives a better result. The english method is easier for beginners though. For an example of the english method you should watch this part of my danish pastry video on youtube.

When you feel ready you are free to shift to the danish method as in the video above :-)

A letter fold makes 3 layers © kvalifood.com

Roll out the dough into a rectangle that is about. 20 cm x 60 cm. (1 width x 3 length in size)

Grate the butter over the dough rectangle.

Fold #1

Fold a letter-fold for 3 layers and a neat square.

Let dough rest 15-30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Roll out to a new rectangle that has a 1 x 3 size again.

Fold #2

Fold a letter-fold for 3 layers and a neat square.

Let dough rest 15-30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Roll out the rectangle that has a 1 x 3 size again.

Fold #3

Fold a letter-fold for 3 layers and a neat square.

Let dough rest 15-30 minutes in the refrigerator.

The dough has now 3x3x3 layer. That is 27 layers of butter evenly distributed.

Shaping

Roll out the dough to 16" x 24" (40 cm x 60 cm).

Trim the edges so they’re equal and straight.

Cut it in the middle length-ways so you have two equal halves that are 8" x 24" (20 cm x 60 cm).

Cut each half into four equal squares of 8" x 6" (20 cm x 15 cm).

For croissant

Cut each square into two triangles by cutting from corner to corner.

Gently pull the triangles slightly long and roll them from the wide end against the tip. you should end with 3 layers.

For pain au chocolat

Cut each rectangle in the middle so you end up with pieces of 4" x 6" (10 cm x 15 cm).

Place two strips of chocolate in the middle of the narrow part, then place two more in the middle of that and the end. With approx. 1½" (4 cm) intervals.

Roll the dough together around the chocolate..

Final rise

Put 8 of them at a time on a baking pan+baking sheet. They must rest on the rolled up tip.

Let them rise until doubled in size from ½ to 1 ½ hours. They may not withdraw where there is so hot that the butter to melt. Then in the summer it may be necessary to take them in and out of the fridge.

When they are raised then brush them with beaten egg and what fluid you are now using.

Baking

Convection: bake approx. 20 minutes at 180°C (360°F)

Normal oven: bake approx. 20 minutes at 200°C (400°F)

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes before consuming.

Notes

If you want to understand the process better, then read my article on the principles behind a laminated dough. It has tons of pictures There you can also see different variations of the method that you can experiment with to make “your own style” croissants.