After spending a week in France, which did include a disastrous attempt at making croissants (for which I'm blaming the oven!) I thought I'd share my usual recipe for croissants. It includes a little bit of cheating, is time consuming, but can be done and left over night to be baked in the morning. This recipe though, is always very rewarding, and not just when you eat the finished result!
Makes four large, or eight small croissants.
Start with 300g plain white bread flour in a bowl, to which you have stirred in, 10g of caster sugar, and a good pinch of salt.
Stir in a sachet of instant yeast, then separate an egg, keep the white for later and pop the yolk into the flour. Then mix in around 100 - 125 ml of luke warm water by hand. Add it a little at a time, you may need more, maybe less, until a soft dough is formed that leaves the side of the bowl as you stir it round. When you can pick it up, take it out and knead it for 10 - 15 minutes until it is stretchy and elastic. Wipe out the bowl, then grease it lightly and put the dough in to rise at room temperature under greased cling film.
About an hour later, it should be doubled in size, the yeast has activated. Punch it in the middle to expel the air then roll it into a rough square about 15-20mm thick. Wrap it back up in the greased cling wrap. This needs to go into the fridge for at least 20 minutes in the coldest part (usually the bottom) to chill down.
After it has chilled roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 30cm square. Slice 150g of unsalted butter straight from the fridge into about 2mm slices (this is the cheat part!) Lay that on 2/3rds of the dough leaving a slight gap for folding.
Fold the top (unbuttered) third over the middle third.
Then fold it over once more so all the butter is enveloped.
Roll that envelope out to make a rough oblong about 1cm thick.
Fold the top third down again, and the bottom third up to make more layers. Wrap this up in the cling film and chill again for about 10 minutes, so that the butter stays cool. If you are cooking them straight away, heat your oven now to 230 degC.
At this point you have a choice. You can make you croissants more 'bready' by rolling it out into an oblong and folding it over again to make more layers. If you leave it without adding more layers the result is more 'flaky'. If you choose to make the more bready version, roll it and fold it, then put it back in the fridge for another 10 minutes.
After you have chilled you dough (whether or not you've added more layers,) roll it out to around 30cm square again.
Either divide the square into four triangles, or divide the square into four smaller squares and divide them into two triangles (to make mini croissants.) Roll each triangle up from the long side to the point and curl them round to make a crescent. Place your croissants on baking paper on a baking tray, cover them with oiled cling film. If you want to finish your croissants in the morning, put the tray of croissants in the fridge overnight to prove. Otherwise leave the tray out away from the oven or any heat source to prove for about 20 minutes. If it is a warm day return the croissants to the fridge for a couple of hours if there is any danger of the butter melting.
If you haven't already done so yet, heat your oven up to a high setting.
Just before the croissants go in the oven, uncover them and gently brush them all over with the egg white. Bake for around 20 minutes until risen and browned. Serve warm with jam, and certainly a nice strong coffee!
